When I decided to give myself 3 months to focus on my passions, I knew that time would move more quickly than when I simply had my head down at work. I asked, what would my life look like if I prioritised my passions the way I do my profession?
It feels almost overindulgent to say I spent three months prioritising play and life for the sake of life rather than pursuing a sense of achievement through my profession.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m very passionate about my Diversity, Equity and Inclusion profession. During my break, I met different DEI practitioners weekly to discuss the industry and how to make it more sustainable. However, it has consumed me over the last few years, leaving little time and energy to develop my writing skills or explore different hobbies. No matter how much you love something, putting all your time into only one source of meaning is never healthy.
My days were filled with intentional or mindful actions. Intentional action refers to the tangible goals I set. In contrast, mindful action relates to what I did simply because I felt like it.
Setting goals & taking intentional actions
I was ambitious with my goals, so I would spend up to seven hours, a full work day, on them from Monday to Friday. I can’t imagine being able to sustainably juggle these multiple goals on top of my 9-5 job! Had I not taken my break, I would have needed nearly a year to do what I’ve done in 3.
This also helps me set more realistic goals for myself now that I’m returning to work and focusing on my career.
| Goal | Progress |
| Complete my Diploma of Counselling. | I submitted nearly 60k words of written assessments and completed multiple practical assessments. I would have completed my Diploma but my assessor isn’t available until mid-April. That means I’m completing my Diploma two weeks later than expected. |
| Practice Spanish every day. | I’ve been watching Spanish shows, radio and re-reading some of my favourite South American writers. I can’t wait to sign up to a Spanish course after I receive my Counselling Diploma. |
| Operationalise my career coaching business, so I spend less time doing admin. This will be especially for when I return to full-time work. | I’ve created a large number of resources and tools based on the most common challenges coachees experiences, summarising hours of conversation and research into practical activities and workbooks. |
| Learn to skate. | Nothing keeps you humble quite like wobbling around the park and falling over every few minutes on skates. |
| Get faster at swimming (20 laps in 20 minutes). | I started at 8 laps in 15 minutes and now can do 20 laps in 16.5 minutes. |
| Write down my family’s oral history. | I’ve been having fun and experimenting with different writing styles on my Morning Thoughts blog. |
| Spend time with my nieces over the school holidays. | The girls are back at school with plenty of photos and memories. |
| Find a job with an employer that ticks at least 95% of my boxes. | I found a company that fit my criteria and start tomorrow! |
Fitting mindful action into busy schedules
Taking mindful action helped me feel most in control of my life, and something I want to keep doing as I return to my work schedule.
During my 9-5, I was driven by my strict work schedule and discipline instead of being mindful of how my body felt. Time blocking my well-being activities has always been a way to ensure I “fit in” my time amongst my work priorities. This productivity hack removed my need to be mindful and responsive to my body.
At the start of my break, I tried to make the most of my free time and squish as much productivity into each day of the week, making it hard to do anything! So, I started focusing on one goal each day. Which goal I worked on depended on how I felt in the morning. If I felt like writing that day, I wrote. If I felt like going for a long walk, I walked! This sounds like it’s an obvious thing to do, responding to what you feel like doing, but it’s tough to do when you have a full-time job with an endless to-do list.
As I return to work, I intend to wake up earlier and give myself two hours. Having a schedule-free life will be impossible once I return to work. However, before my break, I gave myself an hour each morning to journal, study or work on whichever passion project was due.
Maintaining my sense of well-being as I return to work
My partner told me he thought it was impressive that I’m so calm and excited about my new job.
“If it was me, I would be so nervous. There are new things to learn, people, and much to do!”
After 3 months of rest, play and personal development, I feel incredibly grounded and confident in my self-worth in and out of work. I feel calm and capable of taking on the world.
I’m going to make sure I maintain this sense of optimism and joy with three main changes:
- Saying no more often. No, to non-promotable work tasks, no to unnecessary meetings, no to unpaid speaking gigs and projects.
- Practising mindfulness every day. I love relying on my calendar to help me be productive. If I prioritise my well-being, my productivity naturally goes up. I will switch how I use my calendar to plan my day in a way that makes me as healthy as possible.
- Increase the time I spend on my passions and hobbies. This will naturally happen if I prioritise my calendar to support my well-being rather than my productivity. However, I’ll need to set myself more realistic goals than the ones I had in my previous job to avoid feelings of guilt if I can’t manage both my full-time job AND my full-time passion projects.
Even though I was in my “dream job” before this break, I feel happier, healthier and more confident now than during the last 12 months when I reached my personal bests in my career. If this break proves anything, it’s that the sense of peace brought on by rest and play will make all aspects of life better.
Steph Lam | DEI Practitioner | Writer 