Have you experienced 'The Dead Years'?
I describe this period, lasting from months to years, as time away from your passions and interests. For instance, you may experience dead years from your pursuits like exercise or novel writing due to a busy work schedule, family obligations, or prolonged study. I learnt of this term from talented and clever magician, Allan Ackerman in his book 'Las Vegas Kardma'.
I experienced my dead years in magic - electing not to perform for three years, and occasionally in public (to my students). However, I did continue to practise my Art from time to time. Having said that, when I practised, I fully committed myself to my task of learning or revising my material.
We do experience 'down time' in our lives, and when cleverly planned and integrated, we recover from fatigue and potential burnout. If unplanned and unaware about it, it can rob us of precious time, resources and connectivity with others.
It is fine to take the occasional break (away from the mundane and predictable), however be mindful of the imminent and immediate future. How can we turn our restful period into the next restless period? This is merely a 'punctuated moment' in our schedule (called 'life'), and we need to string the 'words into a sentence', or we will be sentenced into stasis and inertia. Explore new ways to do the same thing. Find new joy or discipline in our habits. Or, better still, create new patterns of behavior and live life in fruitful ways. Creativity can be described as new perspectives or new ways of looking at the same thing.
Leadership Lessons: Recall your dead years. How long did it last? How did move past them, and moved forwards? When do you decide to slow things down and re-prioritise? What did you learn from periods of forced rest or hiatus?
I describe this period, lasting from months to years, as time away from your passions and interests. For instance, you may experience dead years from your pursuits like exercise or novel writing due to a busy work schedule, family obligations, or prolonged study. I learnt of this term from talented and clever magician, Allan Ackerman in his book 'Las Vegas Kardma'.
I experienced my dead years in magic - electing not to perform for three years, and occasionally in public (to my students). However, I did continue to practise my Art from time to time. Having said that, when I practised, I fully committed myself to my task of learning or revising my material.
We do experience 'down time' in our lives, and when cleverly planned and integrated, we recover from fatigue and potential burnout. If unplanned and unaware about it, it can rob us of precious time, resources and connectivity with others.
It is fine to take the occasional break (away from the mundane and predictable), however be mindful of the imminent and immediate future. How can we turn our restful period into the next restless period? This is merely a 'punctuated moment' in our schedule (called 'life'), and we need to string the 'words into a sentence', or we will be sentenced into stasis and inertia. Explore new ways to do the same thing. Find new joy or discipline in our habits. Or, better still, create new patterns of behavior and live life in fruitful ways. Creativity can be described as new perspectives or new ways of looking at the same thing.
Leadership Lessons: Recall your dead years. How long did it last? How did move past them, and moved forwards? When do you decide to slow things down and re-prioritise? What did you learn from periods of forced rest or hiatus?
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