An Entire Month Off

What would you do with an entire month off? Would you go out of town? Take a class? Would you learn a new monologue? Or two? Re-organize your office space? Finally get that screenplay idea down on paper? Devote more time to fitness? Spend more time with friends and family? Go to museums? Learn new recipes? Shoot a short? Shoot a web series? Overhaul and/or re-investigate your audition material? Edit your reel? Send out a targeted headshot mailing? Get new headshots?

Or would you dust off your “2010 New Year’s Resolutions” list and see how far you’ve come?

With a month off, I feel like I could get a lot done. It’s just that pesky job that takes up all my time. With a month off, I’d even have time for romantic walks on the beach. Wouldn’t I...?

As I was thinking about how I would afford to take an entire month off, I remembered that the Universe abhors a vacuum. If one month off was all I chose to pursue, the Universe could give it to me in a number of ways that had nothing to do with my own desires. I decided to make a list of the things I would be taking a month off to do. It’s always better to make choices in the direction you want to go, right?

What would I do with a month off from my survival job, really? I would definitely still go to auditions and shoot anything I booked. Obviously. That’s my career. But what about all the other time?

As I began to make this list, I got excited. These were all things I actually wanted to do with my time and were all things I wanted to accomplish. Best of all, they were things I could accomplish. With a little ambition.

After I made this list, I thought about how I would afford a month off to do all of this. Sure, it was possible and could be worked out. I would just have to work more at the survival job to make the money I’d use for an entire month off. It would take some time, but it could be done! But while I’d be saving up for this month off, I wouldn’t have time to accomplish any of my own goals until that month off.

What if I didn’t take a month off… and still did the things I would’ve done in that time… anyway?

As soon as I thought it, I knew I had to do it. And I should start as soon as possible. I decided I’d take November. I have ten days to get myself ready. This would not be easy, but wouldn’t I feel more fulfilled…? Doing this in November would also work as a big push through the end of the year. I’d have a shot at meeting the goals I set for myself in January. I could finally enjoy the holidays without feeling like I got lazy after Halloween.

The Plan:

I would take November “off,” from November first through December fifth. It would go five days into December to account for the five days around Thanksgiving (and for some neat reason this year, Nov 1 is a Monday and December 5 is a Sunday five weeks later. There are no coincidences). I’d plan my weeks and weekends around the tasks I’d set for myself AND work at my survival job. I’d use an app on my cell phone to schedule these events and set alarms to make sure I got going.

And then I wondered: Why I should do this? It’s not like I’m lazy. I already attend to my career, right? I work my ass off! Why should I work even harder than I already do?

Because, if you want to keep getting what you’re getting, keep doing what you’re doing – as they say. By all accounts, I can’t complain with the goals I have surpassed this year. But I’ve only gotten to wherever I am right now because I did more this year than last. And it’s time to climb to the next level, so it’s time to do even more.

Are you feeling me?

The Challenge:

Join me: From November 1, 2010 through December 5, 2010 – let’s take the entire month off! We’ll make a list of the things we want to accomplish if we had taken the entire month off from our survival jobs. Then we will prioritize that list, and bite off a little more than we think we could chew without actually taking a month off from our survival jobs. But it has to be more than we think we could actually do. We would have to be ambitious. That’s the only way we could get done more than usual.

Best of all? We all get to do it together and share our experiences with each other. If it gets difficult, we can all come back here for inspiration! We can all comment and talk about how we’re handling our journey. If we want too. Or not. At the very least, I promise you I will document my journey here. So even if you’re skeptical about doing it now, you’ll be able to track my own progress and decide if you’d like to do it later.

I just have a feeling that now is an excellent time to put the cart before the horse. And nothing bad has ever come from working our collective asses off, has it…?

In the next post I’ll go into my own list of things I’m choosing to accomplish during my month off, and I’ll even talk about how I’m going to schedule myself.

This is a good thing. Get into it.