Sabbatical
It’s been 18 months since I left my day job, and I’m happy to say it’s been a pretty good 18 months. In the same time period prior to going solo I went through 3 jobs and lived in 3 different cities. Some say that makes me a little flakey and that it reflects negatively on my “CV”; but to me it shows that I can identify when I’m not enjoying life and that I’m prepared to do something about it. I’m sure we’ve all met people who bitch and moan about their jobs but they never quit, or address the reasons why they’re unhappy. That’s definitely not me ;-).
I’ve reached another one of those moments where I feel like I have to change some things up. It’s a combination of work and personal reasons but right now I feel like I’m just bobbing along; I don’t have any big goals I’m working towards and whilst I’m not unhappy, I’m not particularly happy. I need some time to reflect on life and so I’ll be taking a sabbatical over the next few months.
I’m looking forward to it a lot. I’m planning on spend my programming-cycles finishing off the first release of APRIL and working on some other projects that always came 2nd best to “real work” (I need to put phpevents.com to good use). My eyes are also on some geeky conferences coming up. I’ve booked for Bamboo Juice and can’t wait to spend a week relaxing in Cornwall followed by a fix of geekiness. I’ll also certainly be jumping back on the train and making the next few PHPLondons. Generally it’s going to be some time where I can get some things done without the pressure/distraction of work.
I need to sort out my long term plans too. I’m tired of telling people the same old spiel about Pluggable.
Thanks for asking, things are going great! I’ve got loads of work on at the moment - more than I can manage. I’ve been thinking of expanding, perhaps taking on an employee or bringing in some other freelancers - perhaps a CO-OP thing? Not sure…
Everyone who has asked me “how’s business?” in the last year got that response. I need to shit or get off the pot, either I’m building a business or I’m a freelancer (either is fine, so long as I know wtf I’m doing!).
I’ve never been great at the long term. Ask me what I’m doing in 5 years and I don’t have an answer, the best I’ve got is a vague picture of where I’d like to be by 30 (+3 years). I am however starting to grasp that time does indeed march on, and that it’s worth doing the things that seem small and insignificant in the short term, but which have great value in the long term (and that are only achievable after a long period of time). Sucks, I feel like a grown-up!