I have a month off — I want to achieve something
How many times in life do you get to have an extended period of time off work? I’ve been gifted an opportunity to have a few weeks off and I intend to make them count! I’m in between jobs though so things will have to be done on a tight budget.
Why do you have a month off?
My contract came to an end on the 31 July, the project ran its course and I delivered everything I could in the 2 years I spent at Companies House. My new job doesn’t start until 3 September, so I have the month of August off…I feel like I’m back in school and it’s the summer holidays!
That won’t look very good on your CV…
It’s crossed my mind, but there’ll be no gap in my employment history, I’m still an employee of my umbrella company. More importantly though, I’m setting myself some real goals, things I’ve wanted to achieve for years. Let’s see what they are…
The main goals:
- I need to lose weight — I don’t want to be out of breath when my son/daughter wants to run around like a crazy superhero. Top priority!
- I want to run again…so I’ve signed up for the Cardiff 10km on 2 September 2018…the day before I start my new job (not sure if that’s the greatest idea I’ve ever had)!
- Set up a food plan for my wife and I.
- Learn to cook — more than just beans on toast!
- Climb Pen y Fan — South Wales’ highest peak.
- Document the past 2 and a half years worth of projects I’ve worked on at the Environment Agency and Companies House, for my portfolio.
- Learn the notes on the fretboard — been trying to learn this for years, I will conquer it!
- Start a small Angular.js project to familiarise myself with it.
- Blog more — about all of the above and other things.
- Send off a DNA test to try and find some relatives in the US — long shot but worth a try!
- See my dad and give him a big hug — I don’t get to see him very often.
- Do something nice for my grandparents.
- Go body boarding — not done this since I was a teenager, time to get back on it.
- Complete Uncharted 4!
There’s lots of other smaller jobs on my ‘to-do’ list, but I’ll not bore you with those.
Why?
Fact is, whenever I have time off, it’s usually been sporadic with one or two days here and there. I usually spend time playing guitar or walking with my wife on weekends, which is great but I need this time to be spent on things that will benefit us and things I’ll remember forever.
I want to be proud of it and I want my wife to be proud of it too — some of these things will stand me/us in good stead for when the little on comes along too, so it’ll be time well spent!
I’ll report back with a weekly diary of how I get on!
