#036 Rest, Reset, and Recharge | Sas Wessels

Sas Wessels, guest · [05:02]So, yeah, so I guess to take a step back, I'll get back to the model, but maybe to take a step back, you've got to understand, I guess one always has to understand yourself, to understand the journey that you go through. So in my life, so I said, you know, we lived on a farm and we moved to town when I was about 14 years old. So the context behind that is my dad farmed and did really well on the farm, and in the early, late 70s, early 80s, the farming was really good, and he went and bought two additional farms, so expanded the farming business. Then came the late eighties, early nineties, and you know, now that I'm, I'm bigger and I understand something about economics, I appreciate the predicament they were in, right? So the interest rate climbed to plus twenty percent in those years. Now you can imagine if the interest rates today go to over twenty percent, half the people in this town would lose their houses, right? Your, your mortgage payments would, double up, et cetera, et cetera. So, so he eventually also lost the farms because of the fact that he had bought those two farms with, with debt and the, and the debt servicing just became too big. So for me, that was quite a big event in my life, and, it left me, I guess, with a big Issue around financial security and security in general, and also made me quite risk averse, right? So you can imagine with that at my core, leaving my job would have been quite dramatic for me, right? And it was. So for me, this was not, you know, that's probably why it wasn't something I would have ever voluntarily just thought of doing and then gone ahead and done. So to a certain extent, that's probably a little bit of the context around my sabbatical, in a way, I would probably label it as an exercise in facing my fears, which is interesting, right? Because that's what it is for me. And I always knew it was going to be that because I know myself. So I had to think a little bit about what I was going to do during the sabbatical. And having spoken to a lot of people, they said, look, you've got to keep yourself busy, etc. So anyway, that brought me to the model. So I thought about, you know, three areas that I would investigate. One would be starting My own little business and, you know, doing a bit of consulting, so not necessarily just getting back into, into work. A second one I toyed with the idea, and I haven't done much further with it, is starting something completely new, right? Moving into a completely different direction. So starting, studying something new, becoming something new, you know.

Sas Wessels, guest · [09:46]It was interesting. So I, for 25 years or ever since I can remember, I've not, not worked. And even when you're on holiday, you are working, you know, the, the emails are there, the phone goes with you. You never really switch off. It was quite dramatic, honestly. You know, I remember when I handed in the laptop and the email stopped working on the phone and suddenly I, I didn't have a laptop that was of good enough standard to just carry on. So, so I felt a bit lost, honestly, in the first week. The admin that you've got to go through, you've got to change all your email addresses at all of these places where you've used your company email address simply because you don't want to manage two inboxes all the time. So the admin was quite hectic. I felt a bit lost in the first week, to be honest, until I had gotten a laptop set up and, you know, gotten myself almost to a place where I felt a bit more comfortable with, with the structure. And then it became a bit easier. But we were fortunate. We went on holiday about a week after I left. And that made it a bit easier because, and in fact, that was a very Very nice experience because for the first time in a very long time, I took a holiday without worrying, without looking at emails in the evenings or what's happening back at work or, you know, is there something I need to manage, and you could just take a holiday, and that was, that was very nice.

Sas Wessels, guest · [19:18]Yes, look, a lot of that resonates with me, right? A lot of that absolutely resonates with me. I guess one always misses the people, right? So I enjoyed that of my career, you know, enjoy working with people and enjoy, I guess, generally doing what I did. But you do get into a groove. I think that it's almost a little bit, I mean, I've used the analogy, work becomes a little bit like a drug. So leaving it was almost going on a rehab from it, because it sort of keeps you busy and it fills up your calendar. There's always things to do, you know, there's always more things to do than the time that you have. And you don't really get to ask these questions around what do you really want to do and You know, what would life be without this corporate job? So to a certain extent, it's almost like breaking with an addiction. So to a certain extent, it felt like that's what I had to do, is completely break the cycle so that you can just have different experience, think differently about things. So yeah, a lot of what you've said resonates with me as well.

Petro du Pisani, host · [20:21]Yeah, I mean, I felt like my whole identity was entangled with the company because I'm head of this department of this big company. It somehow made me a different person or a better person. And it's not actually. You know, you have to try and find out who you are without that title.

Sas Wessels, guest · [20:40]But it is interesting, you know, further to that, I find that a lot of the pressure that I felt as I started the sabbatical was actually social pressure. Because if you go to a braai, people normally ask you two things, what's your name and then what you do, right? And what you do defines you. So it is breaking with an identity because you Become who you are in that corporate, you know, corporate environment and in that identity. And I think the most difficult part to get over is, is, is finding a different identity and being comfortable with that different identity. And I think it's more me as the person that feels the discomfort. I'm not too sure it's a big issue for the rest of the people, but it does feel like it is, right? For me, it feels like it is, you know, who am I if I'm not, you know, this person that works and, you know, and I'm busy, et cetera, et cetera, and I'm the head of, exactly as you said, of a department.

Sas Wessels, guest · [23:23]So I think what I want to do a bit more of is, you know, I'll follow through with the studies and that'll come in almost like spells of being very busy and then spells of not being that busy. And in the spells that I'm not that busy, probably take the consulting a little bit more serious and, you know, do a bit more aggressive, call it marketing, although, you know, it's more me that I'm marketing, but reach out to more people and get that done a little bit because I've got a lot of experience and, you know, you don't want to let that go to waste either. I think I can make a big difference. So probably do a little bit more of that and then be a little bit more deliberate also in filling up with those things that I haven't gotten to. You know, all those little things that I said I was going to do more of, I think I do need to do more of those, even if it's just sorting out the garage, getting them sorted out, right? It's something I have to get done, but you've got to sit down and do it. So it's on the list, but it never gets done. It always gets bumped down. The pecking order because of all the studies and all the other things. So in the time left, I think I'll, I'll start being a bit more deliberate in planning more time for the consulting to, to, to really take off, you know, plan a bit more time for those, those other things, and starting to think about whether I want to enter, you know, business again. Because I've also said this to one of, one of the guys that finished off with me, to a certain extent, we also are who we are, right? So, you know, some people will, will, will, you know, completely change their careers and, and, and probably like you are, you know, and go into a different direction completely. In my case, you know, I, I may or I may not, I, I may actually just go back to a corporate, but I think if I do go back, I will go back as a different person. So I may go back to, to, to corporate because I, I also appreciate that because of my background, I think I operated out of fear a lot. Right, fear of losing your job or fear of not being good enough as a manager or as a head of a department or not doing enough or not impressing your boss enough, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. That's just, I, I grew up in corporate and I think if I do go back, it will be with less of that fear, which I think is a really good thing, right? More of an opportunity mindset rather than a fear mindset. And if that is what I got out of this sabbatical, then I think I would have gotten a lot out of it. That pressure builds up to always want to do more and be more involved or improve on your performance, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. It ends up being negative.

Petro du Pisani, host · [25:51]Yeah, no, I can completely identify with that. It was actually quite liberating when I'd made the decision that I was going to leave. It was quite early on in the process, actually. I actually knew from the beginning I wasn't going to apply for any of the positions and it freaked a lot of people out that I wasn't applying for anything. But from that moment, That conscious moment decision that I wasn't going to go through all of the politics and, drama of the restructure, I already became a different person then. That fear of losing your job just disappeared because I wasn't going to stay. And then the true you actually shows up. it was quite interesting. I mean, I saw it in the clothes that I was wearing. Instead of wearing my very dark corporate clothes, I went I like colors. I'm going to be wearing colors now. This is where I am. I'm a person who likes to wear colors. So it, it just changed, already changed my mindset over there. I've, I already started not being the corporate person. And I already said no to stuff where people said, you should do this. I went, no, that's not the right thing to do. And I think for the company, that's not the right thing to do. And where in the past you would have been too scared to voice that opinion and say no, you know, and, and you would just say what the boss told you to do type of thing. Exactly. And I think I, I like what you're saying that you'll take that back into that whole mindset, you'll take that back into if you decide to go into a corporate Take you back into work, the true you, not the one that just follows instructions. Yes.

Sas Wessels, guest · [27:23]Does that make sense? No, absolutely. And look what you've said now, you know, it resonates with me as well. And I think the interesting thing is you would probably have been way more successful if you had brought that mindset, you know, to work earlier, the mindset of, you know, the fear being gone and bringing the full you, et cetera, et cetera. So for me, that's probably the biggest piece that I think I'm going to get out of this, out of this sabbatical. I may end up actually following through with the consulting piece and not getting back into corporate, and that's also fine. But if I do, it has to be as a different person with a bit of a different mindset and not, in my case, as you've now rightly also said, not operating as much out of fear or my wife always says, our generation or we are, you know, insecure overachievers. And that's typically it, right? Always feel like you're not doing enough and probably doing way more. More than, than, than anybody else is. So I think changing that fear mindset into an opportunity mindset would be, would be something valuable.

Sas Wessels, guest · [29:21]That's very interesting. So I think she would probably say, You know, me having more flexibility, helps her a lot because that just frees her up to be able to, you know, travel for work or, you know, without having a worry about who's going to take care of Nikki or how's this going to, going to work out. I think for us as a couple, this is more normal. This is healthier than it used to be. I mean, both parents, you know, pushing very hard at corporate careers and pushing the careers very hard is, is difficult. It, it has been difficult for us. we've managed it, but, you know, with, with the au pair and, grandmother and my grandma and grandpa and, and so on and so on helping out. But I think it has been difficult and I, and I think this, this has sort of made it easier. But at the same time, you know, there's the realities of, of, of life, you know, it is, it is nice to, to get the salary every month, right? So, you know, that allows you to have the elaborate holidays and all these other things that you can, that you can do then. So there is that pressure. But if I, if I honestly had to ask her, I think she, she would towards the side that I shouldn't be over eager to get back to it too quickly. And also if you go back, get back into something that is right, as opposed to just get back into something simply because you're getting anxious or you feel the social pressure or you feel insecure, not having a job or whatever those, you know, those things that you make up in your mind are, because they are there. I think she honestly would want me to think more about it rather than just jump back into it.