How to Take a Sabbatical
A sabbatical is taking a period of time--anywhere from a couple of months to a year--away from your normal routine. It's a time to immerse yourself in a different environment, try new things, reassess your priorities, and look at your life from a different perspective.
You can fulfill your dream of living in Paris for a year, go on an archaeological dig in Malta, write your novel, check items off your bucket list (go parachuting, scuba diving, and run a marathon), or simply reconnect with yourself.
In addition, in order to create the life of your dreams it's necessary to slow down and listen to what your heart and soul are trying to tell you. Many people use a sabbatical as a springboard to creating a deeply fulfilling life for themselves.
This lens will help you determine whether you should take a sabbatical and, should you decide to take the plunge, it offers tips, tools, and resources to help you plan for your sabbatical.
photo credit: Vince Alongi
Extended breaks allow for personal goals, such as travel, study, volunteering, or research. Are you stuck in a rut? Do you want to expand your horizons? Are you looking for a way to get your creative juices flowing?
Escape 101
The Four Secrets to Taking a Sabbatical or Career Break Without Losing Your Money or Your Mind
Escape 101: The Four Secrets to Taking a Sabbatical or Career Break Without Losing Your Money or Your Mind
Amazon Price: $17.48 (as of 06/03/2012)
One option to really get going on your bucket list is to take a sabbatical.
For example, you could take a year off and travel or write that novel you've always been talking about. Or, how about just taking six months off to relax and rejuvenate lying in a hammock in a beach in Costa Rica. You can even go to Paris and take that drawing class you've dreamed about since you were twelve.
Go to the "The Growing Life" blog and read a good interview with the author of "Escape 101".
Sabbatical Tip
Keep a journal during your sabbatical.
Sabbatical Websites
- The Sabbatical Coach
- Clive Prout is "The Sabbatical Coach". He indicates that he helps his clients to change their beliefs about "success", discover what is most important to them, connect with their "best self", discover their life pupose, develop a plan to turn their vision into reality, and make the internal and external changes necessary to generate greater happiness.
- The Career Break Site
- Source of career break information and advice.
- Gap Year for Grownups
- Gap Year for Grown Ups will take you beyond the typical tourist experience. Whether you are looking to take a career break and travel the world, volunteer abroad or simply discover something new, then Gap Year for Grown Ups can help!
- The Family Sabbatical Handbook
- A few years ago, our family, like many others, had a vague sense that the best of life was slipping away and we were powerless to do anything about it. There was simply never enough time or psychic space for us or anyone we knew to savor the good lives, the marriages, the children that we were all working so hard to make. It began to sink in that we would never find this time unless we created it for ourselves.
- YourSabbatical.com
- A senior executive returns from overseas with a clarified vision for his company. A vice president comes back from across town with an advanced college degree. A middle manager returns from a volunteer effort with a new way to organize her team. An engineer returns with the solution to a complex design problem. The quiet guy from the mailroom comes back with published copies of his first book.
More Books to Help You Plan Your Sabbatical
Here Are the Last Five Posts On My Blog
“Embrace all life has to offer, for one spends a long time dead." Dr. Jonathan Sackier”
Your Sabbatical Framework
He drafted a "Sabbatical Framework" in which he described four ideal states--calm, comfort, sharing, enjoyment--followed by intended actions and outcomes for his body, mind and soul. During his eight-month break he spent a week at a Mexican health spa--where he learned yoga, drawing and jewelry-making--, he explored teaching part time at UCLA's business school, and he even played in the World Series of Poker.
Although Marcus returned to Mercer after this sabbatical, he realized almost immediately that it was no longer the right fit for him. He found another job at a tiny pay consultancy. He credits the sabbatical: "I corrected my misjudgment about sticking with Mercer quicker than I would have before," he notes. A small firm "is where I should be."
Stefan Sagmeister: The Power of Time Off
Reasons to Take a Sabbatical
To reassess their lives and determine whether they're on the right track.
Maybe you've realized that you're in your current more...0 points
Helpful Lenses
How to Take a Sabbatical
- It's best if you can start laying the groundwork at least a year before you take off.
- Do some soul-searching and decide what you want to do during your sabbatical.
- Once you know what you want to do with your time off, you'll be better able to determine how much money you're going to need.
- If you want to return to your same job when the year is over, see if you can frame your sabbatical in terms that would be beneficial to your employer. For example, if you're planning to spend time in another country learning a new language, this might be a skill you can apply to your job when you return. If you work in a restaurant and you want to go to the South of France and take cooking lessons, this is also something that could benefit your employer.
- Again, if you plan to return to the same company, make sure that you're clear as to the terms the company is setting to allow you to take the year off. Will you be returning to the same position? Are you guaranteed equivalent salary? Also, you should leave a way for your employer to get in touch with you while you're away.
- That being said, during your time off it's a good idea to evaluate what you want from your job, what kind of people you want to work with, and what your ideal work environment would be like. You may conclude that you don't want to return to your old job after all.
“Ever think, 'Someday, I'll take time off and decide what I really want to do with my life'?”
Time Off for Good Behavior
How Hardworking Women Can Take a Break and Change Their Lives
Time Off for Good Behavior: How Hardworking Women Can Take a Break and Change Their Lives
Amazon Price: $1.29 (as of 06/03/2012)
The target audience for this book on on the transformative power of time off are "Type A" good girls. Once a CEO of an advertising agency, Quinlan took a life-changing five-week break and then promptly started her own consulting company. Encouraging women not to bury personal happiness under career success, she offers anecdotes from 37 women who had similar time-off epiphanies, worksheets designed to spur readers to action.
More Books on Taking a Sabbatical
Sabbatical Blogs
- Escape 101
- The official home and blog for the book about transforming your life by taking the extended time off you've always dreamed of.
- Break Away
- Welcome to this BreakAway website-an amalgamation of opinions and ponderings on the provocative topic of Sabbaticals.
Taking a Writing Sabbatical
Taking Time Off to Write is Worth the Sacrifice
- "Do you feel if you had a dedicated block of time to write, you could complete the book you've always wanted to write? Taking an extended period of time off to write is liberating, allowing creative freedom, unfettered by concerns competing for your brain's attention. It's not an easy decision. I agonized for months. The extended amount of time is worth the sacrifice. Otherwise, I would have missed the additional adventures of sipping mint tea writing in Morocco or journaling while catching the sunset over the majestic beauty of the Alhambra in Granada." (Source)
How to Take a Writing Sabbatical
- How to Give Yourself a Writing Sabbatical
- Have you dreamed of spending a year writing your novel? Perhaps you think that would only be possible if you won the lottery. Let's face it, most of us have to work to pay our living expenses. The good news is that you can still give yourself a writing sabbatical. I know, because I did it. 2008 was my writing year and I completed three books during my writing year.
Your Opinion on Sabbaticals
The Family Sabbatical
More Family Sabbaticals
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
Amazon Price: $1.98 (as of 06/03/2012)
This is a memoir which chronicles the Elizabeth Gilbert's trip around the world after her divorce, and what she discovered during her travels. As of March 2009, the book had remained on the New York Times Best Seller list for 110 weeks.
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Everyone is welcome to comment, including non-squidoo members.
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ajgodinho Nov 28, 2010 @ 5:43 pm | delete
- Very interesting lens and lots of good information for people contemplating taking a sabbatical. I've taken a sabbatical twice in my life and enjoyed every bit of it. In fact, currently, I'm on a sabbatical so to speak. Great job on this lens!
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mavisris
Sep 22, 2010 @ 6:44 am | delete
- Great lens, really relates to myself with the organisation I was away with a couple of years ago, will add it to my useful lenses on my lens. Thanks and keep up the good work!
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stargazer00
Oct 19, 2009 @ 2:36 pm | delete
- Enjoyed this lens on taking a sabbatical. Everyone needs some time off now and then even if it is just a few days.
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