Design your one wild and precious life

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do, with your one wild and precious life?"?

The Summer Day, by Mary Oliver.

Back from a Creative Sabbatical, and I can't recommend it enough!?

I passionately believe more people should experience such a life changing opportunity - to return energised, inspired, possibly enlightened and definitely galvanised to take on the next stage of life.

Sabbaticals challenge the Status Quo of working flat-out through your most physically capable years, while hoping for happiness in retirement.

Not only is it a personally transformative experience, it's good for your organisation too. People returning from Sabbaticals are typically more engaged, resilient, are better creative thinkers and problem solvers. And there's some really interesting research to prove it.?

Check out? DJ DiDonna 's work at the Sabbatical Project . It's a wealth of information, inspiration and resources. I found the stories from Sabbatical Alums particularly inspiring.

I'm often asked about what we learnt from the experience. So I thought I'd share the themes of these sabbatical-life lessons, in the hope that you find it useful for your own 'one wild and precious life'.?

But first, here's two years boiled down into one paragraph:?

We travelled slowly around SE Australia, lockdown hopping through regional and remote areas. Time was spent mainly outdoors; exploring the wilderness; mountain biking; trail running; painting; reading; eating clean and being active everyday. No alarms. No email. No schedule. Indulging in the art of?Being.

For more detail check out the blog? or instagram

Life lessons

After a spot of 'affinity mapping' I've summed up two years of profoundly energising transformational growth, into five themes around time, energy, perspective, balance and ambiguity.

Let's go!??

#1: Valuing time is essential for thriving in both work and life.

Time is perhaps the most valuable and limited, non-renewable resource we possess. And we can never know how much we have, so why don't we value it more?

In his book

In his book "The 4-Hour Work Week," Tim Ferris believes that alternating periods of intense activity with periods of rest and rejuvenation is essential for thriving in both work and life. Capacity, interest and mental endurance wax and wane. Design your life accordingly.

Create time now, and fill it with personally important pursuits: learn things, challenge yourself, create things and travel - do this and it's impossible not to fill life with enrichment.??Being intentional about how we choose to spend our 'one wild and precious life', seems to me, to lead to a more adventurous, fulfilling and purposeful life.?

#2. Tend to mental capacity and creative energy, in the wild

Everyone can relate to flagging energy levels in this hectic world. Like a neglected house plant, our leaves start to wilt. But managing our energy levels is too important to neglect.??

Personal energy influences our effectiveness, how others perceive us, and the way we communicate with others.??Creative energy in particular, is a fundamentally important aspect of ourselves to look after. It fuels innovation, experimentation, design thinking, and problem solving capabilities.?

So collect your saggy leaves and get outside!

For me, the key to restoring mental capacity and creative energy is: forest bathing. Don't worry, it's not as weird as it sounds. Also known as Shinrin-yoku, it's the Japanese practice of immersing oneself in nature and soaking in its atmosphere.??It's about spending quality time in the wilderness either being active or perfectly still and in-the-moment, that has a restorative impact.

#3. Strategically and intentionally design an extraordinary life?

Once mental capacity and creative energy levels are restored, the luxury of time allows space to reflect on what's important in life. Having thrown so much energy into a rewarding and fulfilling career, it's liberating to throw renewed energy into exploring the other dimensions of life.?

Climbing to the north face of Cradle Mountain (Tasmania) we paused on a ledge to take in the sweeping view. Our conversation drifted to the big questions in life: If we could live anywhere, and do anything, what would it be? What does living an extraordinary life look like? What's our next challenge? And the question that always surfaces halfway through a hike: What's for dinner??

Sabbaticals are the perfect time to set about re-designing your life: a strategy for living an extraordinary life. To disengage the auto-pilot of moving through one opportunity to the next, and to think strategically about the next phase of life.?

Personally, this means doing adventurous things, rather than owning desirable things.?Doing?and?Being, rather than?Having.?

#4: The pursuit of balance is a personal obligation?

Ah, the elusive 'work/life' balance - what does that even mean? Having just experienced how good life can be in the absence of stress, I have realised that finding balance is my own responsibility. More than that, it's a personal obligation. It’s a critical part of being inspired, engaged and productive.??

Think of looking after yourself, as if you were someone else that you were responsible for. We need an intentional strategy; to decide on our priorities and boundaries, to look after ourselves, and to recognise the signs for when we need to take a short break or when we need a circuit breaker.

Louise Cox Chester describes it well, in thenowhereoffice :

"…a life well-lived doesn't happen when we're looking the other way…in order to live that life we need to get really intentional."?

I believe the pursuit of balancing work and life is an ongoing process which takes conscious effort and adaption. Priorities change, boundaries will be challenged but it should remain a personal obligation.?

#5. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable: thrive in ambiguity

As someone who loves executing a plan and being organised (I mean, I spreadsheet?everything) travelling through the constantly changing environment of lockdowns and border closures required adopting a completely different approach. And mindset, which actually required some mental effort at first.?

But thriving in ambiguity is a skill worth embracing, particularly when it comes to??personal and professional growth, and perhaps even for building a more resilient and adaptable society.?

“This will be the skill you’ll need to nurture: overcoming your natural instinct for clarity and assurance, getting comfortable with not knowing what’s ahead, making sound decisions and moving forward with confidence, even in the absence of complete information.”

The future of Work will Demand New Skills

I believe that time off gives you the tools for change. Perhaps it’s a combination of a change of pace, and change of perspective, that allows you to look up from the day to day.

Standing now on the other side of this epic adventure, I know we don’t have all the answers but I have so much more clarity about what's important for a fulfilling, three dimensional life. I have the energy to embrace and thrive through the next phase of life.??

I feel like a complete and whole person: fitter, healthier, more centred, energised and inspired.??

And happily, I'm really excited about getting back to work.?

Further Reading

"Time Off Well Spent: A sabbatical manifesto" (Coming Soon)

Hobsbawm, J. "The Nowhere Office" Basic Books. 2022

Ferris,T. "The 4-hour work week" Penguin. 2007 / 2020

Peterson, J.B. "12 Rules for Life" Penguin. 2019