Up until two years ago my job meant, among other things, participating in a lot of events, meeting lots of people, talking to lots of people and, generally, consuming lots of energy by entertaining people around me. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it, but the thing is, from time to time, I would get completely burnt out.
So I needed to accept, at some point, that you can’t do everything, all the time, at the highest energy level. That you would need, from time to time, to recharge.
This is how I came over the “me” time. “Me time” is defined as a specific period of time (it can be from an hour to several days) when I am being as selfish as I can be, when I don’t care what happens in the outside world. Business or personal (family, friends, whatever). Unless something REALLY, REALLY bad happens, I will not be available for anything besides what I REALLY want to do.
And what is that, you might ask? Well, mostly playing computer games, go to movies, go on short trips (I’m more interested in the driving, not the destination). I also read books I postponed reading – SF books, mostly (btw, did you read The City and the city? great, entertaining book). Or I just walk around, thinking of stuff.
Up until two years ago (before MavenHut), I would have those moments whenever I felt like it, now I try to “schedule” them every other weekend, at least. And the thing is, my productivity goes through the roof after these “me moments”. Moreover, the best ideas I’ve had (business or otherwise) come as a result of these reflection times.
So, what’s the conclusion to an otherwise incoherent Saturday blog post?
Take some “me time”. You’ll love it :)
