Dealing With Downtime

Garth Beyer

Dealing With Downtime

People like me don’t handle downtime well.

I need to always be moving forward, pouring my heart into something, and thinking about how I can put twists on other people’s (and my own) thinking. Not being active in something makes me feel like I’m rotting, that I’m standing still, and that’s not acceptable.

Maybe your clients are taking off for the holidays, maybe your work is a seasonal thing, maybe your partner has gifted you with taking some extra weight off your shoulders –  whatever the reason may be, we all have to deal with downtime.

Here’s how…

1) Connect with people who are better than you. When work and life is busy, we miss out on a lot; events, friends parties, and networking. Downtime is an opportunity to reach out to people who can make you a better version of you, putting you ahead of the race once things pick up again.

2) Read about other people doing what you want to do. Fiction or non-fiction, there are so many books out there that are interesting, captivating, and make you feel like you’re taking work-related risks in a safe way. Books are a way to get smarter about your profession so you’ll be better at it when things get moving again.

3) Focus on getting more work down the line. This ought to be a given, but so many see downtime as a time to take a break. Those who succeed in the long run are those that use their downtime to ensure they don’t have any more of it in the future. (Not saying you ought to exclude from personal time, vacation, spontaneous activities, etc,.) What can you do to ensure more work a month from now, three months, a year? Do that.

4) Get away from your specialty and try something different. Early on in our lives we’re trained to specialize. The big trip of it is success in your specialty ultimately involves connecting with people from other specialties. Downtime is your chance to take a class, a workshop, a seminar on something different and potentially who will open your eyes to how your work can impact their industry.

I think of my downtime like a pinball machine before the ball is placed in front of the launcher. Am I standing there and waiting for the ball? Or am I pulling the launcher as far back as I can for when it’s time to release?

 

Stay Positive & Make Downtime Work For You

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Garth Beyer
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