Speaking a business colleague the other day we were commiserating that we were already starting to plan out our September and October. Here it is only the beginning of July! While nobody was complaining about the work, I think we were more distraught that we had not really thought out our own personal time for the rest of the summer.
By personal time, I (personally) was thinking of personal and professional development. I belong to several professional organizations that seem to (wisely) offer professional development opportunities during the summer months. Now to avoid temptation and actually attend! Business professionals, especially consultants, can get set in their ways. It is always good to shake things up a bit and listen to other opinions, ideas, and perspectives. In person. At an all day thing. Not just sitting at the computer reading somebody's blog. Like this one.
What counts as personal or professional development? I'd say reading some hardcover book that has been sitting on the shelf (or worse, the floor) forever. Bonus points if it is work-related! Seriously, even the "ghosts and the paranormal" book I just finished had several work applications. Okay, if that didn't catch your attention - nothing will. The book discussed several authors and their approach to their work (I'm an author - I got several tips out of that). The book also discussed some of the more (ahem) esoteric historical highlights of central and western Canada (one of my companies works a lot in Canada). The book also talked a lot about how belief systems need to be occasionally reviewed and perhaps challenged to make sure the environment has not changed so much that perhaps the belief system is no longer beneficial (ummm, isn't this what I do for a living?).
Just for the record, I am also seriously considering attending a face-to-face one-day professional development day in downtown Chicago this week with what I (personally) consider "lite" topics but there should be many different perspectives and... who knows, I might get something out of it. Heck, for $75 for a full day of potential enlightenment, I'm there...
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