This post is part of my book Conspire To Inspire: Everything Is Awesome When You Are Part Of A Team

Michael Paine @strangerarray

Copyright © 2015 Michael Paine

7 STEFAN SAGMEISTER

STEFAN SAGMEISTER

I know Stefan Sagmeister as the sabbatical guy. This is because of his TED Talk entitled “The power of time off”. From the description “Every seven years, designer Stefan Sagmeister closes his New York studio for a yearlong sabbatical to rejuvenate and refresh their creative outlook. He explains the often overlooked value of time off and shows the innovative projects inspired by his time in Bali.”

So who exactly is this guy? From his TED Talk profile: “Renowned for album covers, posters and his recent book of life lessons, designer Stefan Sagmeister invariably has a slightly different way of looking at things. Stefan Sagmeister is no mere commercial gun for hire. Sure, he's created eye-catching graphics for clients including the Rolling Stones and Lou Reed, but he pours his heart and soul into every piece of work. His design work is at once timeless and of the moment, and his painstaking attention to the smallest details creates work that offers something new every time you look at it. While a sense of humor invariably surfaces in his designs, Sagmeister is nonetheless very serious about his work; his intimate approach and sincere thoughtfulness elevate his design. A genuine maverick, Sagmeister achieved notoriety in the 1990s as the designer who self-harmed in the name of craft: He created a poster advertising a speaking engagement by carving the salient details onto his torso.”

I also suggest watching his videos “Happiness by Design” and “7 rules for making more happiness”. Although not as influential on me as “The power of time off”, they give a deeper look at who Stefan is as a person.

From “The power of time off” Stefan explains “Also is the knowledge that right now we spend about in the first 25 years of our lives learning, then there is another 40 years that's really reserved for working. And then tacked on at the end of it are about 15 years for retirement. And I thought it might be helpful to basically cut off five of those retirement years and intersperse them in between those working years.”

This idea is awesome to me.

I have never been a huge fan of living to work. And I have always felt like the traditional story of retirement was not for me. We plan on not being able to work when we are older. Even though we live longer. We should plan on working longer. Stop being so lazy. Stop thinking of retirement as some final vacation or last world tour. Live now. Go places. Travel if that's your thing. We can't expect to live off our laurels for 20+ years as we medicate ourselves into the sunset. Take care of your mind and body so it is not so crappy now or in the future.

So what is a sabbatical? Well Stefan does a great job describing it in his talk. But a quick explanation is that a sabbatical is a rest from work or a break. Sounds fair to me. I like to take breaks. Often. I would love to get to a place where I could take an entire year off. Ever hear of Sabbath? A day of rest. Interesting as a Christian we are told in Exodus 20:8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy”. And Matthew Henry explains “they were to do no manner of work on this day in their callings or worldly business.”

Maybe this is something we all should consider more thoughtfully.

Being reminded of the need to rest is important to me. And inspirational. Rest allows regeneration. Rest allows creativity. Rest allows relief. Rest allows renewal.

From a business standpoint there is a pop concept of “20 percent time”. Meaning that people spend 80 percent of the time on the job actually doing work related tasks. And then 20 percent of the time not responsible for anything specific. If people were honest they probably do this anyways. This idea has been credited to leading Google to Gmail and AdSense.

Another similar idea is the Results-Oriented Performance workplace. It seems idealistic and might work in some types of businesses. However it appears to me to lead to a type of employer that is ultimately just freelancing projects. It is hard to argue with results and hard to pay people who don't provide them. Leading to the death of traditional full-time employment.

What about Mr. Sagmeister? What is he doing now?

Sagmeister is found designing at Sagmeister & Walsh as http://www.sagmeisterwalsh.com/ describes it as “a NYC based design firm that creates identities, commercials, websites, apps, films, books and objects for clients, audiences and ourselves.”

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