Robert Levine

If you are like millions of others who have dreamt about an extended leave from work and daily life, you have no doubt danced the mental waltz with your heart, mind, and gut - each moving to a different step. Your heart tells you that you need the break to manage stress, rest and rejuvenate, reconnect with your core being and values, and find new purpose. You know a vacation isn’t enough. Your mind flits around to its own two-step, with the right and left sides of the brain dueling over the “rationality” of leaving everything to take a break versus the endless possibilities that can result. And your gut? That depends upon your personality, your circumstances, and how you deal with risk.

Perhaps you are facing special life-changing circumstances – a layoff, collapse of your business, a sudden inheritance, illness, recovery, death of a loved one. You are still grappling with these sudden changes, but you know that you face an opportunity along with a challenge. You wonder how a sabbatical can help you to cope, to move on, and to find what you are looking for.

The phrase “paradigm shift” does belong in the list of most-abused business buzz-words – but it does have meaning. The “power sabbatical” is a paradigm shift that can help us to dance in internal harmony, and make a sabbatical a potent reality in our lives.

We’ve heard about how the “power nap” and the “power walk” extend the underlying concepts of napping and walking. Along these lines, the “power sabbatical” is a sabbatical that is about more than just rest and rejuvenation. The power sabbatical also helps us find more life and career focus. It does this by leveraging techniques like self-assessment, goal-setting, and project planning to establish a strong and individualized sabbatical plan, and traditional financial planning combined with a “working sabbatical” to handle the finances.

We can easily understand how self-assessment can be of benefit. Knowing about our own personality, life circumstances, finances, and goals can help us to in making many life choices. Similarly, goal-setting is of use for those big decisions (think about choosing a university, making a job or career choice, and even finding a life partner.) It helps us create or clarify our vision for our lives. And approaching a sabbatical like the project that it truly is can fashion a dream into a well-executed reality.

But how can we make a sabbatical work financially - can we simply quit or interrupt a job and career without fear? In some instances, we can negotiate a paid or unpaid leave with a willing employer – if, of course, that fits in with our sabbatical goals. In other cases, we use prudent financial planning to prepare for a sabbatical in the same way that we plan for other big life events like university, marriage, children, and retirement. Or we can embark on a “working sabbatical,” where we seek part-time employment during the sabbatical, try out a new job or career, or start a business. But the key is not just to work for money, but also to try to make the work fit in with your sabbatical goals. Try something new, do something you like or have always wanted to try – or sharpen and hone your career skills in an entirely new environment.

What we are discussing is, in fact, a business plan for a sabbatical: self assessment has been achieved, measurable goals are determined, a financial plan has been crafted, a negotiating strategy for your company or business is in place, and more. There are no short-cuts or magic involved in designing a power sabbatical – just good planning. In fact, the process of planning for and executing a sabbatical is a lot like that of creating and running your own business, or inventing something new; it is not surprising that many sabbatical-takers later become successful entrepreneurs and businesspeople, or become much more creative at work and elsewhere.

Having such a plan will give you the confidence to face what you may encounter in the tantalizing journey that awaits. You can soothe your own objections and withstand those of others. You can get out of your own way so that you can achieve a higher purpose. You can fundamentally change yourself, and discover what you are really seeking in this short time on Earth. You can finally make the sabbatical dream a reality, and bring your life to the next level.