Not ALL about the job, Part 2

So, what do you have to do to change things? Think outside the box...

Can you afford to work fewer days per month, and does your employer support unpaid leave? Take a Thursday and Friday off once a month and get a 4-day weekend. Are you able to work a 4/10 schedule and get regular 3-day weekends? How about a 9/80 and get a 3-day weekend every other week?

If none of these options are available to you, you need to be a bit more creative (unless you're independently wealthy) and look at splitting up your vacation time, maybe take one week of your annual allotment and divide it into days and make periodic 3-day weekends... but plan them far enough ahead that you can be ready to bolt at a moment's notice.

For me, the thing that made me start thinking about it was fishing... specifically, FLY FISHING for trout. That means RUNNING WATER to me, mostly in the Sierra Nevada region, freestone rivers and streams, which are mostly seasonal (first weekend in May thru Nov 15th).

The season is 6-1/2 months, the water is at reasonable flow rates roughly 4 of those months, and so there is a limited number of days where fishing is more than a simple excuse for drinking and not being at work. Knowing that I have other obligations that prevent me from simply going whenever I feel like it, I determined that I could probably go 5 of these 16 weekends- figuring in travel time, setup and tear down camp time, etc that would mean 2 'fishing days' per 3-day weekend.



When I did my calculation, I realized if I could fish in reasonable health, which includes the ability to walk streams, wade knee deep, deal with the altitude, etc. I could probably fish until I was 75-ish. Given my current age, after doing the math I was surprised to find out that unless I made some changes, I was only going to have a few more than 200 of these days left!!! That's less than a year... and to me, that was unacceptable.

So the next plan? When can I retire, and what can I do to push up that date to allow more days to pick from during the limited season. I was on my way to figuring that out until the recent downturn in the economy... and that, coupled with some changes in structure with my employer have provided some additional challenges.

But I'm NOT giving up... and you shouldn't either!

It's NOT all about the job

..seriously, it isn't!

There is much more to a person than what they do to make a living, there's what makes their life and how they spend the rest of their waking hours.

Over time, I think that changes for most of us- past experiences shape our present existence; some for the better and some, well maybe notsomuch. I think if we all had to to do over again, obviously, there are some things we would have done differently but that may not have changed where we are now. Our core beliefs and values are established at an early age and I don't think (unless you've gone through some TRULY life changing experiences) most of us would be anywhere other than where we are.

BUT, that doesn't mean we can't do things to change how we live our lives, and how we spend our time. Think about the things that you enjoy most in life and what you need to do to be able to participate in those activities. Now, try to figure out (honestly) how much time a year you are able to do those things. Don't expect to do this in your head... make a list, write them down, compare it against the time you have available in your current "work-a-day" life and with all of your other obligations and figure out REALLY how much time you can spend doing these things.

NOW, consider your current age, and based on the existence of others in your family tree, how long you could conceivably live.. and to what age you can plan to physically or mentally participate in these favorite activities. Subtract your current age from this age, and multiply that by the number from above (how much time per year you can do these activities). I think you'll be shocked at how little time you have left in life to do the things you REALLY ENJOY. I know I was.

The next question? What do you have to do to increase the amount of time you can spend doing these things that you really love.

See you next post =)