My Sabbatical

Deliberate Practice and the Art of Getting Better

Scott — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:39:32 +0000

Source: Tulane Public Relations at flickr

I am currently listening to an audio book (from audible.com) called “Talent is Overrated” by Geoff Colvin. I started off disagreeing with the author on some of his key points, but giving the book a chance and listening to it all the way through has changed my mind somewhat. How does it relate to sabbaticals? It does, and I’ll address that at the end. (Without purchasing the book, you can get a good understanding of the topic by reading this Fortune Magazine article “Secrets of Greatness” by the same author.)

First the premise: there is no such thing as natural born talent. You are not born to be a great golfer, artist, singer, actor, or computer programmer. All 1-day old babies have equal abilities in this regard.

But somewhere along the way, Picasso picked up a brush, Tiger Woods picked up a golf club (or more specifically was given one), and Mozart started composing music.

This might sound outrageous at first. Tiger Woods is naturally talented right? If I had a baby tomorrow, I could not hope to turn him into as good a golfer as Tiger Woods, no matter what I did, except if I got extremely lucky right? It turns out, anyone can craft their child to be the next Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods was born with nothing special that you and I were not born with.

I happened to believe, before I started listening to this book, that there is a combination of factors that make any athlete or artist (or anyone else) great. You have some natural ability, you have opportunity to develop it, you are dedicated to developing it, throw in some luck, and then you become great.

But it turns out, there may be no such thing as natural ability. Tiger was watching his dad swing the golf club in his high chair, his dad had him swinging his first club at 18 months, from before he could walk he could hit a ball, and magically 17 years later (which is a LONG time to practice), he becomes the youngest winner of the Junior Championship. But Tiger Woods probably played more golf before he was 4 years old than I have in my entire life. What if my father made me practice golf many hours a day? Would I be pretty good by now? Geoff Colvin thinks I would, and I now agree.

Its more than working hard though. After all the PGA tour is made up of many golfers, but most of them will never win The Masters, yet Tiger does it year after year. It is not just the number of hours or number of years spent practicing apparently. Colvin suggests that what the high performers in any profession have in common is deliberate practice. It’s not 1 million swings of the golf club that make you great. You have to work on specific things, with a specific purpose.

You have to work the 3-iron specifically for hours, in real tall grass, aiming at a target, correcting your swing if you miss, adjusting it slightly, trying to get it perfect. Video tape yourself, have a teacher examine your swing. After every bad shot, go over it in your mind and deconstruct what happened. When the ball leaves the tee, you should instinctively know how the shot is going to go, since you know if you executed your swing perfectly. Did your hips rotate? Hitting balls blindly is not helpful in and of itself. Deliberate practice.

Deliberate practice should not be fun. Think about the violinist that spends days practicing moving their hand (transitioning) from low on the violin neck to high. Working on the smoothness. Trying to do it quickly and smoothly without any interruption in play. They do this over and over and over. It’s no fun. They’re not playing any specific piece of music. Not part of an orchestra at that moment. They’re practicing alone. And they’re working on their transitions today. Or this week. Or this month.

How does that apply to me and my goal?

Well, what this means is that any level of performance in anything is attainable by anyone. So let’s say I want to travel, and need some income coming in to do that. There are people out there who do quite well with their online web sites. Is that out of reach for me? No. Given time, and practicing in the right way, I can achieve that too.

The people currently doing what I want to be doing have no God-given talents that I cannot acquire. I simply need to identify the skills, and work on them deliberately. Things need to be measured. When I publish an article, does it get commented on? What articles do and do not? Are my tweets being retweeted? What if I change the headline slightly, does that change my success? What if I tweaked this? I need to be able to predict in advance the outcome before I hit the publish key.

I think in one month I should be able to get some type of online income coming in. Even $3 a month. In 3 months, that should be high enough so that checks reach my mail box every month. In six, it should be a reasonable amount. And in 12 months of intentional, deliberate practice, there’s no reason why I can’t reach my goal. Anything is possible.

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Is 2010 the Year of Nothing? Or the Year it All Comes Together?

Scott — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:05:54 +0000

Source: fainmen at flickr

Here I sit, in the middle of February, looking out at the year ahead. Our goal is still, as the blog tagline suggests, “six months in a warm locale.” We pretty much have the locale nailed down. The timing, however, is not looking good.

First September 2010. Then November 2010.

The latest date in our minds? Pushes it into 2011.

Like, next year.

Ugh.

Why so long? Well, part of it is practical. We want to spend winter in a warm locale – no sense spending summer there and coming back to Canada for the snow and cold weather. And winter in Canada is almost over now. So it’s next winter. And then we want to be here for Christmas and New Years, to be with our families instead of having to interrupt our vacation to come back, or worse, miss it. Plus May and June are lovely times in Spain. So the plan is early next year. January or February 2011, coming back in May or June.

So where does that leave us for 2010? No vacation. Working. Saving, getting things ready.

There are still decisions to be made. What is my wife going to do with her job of 20 years? What am I going to do with mine of 6? How do we take this break? Will they let us?

Those are not easy decisions. As with anything, having time is both a blessing and a curse. If we were leaving next month, the decision would be easier somehow, the decision might be different. With a year, we have time to plan and make things smoother. Time passes quickly (second week of February!) so it’s not as much as we think.

And so, there we are. 2010. Happy New Year! Gong Hai Fat Choi! Now get back to work, making 2011 happen.

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Sabbaticals May Only Be Part of the Overall Picture

Scott — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 22:53:49 +0000

Source: euart at flickr

If you are thinking about taking significant time away from work (or at least away from your usual work), it may be interesting to step back a little and see if you’re also thinking about making other changes to your life. Perhaps they’re related. Perhaps a trip is not just a trip, but a change in attitude.

The traditional way to live your life – as taught to us as children by our parents and by 1960’s TV shows – is that you go to school, meet a nice girl or boy, graduate, marry, have three kids, live in a nice white picket fence home, and work for 40 years until the age of 65, after which you promptly take up golf or knitting. Then you die, and people will remember you as… well, they will call you charming and sweet.

Anything that deviates from that plan, including taking one or more significant breaks from work to go backpack through Europe or live in the Australian outback, is considered a radical departure from the way you are supposed to do it. You get 3 weeks of vacation a year, and that’s the end of that. If you will stay 20 years, we will up it to 5 weeks. All subject to approval by your boss as long as no one else in your department has booked that time off already.

So the people that tend to take sabbaticals away from that traditional model, for instance by taking 2 years to travel from Alaska to Argentina by bicycle as a family, also tend to have other areas of their life they prefer to do differently that the norm too. Those people tend to be self-employed – sometimes through necessity, but mostly through the dislike of being told what to do and when. Six months in the south of Spain fades quickly away (to the point of disappearing from view) when you head back to work, and are working under intense deadlines, stress, working til midnight every night, working weekends, and generally counting the seconds to the next time you can go away.

Now there are people who like their regular jobs, who don’t feel it is such a burden or overly stressful, and that’s fine too. But consider this appropriate warning. My view is that there are three type of rats in the world: rats in a cage who don’t know they are in a cage, rats in a cage who know they are, and free rats. The worst off of the three is the second rat: being in a cage and knowing it. Once you spent a year being a free rat, you don’t want to go back in the cage. Another way to look at it, with less rat metaphors, is the movie The Matrix. Once you take the red pill, you are forever altered.

My view is that people who conciously choose to live life differently in this way – outside the traditional 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, 50 weeks a year, 40 years model – also are conscious about other things they do. They eat better, are a bit healthier than the general population. I’d love to see some research to back this up, and I am sure there are a fair number of people who do nothing but sit on a couch all day eating ice cream while they are off work. But to make this a conscious choice implies doing something other than nothing. Most workers don’t do anything during the week. They work, they go home and watch TV, they sleep. On the weekends, they go to the mall to buy stuff their kids don’t need.

Time away from work also implies free time to improve the other areas of your life. I have heard people say they have more time for family (parents, siblings, other relatives) when they are away then when they are at home. Certainly I called my own mother every week when we were in Spain last year, and sad to say only speak to her monthly when I am in the same city as her. I sent more catching up emails to friends too. Was more interactive online. Hopefully I was more interesting to them too!

It goes without saying having more time for your spouse and children strengthens that bond (for most, haha). And if you have room in your life for more friends, travelling can definitely broaden your friendship circle from your “school and work friends”, to “worldwide”. Which is a pretty big circle to draw from.

So once you start down this path, expect some unintended benefits. You may improve your work and career with a way to make as much as you did before with less work. You may improve your own budgeting and handling of money instead of wasting it. You may lose weight and get in better shape by eating better and being more active. You may strengthen your family ties and friendships since you are able to devote a bit more time to that.

So you may think all you are doing is planning your next long trip, but what you may be doing is changing your life.

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Sacrifice

Annual Review: 2009 Was the Start of Something

Scott — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 22:41:58 +0000

Source: flydime at flickr

Feb 9 Update: I found that post I was looking for. Linked below as well.

I was inspired by Nora Dunn’s The Professional Hobo 2009 annual review to create one of my own. Of course, I did not lead as exciting a life as Nora did, since this blog basically started a year ago. So without further ado…

The blog launched in January, and by then I already knew I was taking some time off work in the spring. We had a number of friends and aquaintances pass away late in 2008 – a really odd cluster of several in a row looking back – and that led to the decision to change our lives, which led to this blog being launched.

In February, I was deep in the planning stages. Laying out a calendar, I had put city names in several spots, making sure we had enough time in each place and not too much time. We had made the decision to try to do a whole month in a single villa, and February was when we started making inquiries to various owners using a UK holiday web site. Bank drafts were sent to the landlords, and reservations were set in concrete.

March was a blur, the checks were received in the UK and Spain, and plans were finalized. Final plane tickets were secured. Car was rented. Oh yeah, we also sold our condo that month just as we were pulling it off the market.

We left for our trip at the end of April. A slight mix up on my part caused me to have a hotel reservation in Barcelona a night earlier than we actually arrived. No cancellations or changes allowed, so in effect we arrived in Spain a day before we actually did.

May was spent in Barcelona, Madrid, and Nerja. All three places had their charms. We loved Barcelona. What a magical city. And Nerja stole our heart with it’s quaint sea-side charms. Waking up with the view to the Mediterranean blew us away. We spent the final week of May in Portugal, another wonderful place. I’m running out of superlatives.

We started June off in Javea, a small city in Spain that’s closest to Ibiza. We enjoyed Ibiza, but not the boat ride. Flying next time. We really enjoyed Valencia, which is an up-and-coming city about 90 minutes drive from Javea. A recent picture of the week highlighted Valencia.

We came back down to real life, Toronto, in June as well. Back to work at the end of June. Starting on setting the next goal in life.

By July, I had made my mind up. “My goal is to spend six months a year in Spain. And six months a year here.” There it is in black and white. You can call that an epiphany I guess. We really want to do this. Or at least try it. My most popular post of the year also happened in July, “How Long Can You Stay in One Place“? Visas are always a thorny issue I guess.

In August, I thought I was on to something with my idea to get into the t-shirt business. There is big money in t-shirts, and people definitely buy them online. There are several popular sites now, including http://shirt.woot.com and http://threadless.com. Ultimately though, I didn’t have the passion to see it through. I still might come back to the idea of selling a product online, but for now, Your Mom Shirts is gonna have to wait a bit.

September had me thinking about money, and I posted a sample sabbatical budget for people to comment on. I appreciate all the thoughtful feedback that post received. I’m going to be doing a post like that again, as I work through my thoughts on how much money it takes, whether I should plan on having ANY income or just enjoy the time off, and issues like that. I recently saw an amazing blog post on it, and now I can’t find it. Ahhh, not even Google can help with that one.

Quite honestly, October and November were quite busy for me at work – late nights in the office. I couldn’t devote much time to the dream or the web site. I did get a few posts up, and so it was not a total disaster.

Finally, December has been a big month to reflect for me. Where I am going in 2010, where I have been, and most importantly, how.

Thank you to everyone who visits here, reads, comments, sends email, posts to twitter… Your contributions are invaluable to me. Please keep sending your feedback.

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Travel Plans for 2010 and Beyond

Scott — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 23:13:55 +0000

Source: pattyequalsawesome at flickr

In life, many folks smarter than me say that it is important to always have a goal. And I firmly believe that. The subtitle of this blog is “Six Months in a Warm Locale”, that is my goal. Everything I do every day should move me a step or a centimeter or a micrometer closer to that goal. But not every day goes like that, but that is life anyways.

I feel (down in my soul!) the roller coaster has left the station, and has begun its long slow ascent up that first big hill. As 2010 approaches this week, 2010 is looking to be an interesting year for my wife and me.

Our current plan is that we won’t be able to get back to Spain until October or November 2010. That’s kinda sad for me, since it will be the longest time without a vacation for me personally in my whole life. But you have to sacrifice to win. And so 18 months without a vacation is a sacrifice, and not a huge one at that. But of all the times to not be traveling, this week where the airports are in lock down is a good time to stay put right?

In between now and then, I have time to implement my plan. I have a lot of ideas and not a lot of time, so I have to be selective about the ones I pursue, get help when required, and focus my limited energies on things that will move me the farthest towards my goal.

So in that vein, I have started this week on my best idea. No, I’m not going to be a life coach, or a money coach, or putting a 10-part course together on how you can escape your own rat race and break free from the dark grey cube. (Well, never say never I guess. But that doesn’t appeal to me at the current time.) But it does involve doing what I do best, doing what I like to do, and through that helping other people pursue their dreams and passions.

But first I have to help myself. I’ll certainly post here in the next week or two when I’m ready to make the big announcement. Stay tuned here or at HireScott for details.

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Photo of the Week: Valencia, Spain

Scott — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 03:43:47 +0000

This is the City of Arts and Sciences complex in Valencia, Spain. Taken June 8, 2009. The complex includes several unique buildings – L’Hemisfèric (in the shape of an eye, above), El Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe (in the shape of a dinosaur skeleton), and L’Oceanogràfic (in the shape of a water lilly).

L’Hemisfèric

Photo of the Week: The Grand Canyon, West Rim

Scott — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 05:52:12 +0000

Source: me

This canyon, she is definitely grand. One of the best natural tourist spots in the world, it leaves you feeling small and insignificant. Not too bad a drive from Las Vegas, the West Rim has lots to see and do for a family day. This picture was taken Sept 9, 2008.

Photo of the Week: Lombard Street, San Francisco

Scott — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:57:21 +0000

Source: me

This is Lombard Street in San Francisco, one of the most crookedest streets in the world. There are 8 switchbacks, and the speed limit on the one-way street down is a blistering 5 mph. While a tour guide there claimed the street’s crookedness was a result of an earthquake where residents decided to “leave it that way” after, Wikipedia claims it’s intentional in order to handle the steep incline downhill. I tend to believe Wikipedia. A tour guide lied to me though, which is not good. Now how can I believe anything I think I know about the history of San Francisco?

Top 9 Things to See in Paris

Scott — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:31:24 +0000

Source: stevenvanwel at flickr

I’ll say right now, making this list will be easy. I’ve been to Paris twice – both times in 2007 – and there is a lot to see and do there. In fact perhaps the most difficult thing will be ranking things in some type of order and sticking to only 9 items. I may have to create another post to cover the things I ran out of place on this list for.

1. Eiffel Tower, Le Tour d’Eiffel

This is it. This is Paris. See it during the day, see it at night, go to the top, eat in the restaurant (if you can get reservations that is). The Eiffel Tower is what makes Paris, Paris. It’s easily accessible on the Metro (subway). Those of you who enjoy walking can walk it.

2. The Grand Louvre

Known just as the Louvre, this museum houses the Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, the sculpture Winged Victory, Michelangelo’s Dying Slave, Delacroix, Raphael, Rubens, and Vermeer. The Louvre specializes in antiquities – things more than 500 years old.

The museum is also famously known for it’s entrnace – the glass pyramids by I. M. Pei.

Most guide books suggest several days to really see the Louvre. It is an enormous building and an enormous collection. As we were walking in the Louvre, I had seen what I wanted to see and was a bit tired. So I wanted to leave quickly – it was another 45 minutes from where I was before I could breathe fresh air again. The Louvre is big. If all you want to see is the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo, it’s still worth it to go but give yourself a few hours to do that.

3. Champs Elysees

A lovely shopping street, and a grand boulevard. One can imagine Napoleon using this street to parade in front of his people. Home of one of the largest Louis Vuitton stores in the world, as my wife will attest.

4. Arc de Triomphe

At the end of Champs Elysees is the fabulous Arc. The Arc is actually surrounded by a busy driving road, so you have to take stairs under the road to actually be under the Arc. Another quitessential Parisian landmark.

5. Musee d’Orsay

Paris does have quite a few museums, but the second most famous (and perhaps best) one is the Musee d’Orsay. Whereas the Lourve houses ancient works, the Musee d’Orsay holds more recent works and to some those are more interesting. The building itself is interesting – a former railway station. But the art work is what is impressive – Manet, Monet, Cezzane, Degas, Renoir, van Gogh, Whistler (and his mother). Well worth a visit.

6. Notre Dame de Paris

One of the most famous cathedrals in the world, the Notre Dame is spectacular in person. The massiveness of the structure, the stained glass windows… it’s a sight to behold.

7. The Latin Quarter

This is the place I will always stay when in Paris. Close to the Metro, restaurants and bars on every corner and down every side street. We had our Nutella Crepes at midnight before going in for the night, and a fresh baguette in the morning. There is a lot of energy here.

8. Jardin des Tuileries

A lot of the interesting sights in Paris happen close to the river between Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower. The Jardin des Tuileries is a lovely garden in the center of the city. It’s where lovers sit on benches, and families go for a stroll. It used to be part of a palace gardens but the palace itself burned down in 1871.

9. Bateaux Mouches

When in Paris, you absolutely must take the boat ride (at night) down the River Seine. To see the bridges that cross the Seine up close (and they are lit at night) is like looking at works of art from angles rarely seen. The buildings along the Seine are appropriately lighted, and make the city look magical from a distance. And then there is the Eiffel Tower. It’s one of the nicest water tours anywhere in the world. I would actually challenge you to find a nicer one. I highly recommend doing this at least once.

See, I missed a whole bunch of things on this list. Feel free to add some to the comments, and maybe I’ll include them in a future post.

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Photo of the Week: Nerja Cafe Cart

Scott — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:46:06 +0000

Source: me

The above photo was taken in Nerja, Spain as we were walking down a small street. It was taken May 11, 2009. I love this, a bicycle cart full of flowers as a complement to the hand-written sign announcing their operating hours. It’s one of those things that is a total set up, but is a perfect little thing that makes me want to come in for a drink. If they put this much effort into the sign, imagine was the cappucino is like. It shows “we care about the small stuff”.

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