The Best Investment I Made in 2025

When people talk about investments, they usually mean money but the best investment I made in 2025 had nothing to do with finances. When I stepped away from my role in corporate, I made a commitment to myself that I would not jump into the next thing immediately. I told myself I would take at least a month and not commit to anything. No projects. No consulting. No new roles. At the time, that decision felt uncomfortable and unfamiliar, especially coming from a high performance corporate environment where momentum and productivity were the norm.

I can still remember that first day outside of corporate where I opened my email and it was empty. For the first time in 14 years, my email and calendar was empty and for some odd reason, I felt empty inside. Looking back, that month changed everything.

Taking Time Off Was a Strategic Decision

Choosing not to work was not about disengaging or burning out. It was about creating space. Space to think clearly without deadlines. Space to let ideas surface without pressure. Space to separate what I had been doing from what I actually wanted to do.

I did not frame it as rest at the time. In fact, I did not even realize how much I needed it. I simply knew that immediately committing to something new would likely lead me down a familiar path rather than the right one. That pause created distance and with distance came perspective.

Boredom Drives Creativity

One of the most unexpected outcomes of that month was boredom. Real boredom. No meetings, pings from Teams, or an inbox driving my day. For once, I didn’t have notifications pulling my attention in ten different directions.

At first, that felt unsettling because I was so used to the chaos but eventually, something interesting happened… Without constant stimulation, my mind slowed down. Instead of reacting, it started to wander. Ideas began to connect. Thoughts that had been buried under “busy-work” started to surface.

Boredom created the conditions for creativity. Not forced creativity, but the kind that emerges naturally when the mind has room to explore. There was no pressure to act on anything immediately. That freedom allowed ideas to develop fully rather than being rushed into existence.

Pausing Creates Space to Think About What You Actually Want

Most people rarely give themselves uninterrupted time to think. We move from task to task, meeting to meeting, decision to decision. In that pace, it becomes difficult to ask deeper questions about what we want our lives and careers to look like. That month away gave me permission to ask those questions honestly. What kind of work did I actually want to do?

Without external noise, the answers became clearer. The pause was not passive. It was active thinking and it fundamentally changed how I approached the next chapter.

Looking Back to Move Forward

With time and space, I also began to reflect on my past. I looked at the skills I had built through door to door sales, B2B technology, and consulting. I thought about the resilience developed early in my career, the relationship building learned over time, and the strategic thinking sharpened at Gartner.

Seeing my experience laid out clearly changed my confidence. HUMN no longer felt like a risky leap. It felt like a natural progression. The skill set, network, and perspective were already there. I just needed the clarity to see it. That reflection connected the dots in a way constant motion never allowed.

How That Month Led Directly to HUMN

The business plan for HUMN did not come from pressure or urgency. It came from clarity. Ideas formed slowly and intentionally. The vision took shape without forcing it. By the time I started writing, the foundation was already there. The pause allowed the thinking to happen before execution ever began. That made the work itself feel aligned rather than reactive. HUMN was built mentally before it was built operationally.

Final Thoughts

At the time, I didn’t realize I was overworking. I did not feel burned out in the traditional sense but stepping away showed me how much constant motion had narrowed my thinking. The best investment I made in 2025 was giving my mind the chance to rest and think about nothing. That space created clarity. That clarity created confidence and that confidence led to everything that followed.

Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is stop.