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Letting Go to See What Comes Back
I was chatting with the director of the migrant shelter where I volunteer a few weeks ago. She wanted to hire me, but I really didn’t feel comfortable with that. Why would I say no to free money? I kept wondering why I wouldn’t want to earn $15 per hour for work I was doing…
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I read a book about finding meaning at work
I recently read this book called, roughly translated, Giving Back Meaning to Work: a revolutionary approach. The main gist of the book is that most jobs are bullshit jobs. Yes, the French authors of the book actually used this English term. They even used expressions like “the bullshit-ization of work.” The book is divided into…
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Falling off the wagon is easy
Shortly after starting my year off, I implemented a routine where I would work on my project to research and write a book about happiness at work. I spent a few hours every day reading, taking notes, and writing my thoughts here, on this blog. And when I wasn’t doing this, I was instead taking…
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I read a book about happiness
One of my gap year projects is to do write a book on the theme of happiness from the point of view of a software engineer. I admit that I’m not quite sure I’ll be able to write the book during this break, however. Most books take a few years to write, and authors spend…
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I read a book about Slow Productivity
Who else here is getting tired of the constant and relentless push to be ever more productive? Is it just me? I feel like we are already very productive, but it’s never enough. Every year, businesses are trying to grow, must lower their costs and improve their margins. A business cannot simply be successful, it…
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My goals for a great and successful gap year
The first question anyone asked me when I was telling people I was planning to take a year off was: “what are you going to do during your year off?” It turns out that’s a really good question, one that is a bit hard to answer. I had spent some time thinking about this and…
My Gap Year
A journey of rediscovery after twenty years of software development and management
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@lsalin
This is how it all started…
I took the plunge and decided to quit my job, except that this time I didn’t have another job lined up. I just left and decided to take a year off and rediscover who am I and what I really want to do for a living because what I’ve been doing these past few years has been draining my batteries empty. I realize the immense privilege that I have to even be able to do this and I am grateful for all the opportunities that I have had in the past that have led me to this moment, and for the support of my family as they tolerate me while I search for my true self, staying at home all day!
What will I do during my year off? This is a question that I’m asked a lot and I think I have an answer. Well, kind of. Stick around as I explain everything during my year off and see where this road takes me. Will I come out of this a new person? Will I go back to software engineering in my late forties? Will I bite the bullet and go back to management? Or will I decide that now is a great time to start a new business? Only time will tell, but at least you won’t have to wait that long to find out… I only have 49 weeks left as I write this!
Louis Salin
Entrepreneur, software engineer and manager