Either Corporate or Consultancy, there are often periods between the end of a project and before the start of a new one were you have a moment to breath. What do you do with that valuable piece of time.
Chevis W.
I usually use the time to do a self directed project focusing on polishing a skill, using something I learned on a project but could not implement because of a client constraint, or just to cleanse the palette and do something more free before a project with limitations kicks off… I’ll usually gear this toward being a PR and or portfolio piece to put a little pressure on myself. Sometimes I will write about design in that break time as well.
Enjoy it. Often that’s something not design related to help clear the mind and get exposed to new things. Shopping, reading a book, snowboarding, going for a run, watching a movie.
Having time to decompress and let the mind wander I always find I get great ideas and new thoughts for future reference, while if I’m still too much in the “design/working bubble”, it’s more of the same and nothing new or productive comes of it.
As a consultant, it’s always “when it rains it pours”… As such, I put my head down and work hard when it does and enjoy the time off when I’m not busy. I may still take care of some backlog of PR/Portfolio updates, but stimulating the other parts of the mind is more useful in the longterm in getting a rounded perspective on things and holistic worldview, IMHO.
R
Lull time? What’s that?
I’ve been in corp. design my whole career and there are so many over-lapping projects there really isn’t any dwell time between them. Nice to think about though…
Get the canoe out and go explore some backwaters…
I was going to chime in and say the same thing but decided against it because I thought maybe I’m just overworked. 
But I’m in the same boat…between the new development and the half dozen projects worth of sustaining or refresh work there hasn’t been a real lull in activity in about a year. Even if there was a lull, theres so many currently unsupported projects once you tried to catch your breath you’d just be thrown on the next program that’s been pushed off.
I like a lot of the above suggestions. I like to completely clean my desk and work space, and rearrange the furniture, in between projects. Feels like a fresh start, and its a good time to toss old stuff.
I’ve found there’s nothing like a 4 hour shirt ironing session to get my mind in the groove. Seriously. Enough task to jeep you from being bored, but enough lax to let your mind wander…
R
I just got out of one of those. I spent some time doing some stuff on conceptart.org. They have some cool weekly character design competitions. Pretty fun stuff, and a good way to do some imaginative art, and sluff some of the more technical aspects of design. Of course, there are some VERY talented concept artist regulars on there, so the eyecandy is nice too.
I’ve found myself really getting into making stuff or actually doing personal projects.
Double needle leather hand sewing is my new favorite vice to do and think about doing and research about doing. So conceptually simple, but so hard to get it right.