I've taken a few different "retirement" periods in my life, each lasting about 1-2 years.
The first one, I intended to write, but ended up playing World of Warcraft. The second one, I significantly improved my coding skills (I was primarily doing finance immediately before this, and as a result of this period, my career became concentrated in product management + data + BI). The the third one I spent learning to trade. I even flirted with starting a hedge fund for a bit, but have since backed off those ambitions. I'm currently back at a full time job doing data + BI + finance + product for a small startup.
My biggest takeaways from all these experiences:
1. That kind of freedom is challenge in and of itself. It's amazing to have 12-18 months to dig in deep into a new area (I call these my self-directed masters programs). The feeling of freedom and mastery can't be beat--but most people can't sit in a room by themselves 8-10 hours a day and not go crazy or just waste it on distractions. That in itself is a skill. My first attempt ended up in gaming instead of writing, which turned out okay--but I still wonder where I could have ended up if I had my current level of ability to stay on course.
2. No matter what you do, if you go deep into an area, it seems to add to your overall career progression (for example, I got into video-game product management largely because of my year playing WoW). I doubt you can do nothing--or anything--but at least for me, my desire to want to learn something seemed to be guiding light enough.
3. It's really lonely. Like in undergrad or my MBA, I was learning a ton of new stuff--but unlike those times, there were few people in my life to share the journey with. People were either busy/disinterested or much further along. I really wish I had understood the value of being part of a cohort when I had the chance.
4. I should have spent more time working out. At my age now, I can't believe I found it so hard to dedicated 5-10 hours a week for exercise, especially when my body responded so readily to it (compared to now--I guess youth is wasted on the young once again).
5. Going back and forth between these times and full-time jobs is a great way to level-up and then lock in a new backstop for your next career move. Adding in a little consulting also makes the interviewing story better and gives you some real-world problems to tackle with the new skills you're developing.
The first one, I intended to write, but ended up playing World of Warcraft. The second one, I significantly improved my coding skills (I was primarily doing finance immediately before this, and as a result of this period, my career became concentrated in product management + data + BI). The the third one I spent learning to trade. I even flirted with starting a hedge fund for a bit, but have since backed off those ambitions. I'm currently back at a full time job doing data + BI + finance + product for a small startup.
My biggest takeaways from all these experiences:
1. That kind of freedom is challenge in and of itself. It's amazing to have 12-18 months to dig in deep into a new area (I call these my self-directed masters programs). The feeling of freedom and mastery can't be beat--but most people can't sit in a room by themselves 8-10 hours a day and not go crazy or just waste it on distractions. That in itself is a skill. My first attempt ended up in gaming instead of writing, which turned out okay--but I still wonder where I could have ended up if I had my current level of ability to stay on course.
2. No matter what you do, if you go deep into an area, it seems to add to your overall career progression (for example, I got into video-game product management largely because of my year playing WoW). I doubt you can do nothing--or anything--but at least for me, my desire to want to learn something seemed to be guiding light enough.
3. It's really lonely. Like in undergrad or my MBA, I was learning a ton of new stuff--but unlike those times, there were few people in my life to share the journey with. People were either busy/disinterested or much further along. I really wish I had understood the value of being part of a cohort when I had the chance.
4. I should have spent more time working out. At my age now, I can't believe I found it so hard to dedicated 5-10 hours a week for exercise, especially when my body responded so readily to it (compared to now--I guess youth is wasted on the young once again).
5. Going back and forth between these times and full-time jobs is a great way to level-up and then lock in a new backstop for your next career move. Adding in a little consulting also makes the interviewing story better and gives you some real-world problems to tackle with the new skills you're developing.