Design Thought Leader

May 30, 2010

Frog Design’s Creative Director Denise Gershbein on Creative Regeneration in The Sabbatical

“It’s amazing how, when you’re alone and things are quiet, hours can seem like days. By the end of day two, I noticed that I was relaxing into the rhythms of my own intellect in relation to the time of day. Without meetings to attend or emails to answer, I discovered that the early hours of the morning were ideal for creating, thinking, and synthesizing. Midday was great for physical exertion and a break from mental tasks. The latter part of my day was best spent seeking inspiration by reading or listening to music. I saw that most of my days at work were scheduled in exactly the wrong way, spending my vital creative hours fighting fires and ignoring the times when I really needed to sit back.

I spent my remaining time off drawing, writing, and thinking; the same way in which I’d hope to spend a generative sabbatical. I slowed down and realized that what I had been working on, although hard, was exactly the right thing. Once I got away from the grind and back in touch with my own voice, I realized that I still liked myself and my job, and that what I needed was just a small note of self-appreciation.

It’s six months later. I’m not on a sabbatical as I write these lines. But I’ve held on to much of the goodness I found back then, such as trying to incorporate my natural rhythm into my work tasks and keeping the passion for the subject matter at the forefront of whatever I do. Yet I long for another sabbatical, a longer one or more frequent short ones. Part of me wonders whether, if I took an extended generative sabbatical, I would discover some other, deeper, better passion … one that I suspect but can’t confirm while embedded in the place I’ve chosen. For all these reasons, I say the purpose of any sabbatical is to press our boundaries, reconnect our inner narratives, and ask ourselves the dangerous questions—all the while adding quality to our lives… .”

Source: The Sabbatical: Why should you take time off?

Labels: Creativity