Archives for Articles, Books & Blogs About Sabbaticals
TEDx Talk on Sabbaticals Sends Misguided, Dangerous Message
I love TED talks and TEDx too. Don’t you? Still, you should not believe everything you hear. Todd Babiak is co-founder of Story Engine, a start-up that uses story-based strategies to make organizations and leaders better: more focused, more cohesive, more influential, more human. I enjoyed his June 2011 TEDx talk, “Tell Me a Story” […]
Why Your Career Path Should Have No End
Life expectancy is ballooning, but really, who’s paying attention? I wasn’t, and the results were a transition that could have been better navigated. Entering my third act of life, I ended up confused in a swamp land of outdated information, no great “how-to” bestseller as a guide and social benchmarks that just didn’t fit anymore. […]
Secrets of Confident and Smart Long-Term Travel
Endings are powerful experiences. As the season of shopping, glittering lights and cookies gains momentum, we are letting go of the final days of 2012. How was it for you? Living the life you want? Too busy for much of anything? Cat got your tongue? Soon we’ll all receive the greatest gift of all – […]
Oh the Things You’ll Learn! Three Notable Sabbatical Books
We can learn a lot from the story line, “sabbatical idea to departure.” But, the story of what happens next provides the best information to help us to look closer at our own ideas about taking time out from work Who doesn’t want answers to these questions: Just how did those teenage daughters like being […]
Just What We Need. Ego-Driven CEO on Run-Away Sabbatical
It’s not as if Jared Heyman isn’t a nice guy. He does look likeable. And, as a driven businessman and entrepreneur, his success deserves celebration in ways he chooses. But, his idea of a sabbatical as “running away,” curls my brain. Taking into consideration that INC. needs to sell buckets of magazines, perhaps he did have a better message […]
Why a Sabbatical on Your Resume Makes You More Desirable - Plus Tips for Negotiating One
Marlo Gaal, who hires employees as corporate HR director for Hyatt Hotels Corporation, says a sabbatical on a resume has the potential to make a candidate more interesting. “It’s an upside [for a candidate] because I appreciate the diversity,” Gaal says, in a US News & World Report article this week. “To me, [what you […]
Was Our Trip Career Suicide?
Let me be clear, I do not think that this is the case at all, but now that we are back in Philly, in the midst of a full-time job search, during the worst recession of our lives, the market (employers and clients) have yet to make a definitive call on the matter. So I […]
New Study Shows Over-the-Top Benefits and ROI for Career Sabbaticals
Let’s confirm what we already know. Most people, at some point, would like to take time out from work. Of course, there are real and serious questions to consider: Is a sabbatical a smart career move? Can a sabbatical make me more committed to my career? To my company? Will I be transformed by the […]
Seek Renewable Energy? The Feel-Good Test Yields Answers on How to Spend Your Time on Sabbatical
A sabbatical without a plan is a vacation. And while you might think that just getting “away on vacation” will fill your energy bowl – you are mistaken. A planned, career break with goals gets you closer to rejuvenation. But if you seek sustainable, energy renewal to bring back to your life and career, your […]
Successful Designer's Formula: Sagmeister's 7-Year Sabbatical Cycle
Occasionally, when we talk with business executives interested in a career sabbatical program for their workplace, an odor of “mis-information mindset” leaks between the ears of one of them. The subtle stink arises with a comment like this: “I can understand how someone unhappy, lost, dis-satisfied or suffering from priority-confusion could benefit from a break […]
Want to be “Happy-Well”? Invite Your Brother on Your Sabbatical
I trudged through 14 pages of teensy-sized font, carefully taking notes, to learn from respected research on secrets of “the good life.” Why? Because this mother-of-a-study makes an unusual discovery. The Harvard Study of Adult Development, one of THE longest-running and very exhaustive longitudinal studies of mental and physical well-being in history followed 268 men […]
The Thrill of Getting Un-Stuck - I'm Feelin' It
One of the best post-sabbatical outcomes for me, personally and professionally, was a significant improvement (think C+ to A+) in my ability to make quick decisions. Although learning how to push a little boat through the water for six months never made my daughter and me great sailors, we changed in other ways. That sailing […]
Off Your Rocker: Why You Should Never Retire
Here’s the sabbatical mindset - you live the life you want AND work during every phase of it. Rather than swapping a career for a personal life, both co-exist year in and year out until St. Peter blows his bugle. The idea that people dispose of their careers after 40 years of plugging away to go […]
Slow is Old: Still, A New Lens for Your Life?
The new feeling is s-l-o-w. It’s certainly not positive when it comes to the economy, but other than that, perhaps your work life and life in general are not currently moving as fast as they once were. Do you like slow? Or do you miss fast? How comfortable are you with slow? Is too much […]
Recession Outcome: An Acquired Taste for Free Time?
While some organizations excitedly complete the final design of their first Sabbatical Program, McDonald’s could literally yawn. Their sabbatical program is more than 40 years old. While there is nothing quite like debriefing with a person who’s just returned from their first career break imagine how intrigued we are to interview employees of two other […]
Forced Sabbatical Work: Investigate A New Career
Since you lost your job, are you romantizing about becoming an organic farmer? Think your kitchen talents might land you on The Food Network? Oh I see, you figure your creative spirit is meant to design cool new buildings. Being an architect WAS cool - two years ago when it made it (barely) into the […]
WWOOFING It: Cheap Sabbatical Alternative to Shopping at Whole Foods
While some want their sabbaticals to be about extreme physical challenges like an Ironman Triathalon or solo circumnavigation, other people just want to get a wee more fit. We’re not interested in testing our body’s endurance, nor do we relish having our hearts jump out of our chests from fear (like when the wind starts […]
Secret Sabbatical Possibility: The Global Mindset
“Companies that ignore the global mindset do so at their own peril.” (Chief Learning Officer Magazine, June 2008.) If your company’s leaders are innovating across political, social and cultural boundaries in ways that suggest they are looking for opportunities, then they’re already talking “global leadership.” One characteristic of global leaders is they can see many […]
When Knowledge Walks Out The Door
When sabbatical work partners - those left behind to do the work while a person is away on sabbatical - are less than 48 hours of being without their valuable boss or co-worker for a block of weeks, cute remarks are apt to be made. Awww, no boss? We’re looking forward to it…..Hey, I’m finally […]