Today, thousands of children across the UK had their first day at secondary school. My youngest two were among them. Seeing them head off in their shiny new uniforms earlier this morning made for a very proud moment.

But today was a very big day for me professionally, too.

Our children were born during what I’d call the peak of my career. When Maddie and Ollie came along we already had Henry, and I was travelling the world giving keynotes, visiting project sites, picking up lucrative consultancy work, writing guest articles for major news outlets and magazines, publishing books, working with the likes of Archbishop Tutu and Peter Gabriel, and winning awards and Fellowships for my social innovation efforts. It was an incredible time, and I still pinch myself when I think about it.

But it was one that didn’t sit comfortably with parenthood.

So I stepped back and, after a brief final flurry of overseas travel, gave it all up to prioritise my young family. That meant taking less risk and focusing on work which meant I could be at home as much as possible to do the school runs, cook dinner and tuck the kids into bed at night. You know, the kind of stuff you only get one chance of doing.

To say I’ve missed the buzz and excitement of what came before would be an understatement, and even now I look back fondly on what was a golden age for me and my work. But it was all worth it, and today is testament to that.

My target, all those years ago, was to see all the children safely into secondary school, and only after that to focus back on myself. Today is the first day of that new beginning. I’m excited for what’s ahead, and feel a sense of rebirth as I turn my attention back to things I want to do with my remaining time on this little blue planet of ours.

One of the obvious side effects of being out of work for three months is that you’re forced to take a break from the 9-to-5 routine that most of us end up enslaved to.

But in my case this enforced ‘break’ has turned out to be the best thing I could have done.

Taking any length of time off work to simply think and reflect might seem like a luxury few of us can afford. But it’s one of the best investments I’ve made in a long time, both professionally and personally. I’ve found a clarity I wouldn’t have found any other way.

Carving out time to pause and reflect has allowed me to step back and gain perspective. Most of us are constantly in the thick of things, buried in our work and our inboxes, and it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. A break from the daily grind provides the mental space needed to reassess direction, goals, strategies and priorities. It’s like hitting the refresh button, allowing new ideas to emerge and unexpected solutions and ideas to surface.

It also gives us time to dream. And breathe.

Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates all made a point of taking time off from their busy schedules to think, reflect and ponder. Gates famously has his ‘Think Weeks’ where he hides away with a stack of books and a notepad. These periods of isolation have been credited with some of his most groundbreaking insights.

Stepping away from work can also significantly boost your creativity. Our brains need down time to make connections between disparate ideas, and this is often where creative breakthroughs happen. Ever noticed how your best ideas come to you in the shower or during a quiet walk? That’s your brain at work, free from the clutter of the daily grind.

Being out of work isn’t fun, and there have been many occasions when I’ve struggled for motivation, or I’ve let all the worry get the better of me, or I’ve felt incredibly guilty for not being constantly productive. I’m one of those people who needs to keep busy – at least, I used to.

I’ve learnt a lot about myself over the past three months, things I’d never have learnt had I not had the space and the time. On Monday I start a new job as Venture Coach for beVisioneers: The Mercedes-Benz Fellowship, and I couldn’t be more excited.

It was the time away that gave me the clarity (and opportunity) to focus my time on this exciting line of work. Watch this space for more.

So thank you, universe, for gifting me the chance to think.

I hope I don’t let you down.

Less than a week into my latest job search I repeated one fatal mistake, a mistake I’ve made over and over again over the years. You probably have, too.

Except this time I took a step back, recognised it, and put it right.

What am I talking about? That relentless career/salary progression thing, that’s what. The idea that your career, while it may not follow a beautiful straight line, is somehow meant to keep pointing up, keep getting better.

You know, that ‘Supervisor’ to ‘Assistant Manager’ to ‘Manager’ to ‘Director’ to ‘Senior Director’ to ‘C-suite’ progression thing. And the better and better salaries that go with it. There’s an insane expectation, and sometimes pressure, for us to try and steer our careers along this path. And it makes no sense, no sense at all.

The mistake I made after just a few days into my latest search was to focus my time on well-paid, senior roles. You know, ticking that top tier salary box on Guardian Jobs, then selecting the most senior job categories, and then seeing what comes out – and realising that all of the results are the kinds of jobs I’d never, ever want to do any more. I’m just being honest.

Years ago I’d have probably just gone with it, and most likely ended up working somewhere I’d find deeply frustrating, overly bureaucratic, and a creative thinking graveyard. But hey, the salary would have been good, so the price is worth paying, right?

Wrong.

Since early March I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. Dangerous, I know. Never before have I given myself this much time to seriously ponder what a late career/life reboot might look like for me. But I’ve been reading a lot, hoping to get a few ideas. ‘Four Thousand Weeks‘ (by Oliver Burkeman) and ‘From Strength to Strength‘ (by Arthur Brooks) have been two of the best books I could have ever read. Few recent books have altered my thinking more than those two have.

The end result of all of this is that I’ve stopped chasing senior roles, stopped chasing titles, and stopped chasing big salaries. In my case at least, it’s really not worth it. I want to jump out of bed in the morning with a spring in my step, to do work that makes me sing, and do the kind of work that my kids would be proud of. And if the money doesn’t quite stretch to all the things we used to be able to do, then so be it. We’re doing okay. I’ve always been nothing if not resourceful.

Despite the uncertainty, I’m probably more excited now than I have been in a long time. I’m taking control of the huge chunk of my life that I’d usually hand over to an employer. As Buddha tells us, we really ought to seek the ‘right livelihood‘, work which doesn’t do harm to ourselves or others, and is ethically positive,

Too many people are unhappy in their work, and in my book that counts as harm – to themselves. We keep hearing that we should ‘bring our authentic selves’ to work. But how many of us really do?

“Knowing others is intelligence. Knowing yourself is true wisdom” – Lao Tzu