My Unintended, Unofficial Summer Sabatical (Or, "The Importance of Recharging")

Today marks the end of the best summer I've had in the last twenty-five years.

You see, I started working during the summers when I was twelve years old. That was possible because my father owned a business manufacturing couches when I was growing up, which allowed me the opportunity to earn some spending money at a very young age. To be clear, my father didn't force me to work in his factory; I was a young man who very much liked the idea of being able to buy whatever I wanted, and so I jumped at the opportunity to earn my own wages as soon as I could.

What value could I possible add to the production process at the tender age of twelve? Well... remember those classic-style chesterfields with all of those buttons tufted in the back and on the seats? I made those buttons! It wasn't strenuous work at all, but it was incredibly repetitive and really, really boring; the same six steps on the button-making machine, repeated thousands of times a day. (As it turns out, a few summers spent doing ultra-repetitive work in a factory gives you a real appreciation for the value of an education; I always LOVED going back to school in September!)

As I grew older and stronger, my father found better ways to leverage my talents. At twelve I would make buttons and sweep floors. At thirteen, I was strong enough to lift those couches, and so I could wrap them and prepare them for shipping. At fourteen and fifteen I would accompany another of his employees on deliveries; to this day, I can still navigate a full-sized sofa through a narrow doorway and up a stairway without scratching any walls.

Of course, at fifteen years old, earning money during the summer wasn't a luxury anymore. University was only a few years away, and I knew that I'd be funding my own education. (I have three younger sisters, and my parents told us from a very young age that what they couldn't do for all of us, they wouldn't do for any of us. Funding four university tuitions fell into the second category, and so while they helped -- a lot -- by providing free room and board while we went to school, we all knew we were responsible for our own tuitions, and planned accordingly.)

At sixteen I got my very first "real" job (defined here as one where a parent isn't your boss): selling shoes at a sports store. (Cue the "Al Bundy" jokes, for all those old enough to understand the reference.) I continued to work with my Dad, but now my time was divided. By the time I was eighteen, I had given up factory life; I still worked at the sports store, but added a job as a teller at Canada Trust because the work was much easier and the pay was much better. I continued to work two jobs until I was twenty, giving up the sports store gig (which I very much enjoyed) only when I was promoted to "Financial Services Officer" at the bank and given a big raise.

Then I graduated from university and began work full-time, and because I'm not a teacher, the era of having "summers off" officially came to an end.

Until this past summer, that is.

Over the course of my career to date I've been unemployed on a few occasions, but it just so happens that this was the first time I haven't been employed during a summer.

That's not to say I haven't been doing anything to look for my next career adventure over the past few months. I've had some great exploratory conversations with people in different industries, discussing how my experience in consumer packaged goods, retail, and digital could potentially be leveraged in new verticals. (I'm looking to do something disruptive!) I've spent some time in the Kitchener-Waterloo area meeting with some terrific people at Communitech -- an organization that, "helps tech companies start, grow and succeed" -- to better understand the start-up scene in Canada. I've met with several executive search firms, and been on a number of interviews.

But summers simply tend to be slower from a job-search perspective. And because I've been unemployed before, I simply haven't felt the same type of stress that most professionals feel when they find themselves unemployed as an adult for the first time. (My resume was already fairly up to date. I have a strong network of friends and colleagues willing to meet me for coffee and chat. And not to jinx it, but every single time I've become unemployed in the past -- whether it was my own decision or not -- I've managed to end up somewhere even better, and I have no reason to believe this time will be any different.)

So I decided I was going to use this summer to recharge. And on the days when I wasn't a job-seeker, I took on other roles that ended up making this summer one to remember.

I was a writer. I wrote several blog posts in an attempt to get more disciplined and more consistent with my writing. A few of these blog posts went viral: the one describing why I decided to leave Google has almost 260,000 views and earned me my very first podcast interview, and the one detailing a less-than-stellar customer experience I had recently ended up getting me more than 18,000 views and a free television. (The follow-up post that describes the organization's reaction currently has almost 13,000 views, and counting.) But it hasn't just been blog posts. I wrote a Children's Book based on a bedtime routine I used to have with my kids that I'd like to self-publish. (I'm just looking for an illustrator who'd like to collaborate with me on this venture; if you can draw and want to try something new, please InMail me!) And I've had some time to think about a more serious book I'm co-authoring on the importance of Mentorship, which I hope to publish late next year. Writing has always been a passion for me, and this summer I took the time to indulge in it.

I was a Handy-Man. I've never been a handy-man before. In fact, I'm downright terrible with tools. But this summer afforded me the opportunity to take on a few minor projects around the house. Nothing major, but there's certainly a satisfaction in being able to complete a small repair or minor project without having to call a professional for help.

I was a Mentor. I've been an active Ten Thousand Coffees participant for almost three years, which means I've had a lot of coffee connects with young professionals looking to chat about their careers. This summer gave me the opportunity to meet with more people than I would otherwise have been able to meet, and I had some incredibly interesting conversations as a result.

I was a Dad. My most important role, by far, this summer afforded me unprecedented time to spend with my three children. There was the really fun stuff: I got to tag along on day-trips to Canada's Wonderland, to the beach, and to the Mall. (I say "tag along" only because my wife would have taken the kids to these places whether I was able to join them or not.) But the "everyday" stuff I wouldn't have been able to do if I was working full-time was also a pleasure: I got to have breakfast with my kids on most mornings, and attend their early evening weekly soccer games, and today I got to drop my daughter off at school for her first day of Grade 1. (My son starts his first day of Junior Kindergarten on Thursday, and I get to be there for that too!) I likely have another two decades (or more) of work ahead of me, but my kids will only be young once.

Sure, I could certainly perform many of these roles while I'm working too, but that's not the point. I inadvertently discovered there's really something to be said about taking a little bit of time to completely step off the hamster-wheel and focus on your deepest passions, if only for a little while. When you take vacation, actually take it; leave the office behind and do something you love! If you're changing jobs, don't move straight from one desk to another; take two weeks in between to clear your head and pursue your passions. And if your employer offers a paid sabbatical, for heavens sake, take it!

Apparently, I'm not alone in this thinking. As it happens, just yesterday I came across an interesting piece in the Globe & Mail: an interview with former Google CFO Patrick Pichette. In the piece, Mr. Pichette recommends that everyone take, "a gap year after they finish their undergrad [degree]" because he says you ultimately, "come back so much smarter" and "you’re twice as marketable." Unfortunately, I didn't do that; I started my first job the week after I finished my last class, and took a day off to attend my convocation.

But Mr. Pichette also says, "you should take a pause after 25-30 years of solid work", for the same reasons. He says he's currently doing that in order to, " empty [his] mind, to think about the next 25 years."

If you count my summers, I started work at 12 years old and I turn 39 this upcoming December. That's 27 years.

I imagine Mr. Pichette might say my unintended, unofficial summer sabbatical couldn't have come at a better time.


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