My current favourite mind-jogging question is this. You're in the plane, it's going down, you have 3 minutes to think before the end (yes, cheerful, I know, but hear me out...). What is THE thing that you would make you think "if only I had done...!"?
Until recently, my answer has been "nothing - I have had a great life, and I can be happy". But in recent months, it has switched. I came with the answer "I wish I had taken 6 months off."
I have worked a total of almost 20 years since 1985 (with study 1987-1990). There are at least another 20 years to go (assuming no plane crashes...). So now seems like a good opportunity to take some time, refresh, review and think which direction I want to go in those next 20 years.
When I mentioned this to a valued advisor of mine recently, he said "be careful - this is not the time to be out of the job market". It's true that in the past this kind of a break from work would have marked you out as "unreliable". But I believed things have changed. To be fair to that advisor, he asked a relative, who is the Human Resources Director of a major company, what she thought of the idea of taking 6 months off. Her reply was this (her input is much appreciated).
I reckon anything goes nowadays. I just can't see a prospective employer turning him down because he wanted sometime to get away from the rat-race, having had the job pulled from under his feet - there'll be thousands like him. If he wants to take a break, why not? Isn't that an indication of someone who is not afraid to break away from the norm? Someone who doesn't slavishly follow the crowd? Seriously, it's not unusual now to see people with all sorts of breaks in their career, at any time during their career, and recruiters don't take this as a negative, no job is for life and neither are careers, thankfully. He'll get back into the job market.
My trusty advisor is re-assured, and I keep my mind open for what comes in the coming months.
