[Toastmaster speech] What to Do During the Gap Between Jobs

Let’s begin by traveling back in time to June 2013, a couple of weeks after I took my new position at twitter. Here is a conversation that happened in the doorway:

“Did you take any time off before joining twitter?”

“Yes, two days, Saturday and Sunday.”

Saturday and Sunday! This is as long as any another weekend. However, I need to pack and unpack, get ready for the new job, with no health insurance. Even before going out for grocery shopping, I was hesitating: should I drive or should I walk? Do I really need that lettuce and milk? It was an interesting feeling when you suddenly lost insurance after not having to use it for years.

The following weeks turned out to be a little stressful: new office environment, new materials to learn, longer commutes, and a much faster work pace. Instead of gaining weight with the nice cafeteria, I lost a few pounds from work stress. That experience taught me a lesson: we need time off to de-stress and recover ourselves between jobs. But is that all? Is that the only point of taking time off between jobs?

Let’s fast forward to April 2015. After spending two years at twitter, I decided to quit to join a fashion startup. My new boss at the startup expected me to go on board as soon as possible. I negotiated with him and eventually got 2 weeks off.

During the first week I traveled to Mexico City and Guanajuato. It was a rewarding & memorable trip. The food was great: Tacos with pork stomach, intestine and beef tongue, tamale (made by wrapping meat and starch in a leaf and boiled together). I met some laid-back and hospitable Latin-American people. Silicon valley is all about new technology, investment, unicorns, and changing the world, but the Mexicans are happily living in the world whether it’s changed or not.

After returning from Mexico, I started to take spanish classes.To learn spanish stayed on my to do list for a few years. Next to it was swimming and toastmaster.

I also finished several books during the gap: “Unbearable lightness of being” by Milan Kundera. “The lost daughter of happiness” by Chinese author Yan Geling. The Chinese novel talks about life of Chinese immigrants to SF back in 19th century. They came to become Prostitutes, mine workers, gangs, laundromat owners. At the time, SF was in its infancy, with people coming from all over the world, fighting, killing each other, robbing, with little Law enforcement.

In retrospect, I probably should have taken at least two months off. I should have done a collect and reflect, summarize what was learned from the previous job and how to improve. I would travel to more countries, more continents, meet more interesting people.

There are downsides with time off between jobs : you may not have health insurance and may need to explain to to the future employer; But view it as a gift to yourself, time to recover physically, to learn something you always want to learn and to travel and see the world.