Every second week I work from home in Brussels. I know that people in general say “Whoff TGIF!” (thank god it’s friday) as it’s the last day of work in the week and the weekend is just by the door. My reason for longing to these Fridays is slightly different.

This particular Friday morning every second week – I spend 3 hours at Le Pain Quotidien. Most oftenly there is a window seat available and I spend these 3 hours mostly sipping coffee or viewing the people passing by on the crossing just outside. Today there are plenty of trucks stopping outside to unload boxes. With the first truck there’s an older man and a young girl. She is lifting the boxes onto a wagon whereby the older man goes inside the Shopping Galleria with the boxes. The girl locks the truck doors but the lock doesn’t work properly and I can see how she mutters to herself – just as I would do in the cold – trying to find the missing key that can help get the lock in order. Wonder if she is the daughter and it’s their family business? Why else would this young girl be working lifting boxes? Why would a girl choose to work in a heavy environment like that? She could easily get another job? Or why not unemployment benefits? In the world we live today – refferring to Belgium and Sweden as my knowledge – it’s in my opinion too easy to get unemployment benefits. It is my firm opinion that people get it too easily and that they stay on it too long. Why not? If you have a chance to take a break and still have an income – then, why not? For me personally, I was thrilled to receive unemployment benefits this summer after I had finished my job. Once I started getting into the relaxed mood, being able to wake up when I wanted, thinking about things, reflecting, reading, spending time with friends. Although most of my time off was spent reflecting. I didn’t socialize as much as I had planned or wanted. I simply just needed some time to be – but then I suddenly felt like I didn’t want to go back to working again.* Thetime off was of immense power.

Time to be. That is what I do every second Friday at Le Pain Quotidien. I read or I write down my thoughts, either personal or for work. It is funny to notice how my creative vain comes out so easily as soon as I decide to just be. It’s like the relaxed mindset opens up walls in my brain.

Today I write down some notes and make some drawings. I will later on create a couple of powerpoint slides to support next week’s training that I will conduct. The training, “Our digital world”, is aimed for people dealing with internal communications in an organization. The goal is to create awareness of how new opportunities help in day to day work and teach how to practically make best use of them. Goals, Process, Tools, Roles and Responsibilities. The bottom line is that new ways of working and new tools for communication enable Lean production.

I then flip my Macbook open and start completing the agenda for next week. The sun is shining and the way the sunrays are creating sparkles on the salt laid out on the tables outside, is telling me something… It’s telling me how the right set of thoughts can make simple salt look like glittering diamonds. Would I even see the beauty in the salt before me if I hadn’t been in this state of mind?

And oh yes, how could I live without my precious Macbook?

PS. Once in a while – when I need a reminder – I watch this inspirational talk by Stefan Sagmeister @TEDGlobal “The power of time off” If you’ve got 20 minutes to spare – watch it!

* For information: I do have a job again and am absolutely thrilled about the assignment, the team and the manager. The most important lesson I’ve learned from taking time off is to make sure that your work entails a greater part of that you love doing, because then you also ensure a great jobb done – for the company as well as for yourself.