Earlier this year, my Sundays constituted non-critical client meetings as the rest of the week was already overbooked. At the top of the S-curve, I was simultaneously engaged with a dozen clients. Although constantly switching amongst clients required immense bandwidth and consumed heavy processing, this caused euphoria rather than burnout. But soon I had my string of realisations that made me embark on a life altering sabbatical.
You can read the blog Rat race or perhaps a hamster wheel that I wrote while I was passing through the realisations.
Although the sabbatical was intuitive, my colleagues and clients did mention that I must have been nuts enough to take this call. Initially, it did not strike me that this will be reflected on my resume and subject to interpretation by an HR executive who knows only enough to check off bullet points. But by the time I was done with my sabbatical and drafting my new resume, my achievements far outweighed the gap.
One of the books that I read during the break was ‘The Black Swan’ by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, who briefly mentions the significance of sabbaticals throughout his career, especially publishing. Since this was one of the first books that I picked up, this gave me quite the encouragement. And the sabbatical helped me not only to pursue initiatives that I had indefinitely postponed but also to explore new as well as forgotten areas of interest.
But first things first, before embarking on your sabbatical you should be sure about your finances. In Wall Street terms, as Nassim Nicholas Taleb mentions, it is called the ‘F*** you money’ that is supposed to be just enough to keep you pampered enough to stay creative while hungry enough to get back to your day job. It can be the savings that you accrued for a lavish vacation, alternate part time employment, or passive income source that keeps you afloat for sometime.
Since I have been fortunate enough owing to my circumstances as well as prior efforts, I acknowledge that this may be impossible or at least difficult for many others. From a financial perspective, I believe that sabbatical is quite a luxury as you can stop turning up for work but you can not stop the bills from showing up!
And once you have money, you need direction. Unlike backpacking, sabbaticals are planned, at least broadly planned if not detailed. Most people perform under pressure, whether from employer or spouse, and sabbatical eases that pressure. So unless you are committed to yourself and adhere to your overall plan, you might get lost. Hence, you must begin with a list of items that you need to accomplish within your stipulated deadline. Sabbatical is not a break, but an opportunity to work and explore things that can improve your career. And it is a planned exploration rather than an improvised aberration that can leave you disoriented.
From everything that I managed to accomplish, most was planned but some was improvised. My planned accomplishments include writing research papers, sorting out pending matters and necessary steps to pursue further education, while an unplanned opportunity gave me a chance to share my experience with post graduate students as a visiting faculty.
Apart from the accomplishments, you can also come across new ideas. Today work life is so immersive, as intrusive would be an under statement, that one can completely lose track of everything that is happening outside their immediate environment. And sabbatical gives you an opportunity to update yourself on the myriad of subjects. To clarify, this is exploring the details beyond the bullet point morning headlines that you gulp while sipping your coffee. Everyone knows what is happening with Bitcoins and Ether, but how many know the detailed functioning of Blockchain technology and future potential!
In the last few months, blockchain has been my subject of interest but I have not been able to explore much about upcoming solutions and NFTs (Non Fungible Tokens). Though I hope to update myself and maybe come up with a new idea by the time I finish my sabbatical.
If planned and executed right, sabbatical is a great tool to make a career leap. It gives you an opportunity to acquire or improve skills, pursue postponed initiatives and explore new avenues. However, the slightest casualness will have you end up with a hard time explaining the six month gap on your resume to your next potential employer!
To conclude with an analogy, unless you figure out all aspects of a wine tasting evening and stick to the menu, you might end up sloshed and wake up with a bad hangover.
And if you plan to continue learning while pursuing your day job, you can take one of our short courses on Business Management. Or you can access thousands of courses on SkillShare, join using this link and get the first month FREE!
Feature Image Photo by Zachariah Hagy on Unsplash
Savvy Munshi 
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