During my last week of work, I was talking to my manager about my plans for my time off and he suggested I read up on a graphic designer named Stefan Sagmeister. Besides having one of the best names, he's the only person I know who could be a source of advice or inspiration at the moment. Why? He has a philosophy of incorporating sabbaticals into his life and the idea is quite interesting.
Here's the abridged version. The normal life schedule of someone in the civilized world is to grow up and attend school for about 20 years, then work for about 45 years, then enjoy some free time until death. Sagmeister's idea is to organize life into eight-year cycles that include seven years of work followed by a year off. The most fascinating result is that all of the projects he worked on during his second seven-year work period can be traced back to an idea or inspiration he had in that one year off. You can read more about his sabbaticals here.
Sagmeister has written a couple design books, but the aptly titled Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far is a really fascinating read. I went to the San Francisco Public Library last Saturday and read through it for a couple hours; the book cannot be removed from the library, presumably because its unique design makes it prone to damage. As if sitting in the main branch of the SFPL isn't interesting enough, I was really captivated by the book's content. As you'd expect, there is indeed a list of things he's learned, but he also turned each item on the list into a physical design piece, some of which are very inventive.
A few lessons caught my eye:
Here's the abridged version. The normal life schedule of someone in the civilized world is to grow up and attend school for about 20 years, then work for about 45 years, then enjoy some free time until death. Sagmeister's idea is to organize life into eight-year cycles that include seven years of work followed by a year off. The most fascinating result is that all of the projects he worked on during his second seven-year work period can be traced back to an idea or inspiration he had in that one year off. You can read more about his sabbaticals here.
Sagmeister has written a couple design books, but the aptly titled Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far is a really fascinating read. I went to the San Francisco Public Library last Saturday and read through it for a couple hours; the book cannot be removed from the library, presumably because its unique design makes it prone to damage. As if sitting in the main branch of the SFPL isn't interesting enough, I was really captivated by the book's content. As you'd expect, there is indeed a list of things he's learned, but he also turned each item on the list into a physical design piece, some of which are very inventive.
A few lessons caught my eye:
- Having guts always works out for me.
- Thinking that life will be better in the future is stupid. I have to live now.
- Keeping a diary supports personal development.
- Everybody who is honest is interesting.
