
How to Become a Design Genius: Take Time Off. Lots of It. - wgj
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/cliff-kuang/design-innovation/design-geniuss-secret-time-and-lots-it?1255209275
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jwesley
Good link, terrible headline. The link us an interesting video about the
benefits of taking a year long sabbatical every seven years, but it doesn't
claim that the sabbatical is what made Stefan Sagmeister a design genius. He
was insanely talented before he started taking sabbaticals, and they just made
him more productive.

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alabut
Maybe a better title would've been - How To Stay A Design Genius. I didn't see
a lot of connection between his post-sabbatical projects and the year that he
spent off, which is fine - the main benefit seemed to be a rejuvenation of his
love for the craft.

I've thought about doing something similar for a long time now, probably
because my dad was a prof and some of my best childhood memories are from
spending copious amounts of time abroad.

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HelenL14
I think it's less about vacation time/'time off' and more about just
disconnecting from your normal routine (often times fairly rigid as we're
natural creatures of habit)...and giving yourself the freedom to explore
different paths/options/ideas.

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angstrom
I definitely see the value in that and it goes for any career where creativity
and insight is important. Taking the time to step back, disengage and then
reengage with new ideas and perspectives can be very valuable. But like he
said, it needs goals and structure to make sure you accomplish that,
otherwise, you're just screwing off.

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lsternlicht
<http://www.sagmeister.com/index.html> ... makes me feel nauseous/dizzy

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psadauskas
Resizes the browser, too. Why would anyone do that in 2009?

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jodrellblank
Why would any browser let it in 2009?

Dear browser, you are my electronic advocate, not the website's. Act in my
interest, not someone elses.

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kirubakaran
Firefox preferences -> Content -> Javascript|Advanced ; uncheck whatever you
want to disallow. You probably could make similar change in other browsers.

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buugs
It isn't really time off if you are working is it? It is time spent thinking
and learning and depending on your life outside work this could be
accomplished without taking time off and just working less.

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cracki
working less still means you think about work, which distracts from thinking
about other things.

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firefalcon
I just afraid to take 1 year vacation. I will have a constant feeling that my
business will be ruined this year...

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nvictor
please link to TED directly.

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rw
This summary took me 1 minute to read, not ~20. It's worth the indirection.

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zeynel1
"We named our inkjet printer Sagmeister. Coincidentally, it stops working
periodically." <http://twitter.com/andrewcmyk>

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mebigfatguy
Spoken like a true rich pompous azz

