[gjmacd]

When I say "take 3-6 months off", I mean from distractions of life around you. Most people working, it's not reasonable to take that much time off. What I mean is, focus for 3-6 months on something new, spend 3-4 hours a day -- even if you have to box out some time at night to learning something. Often times over my life, I've told my wife, "OK, I'm going into hunker down mode..." which she new that I wasn't going to be counting on me for "free time" all that much for the next several months because I'll be in a mode of heads-down and learning. Like going to the gym or class, you need to carve out time and make time (weekends, nights, etc.). Make the time mandatory in your day. If you DO have the luxury of taking 30 days off (I know people who do have that), use that time for possibly going to an on-site bootcamp. Another thing I've done is take that 3-6 months and attend a class or bootcamp. With Bootcamp's becoming so much the rage these days, you can go 2 or 3 nights a week and learn a technology in 3 months. It's awesome.