“Bench time” is a metaphor for taking a break to examine goals and values in our lives.
It was created by Gareth Lymer of afterthecomma . I had the pleasure of meeting him as a lecturer and industry leader during the Hyper Island training. Gareth began developing "Bench Time" when he realized how much the concept resonated with people. This can be for a variety of reasons. Either because people want to reflect on their careers, or they question whether their career paths are still valid and suitable for them, or simply because, due to demographic changes, our careers are generally much longer. There are many reasons why it's important to take this time out and analyze one's (professional) life. Increasingly, we see "bench time" as a process of discovering and expressing individual skills and needs in all areas of life.
The approach that Gareth follows in the development of Bench Time is co-creative. As a group of Hyper Island Alumni, we took up the core of Gareth 'idea and together we think about the concept for finding and creating collective values. In this way, the development becomes a process in action. This procedure is incredibly inspiring and expands your own horizon.
The summary question for Bench Time is: What values do we want to pursue at what point in our lives? Gareth took us through different values, introducing concepts such as mindfulness and meditation and linking these to value. At first glance, this seems to be a contradiction. But ultimately we have to create values, on many different levels. Therefore, an attribution of value makes sense so that we can classify it or assign a value. Such values can also be reflected on a personal level. I found it inspiring because it brings together two concepts that seem to contradict each other. The way Gareth put it made me realize that this doesn't have to be the case.
Would you like to share some thoughts? Are you interested in participating in the pilot program? Or would you like to be notified when the first course starts? Get in touch. I'll be happy to keep you updated.