This post touched a nerve. Here's my experience - I used to be an investment banker and corporate strategy (or stragedy, if you like) person. Pursuant to a showdown with the boss, I took a break in late 2011. Here's how I spent my time (or, as Terry Pratchett once wrote, "What I did in my holidays")
1. Worked with an interior decorator, 3 teams of carpenters, 2 teams of painters, masons, plumbers and sundry vendors to get my new home ready. Project completed within budget in 4 months from start to finish (including my better half exercising her veto right). 2. Studied piano. Played 3 piano concerts (as part of a group of pianists) at St. Andrews Auditorium in Mumbai (with a proper audience, before you ask). Also played a father-son concert with my older son. 3. Learnt how to read and write music. Used that to transcribe specific songs that I've always liked - this led to interesting experiments in arranging alternative approaches to songs, such as different tempi, bass lines, flourishes at various places in the score... Also ended up composing a few pieces for piano. 4. Built out book and music collection - both of which now stand at numbers that have my father speculating about my needing a bigger home...(shades of Chief Brody from Jaws here) 5. Improved my skills in the kitchen to the extent that my boys like to compare restaurant fare (particularly Indian Italian or Indian Chinese) with what I dish out at home once a week. 6. Contributed questions to quizzes being conducted around India. If nothing else, this had the salutary effect of "reactivating disused neural pathways". It also considerably expanded my circle of friends, as investment banking was not the kind of profession that put me in touch with the people I was happy knowing. Also caught up on movie watching with a vengeance - I really miss TNT, but found a parlor near my home that could get me classic DVD's with enough notice. Now I just try looking for them online. While all of this was happening, I co-founded a startup and joined another as employee number 1 (after the founders). I found that I could manage my time a whole lot better since I was boss-junior combined. But there was a whole lot more to be done, which of course had to be done pretty much solo. I ended up getting rather jaded with the whole startup exercise, as we ended up pushing all our internal accruals into the business and took just enough salary to cover our mortgages. Finally, late last year, I got out of both companies, and got back into a mature corporate job (yes, I got back into investment banking). On the minus side, I've lost 5 years in my career. Logic suggests that this should not be such a drag, given that I now have a life outside work that has plenty to occupy my time. However, I do admit to feeling a sense of loss when I look at my former colleagues, many of whom are considerably advanced and senior in their career paths. This, I keep telling myself, is an all-too-human reaction. Quite a few executive search professionals I met looked rather pityingly at me during my recent job-searching days. I don't think Indian companies like people who take breaks like these, writing them off as has-beens. My advise to my new team-mates, all of whom are at least 10 years junior to me, has been to get some hobbies outside work to occupy their minds. They obviously look at me as if I'm not quite right in the head. I'm not sure I went through a slowdown in the sense you describe it. I think it was more a different path, with new skills learnt. My parents say I'm better off having taken it. As I talk to colleagues and potential clients to share my experiences, I see them look at me with something bordering puzzlement. On the other hand, I am bum chums with my sons, aged 11 and 9. My wife was able to get back to corporate life and a full-time job, as a result of my break, She says she didn't quite enjoy being the dominant wage earner of the family for the last 5 years. Interestingly, now that the pressure is off her, she shows little sign of taking her foot off the gas. Which, I think, may be more to do with her fear that I might be a colossal ass again :-) Rajeev On Sun, Jan 22, 2017 at 2:48 PM, Venkatesh Hariharan <ven...@gmail.com> wrote: > I am going through a transition into a slower pace of life. Knowing the > eclectic nature of this list, I wanted to hear from others who have "been > there, done that." After years in the corporate world, I decided to quit > the fast paced life anf become a consultant. My goal was to have more > control over my time, but somehow I found myself living an equally busy > life. > > I am now thinking of cutting down my consulting assignments and decisively > slowing down my life, to stop hopping from one task to the other like a > maniac, and to relish reading books and watching plays, and the company of > friends. To those who are ahead of me in this ambitious path, my question > is, "What do you.love the most about living a slower life?" > > Looking forward to the answers. > > Veny > > PS: Yup, confirmation bias :-) >
