The 9 to 5, Priorities, and Why You Should Make Time for Time Off
The Problem & Being Part of It — North American Working Culture
When I first started working I had no idea what to do with myself. I joined a large, well known organization on a one-year contract a few months after graduating, with little idea what kind of role it would be, where it would lead me, or where I wanted to go. I found myself working on one of the largest IT projects in the world at the time, with consultants from more than one of the ‘Big 4’. Standard corporate culture was prevalent. Working long hours was common, encouraged, and recognized.
Being new I went along with it, often spending my evenings and weekends building reports, writing & executing test scripts, reading documentation, and reading/replying to emails regularly after 10:00 pm. When I got a new phone, the first thing I would do is setup my work email & notifications. I had little experience or truly tangible skills, so I thought working harder and longer was the only way to prove my worth. As someone struggling to figure out their place in the professional world, I was also grasping for any form of positive feedback, so my behaviour was reinforced with the dopamine rush of praise and acknowledgement for putting in extra hours & replying to emails quickly.
It was also ingrained in me that ‘success’ meant getting a good job at a good company, having a car, buying a house, getting married, having kids, and working until retirement. It’s what my parents and everyone in my family did, it’s what my friends’ parents did, and it’s what everyone around me was doing or aspiring to do. Both friends & colleagues have told me at some point, directly or indirectly, that if they don’t hit those milestones — often by a specific age — then they won’t feel successful. This notion is so pervasive it even extends to dating apps — it was not uncommon for a girl’s Tinder profile to read “if you don’t have a car then don’t talk to me”.
I wasn’t happy — but for a long time, I didn’t question it. I told myself:
“This is the ‘real world’ — this is what I need to do to be ‘successful’. I’ve got a great job, I can probably get a permanent role after this contract. Then I can buy myself a car to ease the commute, and eventually buy my own place. I would be stupid to give this up.”
But questions eventually did start to creep into my mind as I pondered how the next 40 years might play out. Was I supposed to have fun when I retired? Would it still be fun when I’m 65? More importantly — will I still be the same person when I’m 65?
Aside from that — I was well aware of my shortcomings as a person — I struggled with social anxiety and depression and I knew that if I carried on with business as usual, I wouldn’t grow as a person. I decided that I couldn’t let myself get too comfortable and risk an unsatisfying and predictable life.
So instead of staying where I was and hoping for the best, I left and took some time off, which turned out to be a major catalyst for change.
A bit of Context
I’m a career business analyst — a project manager, documentation author, tester, data analyst, user trainer, and more. The role is as diverse as the projects & companies that employ us. I’m currently taking a year off from this career to travel, learn new things, meet new people, explore new opportunities, and just enjoy life. I like to think of it as a life experiment — what could, or would I do if I had a year of almost complete control of my time?
One thing I want to emphasize is that I am not doing this because I hate my job or feel stressed. In recent years, I’ve enjoyed positive work environments, friendly colleagues, a solid work/life balance and more often than not, enjoyed the projects I’ve worked on. But, it hasn’t always been that way.
The story I’d like to share is about the experiences that led me to make the decision to take time off and the shifts in my perspective that made me feel that it is not only possible, but valuable and worth the investment. I use the word ‘investment’ in a literal sense — aside from giving up a year’s worth of salary — life is not cheap no matter what you do to mitigate the costs. However, the goal of taking an entire year off your job is not as unrealistic as many people think, though I can guarantee that one must evaluate one’s own life’s priorities and make sacrifices to make it happen.
This is largely aimed at a North American/Western audience and coming from an extremely privileged position. I am not rich. What I mean is that if I spent every penny I have to make this time off happen, I’ll still have a Canadian passport, somewhere to call home, and the skills to find a decent job. I have a tremendous safety net. I understand that not everyone has that, but many of us in developed countries do. I also come from a white, non-religious family, and understand that there are differing cultural pressures depending on your background. I am not suggesting the path I’ve taken is superior in any way — just one of many possible paths.
My First Experience with Time Off & How it Changed Me
I first went to the East Coast of Canada with a friend and then did some traveling alone — the first time I’d done so. It was frightening in some ways but it was an important first step because it made me realize that I could accomplish something that I previously thought I could not.
As trivial as it may seem to some, I got on a plane alone for the first time, I forced myself to go to social gatherings alone where I knew no one, and I ate alone in restaurants; all things I feared. I mention this because I’ve heard time and again from friends that they won’t eat at a restaurant or travel somewhere because they “couldn’t find someone to go with them”. But whether it’s going to a restaurant alone, or taking time off work, I think a change in perception was important in making either happen. To be honest, if I hadn’t taken that time off and had those experiences, I’m not sure I would have even built the social and emotional resilience required to make the next steps work.
When I returned, I decided to take another big step outside my comfort zone — I moved to another country. I chose the UK because Canadians could get a two year working holiday visa and because of the relative familiarity and common language. It would still be different, new, but not so overwhelming as it might have been to move to a more culturally different country. I’m sharing this because to me, travel in some form is an extension of, or at least complimentary to, taking time off. At the very least, time off makes travel possible.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
– Mark Twain, ‘The Innocents Abroad’
A Shift in Perspective
My first job in the UK had a similar work culture to what I’d experienced before — people were encouraged to work late & pushed to deliver more, faster. NO ONE seemed happy. Within a few months, my entire team left or was replaced, save for one person.
My next role was at a smaller company — I was still anxious to prove myself, so for the first week I made sure I was the last one to leave the office. My manager would leave before me and ask “Why are you still here?” I was confused at first, then began to wonder — is there another way? I started working regular hours — my manager encouraged it. Yes — there were times we worked late for releases, but we had a great team, so it usually just felt like hanging out with friends. I began to see that there was another way — I could do a great job and enjoy life.
It was a hard adjustment at first — I took my work email off my phone, but still found myself frequently thinking about projects while off the clock. Perhaps it was a symptom of my inexperience — I was often concerned with whether I knew enough to handle the job at hand. Over time though, it got better. I realized that learning on the job is a natural part of professional progression and the expectation to work outside regular hours at this point was self imposed.
By the time I got to my next job at another large company based in Amsterdam, I’d shut down everything by 5. After that, I didn’t have a care in the world until I got back into the office the next morning. I was fortunate to have a series of great bosses that helped to foster this (thanks @ Misbhah, Graham, Nathan!).
After 4 years in Europe I returned to Canada and eventually moved into financial services. It was here the culture of overwork started to become apparent again. Co-workers would frequently tell me that they were ‘too busy to eat lunch’. Too busy to eat. And they were proud of it! Proud to say they’d spent all day in meetings or on conference calls, proud to admit they stayed at the office until 11:00 pm the night before or worked all weekend to hit a deadline. But what became apparent to me was in fact they were either poor at managing their time and/or horrible at defining their priorities. I knew this because I’d done it myself — working harder/longer was the easiest way to attempt to prove and show my value. But my newfound experience made me realize that it wasn’t worth it, necessary, or even effective. I’d learned that defining clear boundaries between my work and life enabled me to do better work, more efficiently, largely because I was no longer exhausted, stressed, or unable to partake in my usual leisure activities.
Getting Off the High Horse
Again, I do not mean to imply that pursuing an “alternative” lifestyle is the only way to enjoy a work/life balance. If the Uni/Car/Marriage/House/Kids milestones are what matter most to you, then you should pursue them! I only mention it because the divergent path I took is what helped me understand the value of time off and led me to figure out what success really means to me.
Define your own rules for success. For me, it’s a life filled with travel, new friends, new experiences and a meaningful career that enables me to achieve all this.
About Priorities
We all have them.
I’ve had conversations with coworkers that talk for months leading up to a two-week trip abroad like it’s the only and best thing in their life they have to look forward to. They’ll spend thousands to stay in hotels, eat in nice restaurants, visit tourist attractions, etc. Then when they speak to me about my plans to take a year off, they say off-handed things like calling me “Mr. Moneybags” and that “not everyone can afford to do that”.
Actually — I don’t have much money. What I do have is a different set of clear priorities for myself. Many people choose to use a car over transit, spend thousands on a wedding, and take on a mortgage and that’s fine. It’s up to you to decide what’s important to you and what you value. But I chose a different path, and in my experience, saving up and taking time off was worth it for me. If time off is as important to you as it is to me but you have no savings, then why not sell your car and rent your home if those are major barriers?
On Being Too “Busy”
Being busy means you’re hardworking, competent, valued, and important — right? Ask yourself: is being ‘busy’ a good thing? Is being busy the only way to a promotion or a higher salary? If so — is it worth the grind (sometimes for years) to get there? When does it end? Will you have fun when you retire?
The same people that have told me they work too many hours, don’t like their role or the company they work for, I’ve also seen putting their stress & anger about a project onto their colleagues. On multiple occasions I’ve witnessed grown adults shouting openly at their colleagues — probably from the stress of being too busy. Is there still a place for that sort of thing in the workplace?
Further to the point — if you dislike your job, consider why you are so invested in the success of the company’s project which (very likely) advances none of your personal interests. Most of the time, the worst case scenario is a financial loss for the corporation — a nearly inescapable reality of any large project.
On an existential note: we’re all on a giant spinning rock flying through space and slowly discovering the mysteries of the universe. Do you really want to waste your days worrying about not adding a new function to some information system and making others feel bad for it? To get some perspective, I would strongly encourage you to watch:
Pale Blue Dot
The Overview Effect
Yes — I do attempt to do my job to the best of my ability — but I don’t think that anyone should be treated poorly because of failing to meet corporate objectives.
Consider the items that make you the most busy, are they actually adding value or are they just an easy way to create perceived productivity (endless meetings anyone?). Here’s one scenario (of many like it) that happened during my career.
A couple executives wanted more granular reporting on project status and reached out to a contract consultant with the request, who in turn immediately mobilized the project team without question.
Now consider the following — what value is this report adding? To fulfill the request, it would require 2 resources for 1 hour each daily, an annual cost of around $30,000 per year. It may not seem like much — but an alternative was available — the project team could produce an automated report which would fulfill 80% of the executives needs and could be completed with about 30 minutes of effort.
The automated report was rejected for 2 reasons — the generated report could not be viewed on mobile (a preference of the executives), and they were used to having information pushed to them, rather than having to pull up a dashboard or report.
What will likely happen now is that report will carry on indefinitely, without question, whether the executives that originally requested it have time to view it or extract value from it. Those project resources might leave and hand over the task to their replacements, and at some point, I would wonder if anyone even knows why they’re building that report anyway — a few years and six figures later…
In another instance, a highly qualified colleague, also with a six figure salary, was responsible for generating one report. All day. Every day. For years. The only reason we found out about it was because he was transitioning to a new role and it was our job to decipher the process for generating the report so that we could document and reproduce it. It was a complete mess of a massive Excel document and in the end we just decided it wasn’t worth it. No one really seemed to care that they wouldn’t be getting the report anymore.
The Opportunity Cost of Not Taking Time Off
I spoke earlier about the investment required to take time off, mostly in the loss of earned income — but what of the opportunity cost of not taking time off? If I kept my job and continued down my logical career path, where would I be in 10 years? Would I have found the time or energy to work on passion projects? Would I have been able to explore the world the same way? Would I have been able to maintain, build, or create relationships in the same way? Would I have the energy or inclination to explore new interests?
I’m sure I would have done all of the above to some extent, but I can tell you from personal experience it’s far easier to get up every morning and learn about cooking and try new breakfast recipes when I don’t need to worry about a commute to the office or upcoming morning meetings. My girlfriend will tell you that my ability to make a French omelette, oatmeal banana pancakes, or even pumpkin pie pancakes has come a long way — and yes those are skills I’m happy to continue developing.
This free time has also afforded me the ability to develop tangible professional skills — something which I personally value quite a bit. Since coming home, friends & recent graduates have asked for my input when related to their own plans for moving abroad or taking time off. There are of course exceptions to every rule, but my golden rule has always been to focus on having valued skills before taking risks. A big concern that many have — myself included — is the potential impact to one’s career when taking a less than linear path.
Consider if I had moved to the UK immediately after university instead of getting a year of experience first — what kind of job would I have found? I very much doubt I would have grown the skills or had the confidence required to secure a professionally related job. I think — more than likely — I would have done what literally everyone else in my peer group did, and find a job as a waiter or waitress, dishwasher, tour guide, or other service role. While there is nothing wrong with that — had I done it myself, I fear for what my job prospects would have been if & when I decided to return home.
While I do think everyone should explore the possibility of taking time off, I also think one should carefully consider the timing. Personally, I don’t think I would have been comfortable doing it a few years ago, regardless of my financial ability to do so at the time.
Why I’m Taking Time Off
First & foremost — it’s an absolute privilege. I feel as though I’ve been handed a golden ticket and I would feel remorse to let it go to waste. How many people in their adult life — even those relatively well off — can say that they have had the opportunity, or if given the opportunity, would take an entire year off? If you had a year of complete control over your time — what would you do?
Yes — I have sacrificed some opportunities on a North American scale — there’s a good chance I’d be further along in my career, probably own property, and probably have a more stable life overall, had I just stayed in Canada and kept working. I’ve had a point in my life where I’ve fished for change in order to afford food for the week, I’ve worried about paying rent, and I’ve worried about finding a new job as a result of the decisions I made.
But I’ve never truly worried about feeding myself, having somewhere to sleep, or (aside from being threatened once at knife-point), feared for my safety. So, what do I really have to worry about? Especially now that I have years of professional experience & having overcome major personal obstacles. Is being broke and not having a car really that big of a deal?
I value the experiences that I’ve had and the relationships that I’ve formed more than anything and I want the next 30–40 years of my life to be an adventure. This is literally how I feel every time I get on a plane:
Why You Should Take Time Off
I want to encourage everyone to do this exercise. Where were you 10 years ago? Even 5 years ago? If you knew then what you know now, what would you do differently? How can you apply what you’ve learned since then? It’s never too late to take advantage of your new abilities.
When reflecting on my own handicaps or mishaps during my time in Europe:
- A horrendous first day in London
- Very little professional experience and poor job prospects
- A quickly diminishing bank account
- Social anxiety so bad that I lived more than an hour East of London for my first 6 months so I could afford to live alone
- Sometimes having to fish for change in order to afford a can of beans for dinner
- Later moving to Amsterdam & being unable to afford rent — only being able to stay by the graciousness of those I’d just met. (Thank you Harri, Jana, Katie, Leandro, Nathalie, Elisa, and any others who helped me through that time!)
Considering all these obstacles and more, I was still able to accomplish 4 great years in Europe where I made countless lasting friendships, had exciting new experiences, forced myself out of the worst parts of my social anxiety, discovered new foods, new places, new passions, and built on my professional experience in a few diverse roles.
When I left Canada my friends & family mostly advised me against leaving — I had a good salary job and yes, when I came back to Canada I had less than no money, I had no car, I had no house, I had no long term relationship like most of my friends now had. However, I would never trade the experience I had abroad for anything.
The point that I am trying to make is that at that point in time, I had many disadvantages that I do not have now:
- I’m more able to connect with people (though I realize that still needs work)
- I have years more of professional experience
- I’ve learned about new ways to approach problems, both in life and in work
- I have far greater financial stability
Given all of these new advantages — whatever they may be in your own context — what can you do now? What could you do with a year’s worth of time? 6 months? 3 months?
Thinking of Actually Taking some Time Off?
Risk Assessment 101
Before deciding whether you should take time off, for whatever period of time, it’s a good idea to think about what your personal risk tolerance is and perform at least a basic risk assessment.
An approachable strategy that I think almost anyone can do is to consider your possible options and for each prepare what is called a “risk probability matrix”. Basically — what are the risks associated with that decision? For each risk, what is the probability of it coming to pass and if it does — what is the potential impact?
If one option is to take a year off, an obvious risk is running out of money. Based on your plans for that year, your recurring expenses, the cost of living in your city or cities of choice, and your own personal standard of living, how likely is that to occur? In this scenario, if you do run out of money, you might want to consider the impact — if you have children to care for & a mortgage to pay, the impact to your life would obviously be high and perhaps not a risk worth taking. However, you might determine that your skills are so highly in demand that you can get a well-paying job on very short notice, and may consider this a risk of lower probability.
Once you’ve defined all your risks, you can come up with strategies to prevent, mitigate, or eliminate your risks. In the scenario above, you may decide to shorten the time off to 6 months instead of one year, or you may choose to live in Hanoi or Mexico City instead of London or New York. Or you might decide to commit 1–2 months of that year to pick up a contract gig or part time work.
My personal preference is to perform this exercise with a whiteboard, but any piece of paper will do. Here’s a sample matrix from ExamsPM.com:
Planning for Utilization of Time Off
I didn’t want to go into this year without any ideas about what to do with all the free time, and I would not advise anyone to do so. It was a very serious concern for me that I could get caught up in the minutiae of daily life or the endless stream of great new content being delivered to me by Netflix, Youtube, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Nintendo, Sony, etc. etc.
I took some time to think about my personal goals, starting very broad and later narrowing them down and getting more specific, drawing inspiration from Max Frenzel’s ‘How to Achieve Your Ambitions in the New Year’. That said — learn from my mistakes and be flexible — 1 year is simply too long of a planning horizon. I had booked some flights 7 months in advance with the intention of saving money, but changes in my personal life led me to cancel or change most of them. I’ve also scrapped some of my original goals in favour of new obsessions I’ve found along the way.
The point is — try not to take it too seriously — if you do manage to take time off, the most important thing is to enjoy the experience.
If anyone cares to share their own ideas about what they’d do with a year off, please leave a comment!
