What To Do During Your In-Cube Sabbatical
May 9th, 2007 (12:00pm) Sabra Aaron 7 Comments
We’ve all been there: you’re between major projects because the next project isn’t ready to rev up just yet, because you have a bunch of proposals pending, or because you’re just not sure what your next project should be. I’ve heard this called the in-cube sabbatical, and it happens to creative types in traditional and non-traditional (read web-based) workplaces.
It’s easy to lose momentum during the sabbatical, but there are some tasks you just might want to tackle:
1. Take a moment to reflect on the direction you’re heading. This goes beyond just the Getting Things Done that you might be doing daily, and I’m afraid it requires some deep thought. Are you working on projects that you find engaging, or are you just paying the piper without enjoying the tune? Is your work making you stretch, taking you to places that you want to go, or do you find yourself wondering where you’re going and why you might be in that handbasket? The ever-thoughtful David Seah has written eloquently about this activity, and his musings are worth reading as you consider what you’ve been up to and what you’d really want to be doing.
2. Tidy up physically. Open up those file drawers and consider whether project files from long-completed projects are filled with hidden gold mines of useful insight or notes from dull meetings that weren’t even useful to you when you were actively working on the project. Just imagine: if you are hit by a bus, will people going through your files think, “Gosh, she really has saved the most strategically useful information from her years of work.” Or will it be, “Good grief, didn’t he ever throw anything away?!?”
3. Tidy up electronically. Don’t force yourself into email bankruptcy. Get it together and just confront all the things in your inboxes and assorted folders. While you’re at it, look at those perpetual items on your assorted to-do lists and knock out as many as is humanly possible. You’ll feel an enormous surge of accomplishment, even though you haven’t actually done anything other than basic communication.
4. Give yourself some training. So often web workers are working outside the normal workplace re-education schemes that keep our colleagues up to date on employment law, server virtualization, and the like. Commit to keeping your own skills sharp and filling in the gaps about what you know about your toolset by committing to spend a week or two working through some self-education. Get a teach-dummies-something-in-some-period-of-time-headfirst book and start at the beginning and work through every exercise until you get to the end.
What do you do when you find yourself in the midst of a lull in your work?
7 Comments Post your own comment
dennis parrott says: May 9th, 2007 3:17pm
here’s an easy to implement email tidy-up trick i learned from Russ before he retired recently.
it was Russ’ contention that no matter what email you were hunting for you always ended up using the search tools to find the thing. he felt that no matter how good your folder organization was you were bound to hunt for the email with the search tools.
so Russ then decided he no longer needed to make folder hierarchies by project and topic and … he shifted to two folders other than the inbox; an annual “sent items” folder and an annual “received mail” folder. he NEVER deleted anything (that is a tad anal, who needs those viagra ads and Nigerian scam letters?)
i was driving myself crazy chasing after the “perfect” folder organization. once i adopted Russ’ method, i save time every day over what i used to spend cleaning out my inbox. i use Russ’ sent/rec’vd folders with a very few extras for holding “golden” items (passwords/sw registration numbers/etc.), e-commerce receipts and folders for stuff i get from the copious lists i belong to… it seriously cuts down the amount of thinking i have to do to keep a tidy inbox.
try it…
Johnny says: May 10th, 2007 4:08am
Reading your comment, I can arrest myself here. Over time I have created and sorted my Outlook foldertree to fit my workings. But anyways, too often I need to search to find my whateverIneed. Maybe I should try to just simplyfy and go for your way.
But, I would like to mention something as we’re speaking of this. Right past new year, my jobs, workinglife and I felt, most of it all was a just a big mess. And it was!…
I had almost no conroll over what I needed to do (actuall promised to-dos), planned projects, things to clean up. I’m also a instructor and run a Taekwon-Do martial arts club in my town, and I’ve got a lot to do there to, and I’m actually very dedicated to it. I also needed to seriously get a grip on the economical part.
I’m ALSO working at a hotel in town, only every other weekend. (Gives me time to do some own work at night). One day, I decided (all by my self) that I want to sort out all this…
I wrote and sketched, with pen and paper, ALL my to-dos. Everything, and I do mean everything that was on my mind. That also includes private things, work related, thinks related to training, things I would like to do, if I had the time. Everything.
I then created three main categories: Work, Taekwon-Do and Privat.
Rob says: May 10th, 2007 7:19am
Talk about timing. I had a day just like that yesterday. While I wasn’t between projects, I didn’t have the creative urge to work on them so I re-focused on some of the tasks I’ve been putting off.
I managed to do 2 helpful tasks - I archived all my old mail from my desktop client to gmail (I’m migrating to web based email from desktop) and I updated my personal knowledgebase by migrating more documents online from my data server (again in an effort to be “desktop free”). I also explored Wiki technology to see if that will help me. Interestingly jotspot (which I’ve had an account with for a long time) is becoming very functional. My next day like this I’ll be looking more at jot.
Michael's Thoughts says: May 10th, 2007 10:56am
Daily Report, May 10
Team Collaboration Collanos Workplace 1.1 … Collanos Software released Version 1.1 of Collanos Workplace, its peer-to-peer team collaboration solution. New features: a central user directory of all Collanos users, a way of flagging (and thus resolvin…
next STEPH says: May 10th, 2007 1:43pm
By teaching, I am able to train myself. There is always a former student or colleague from my teaching that eventually needs help with a project.
rationalpsychic says: May 14th, 2007 8:34pm
My “trick” which I have discovered via accidental methodology is to develop a pile of useless papers, folders and other documents 2-3 feet high. When you find you haven’t had to scramble for something in the pile in over a month, you can safely assume that the half-life of all the material in the pile was shorter than you thought. The pile still probably breaks down to 1/3 fileable and 2/3 trashable. Time to correct: under 1 hour. Benefit to tackling this is that it makes you look busy and as if you are turning over a new leaf.
mbedeone says: May 16th, 2007 6:36pm
http://ngadutrafik2007.iblogger.org/