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Health & Fitness

Are You Goofing Off Enough?

Giving yourself capacity for dreaming and scheming can spell success.

I can't wait to get my hands on the new book The 20% Doctrine: How Tinkering, Goofing Off, And Breaking the Rules at Work Drive Success in Business by Ryan Tate. Normally I wouldn't reference a book I haven't read, but the title alone inspires.

I read about the book on a Dow Jones website called FINS which offers career advice as well as job search capabilities. The story by Joseph Walker was called "Why Goofing Off Breeds Success" and I was taken by the idea that without 20% capacity for "goofing off," or innovation, companies and people suffer. The author Ryan Tate writes about how companies like Google have instituted the 20% policy, encouraging their employees to spend up to 20% of their time on their own projects and ideas. The result? Nearly half of Google's new product launches, including Gmail and AdSense, were developed by employees while they enjoyed this "perq" (short for "perquisite") of the job.

Which leads me to a concept I learned while reading another book, Finding Your Own North Star by Martha Beck. Dr. Beck is best known for her role as coach on the Oprah Winfrey show and in "O, the Oprah Magazine." In the book Martha shares a model for change and one of the stages she calls "Dreaming and Scheming." As we make room for any big shifts in our lives, especially when we're changing jobs or careers, we must make time for that "dreaming and scheming," imagining and visioning. We have to give ourselves 20% capacity for our own future.

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Why is that so hard to do? Perhaps because we're a nation made up of people descended from pioneers. Combine that with the Puritan work ethic and pow! You've got an explosive formula for creating people addicted to work. I've read that nearly a third of paid employees don't take all of their paid vacation days. I tell my clients that's like taking their wages, converting them to cash and setting those dollars on fire. Maybe it's the economy or maybe we're just afraid we'll be replaced, but giving ourselves some time off is essential to energy, creativity and good health. 

How about you? Are you goofing off enough? Do you build in time for dreaming and scheming, thinking about the future, cooking up ideas that may or may not work? I'd love to hear from you... please feel free to comment below and share your own thoughts about the 20% principle. Maybe that's just what you need--time to think and ponder about taking the time to think and ponder.

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Vickie Austin is a speaker, business and career coach, and founder of CHOICES Worldwide based in Wheaton, IL.  She's pretty good at goofing off and some of her best ideas come on the Prairie Path when she's walking her dog, Peanut. You can reach her at vaustin@choicesworldwide.com or call 630-510-1900.

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