Sabbatical Book: The Working Professional’s Guide to Career Breaks

Looking to recover from burnout, spend more time with your family, explore hobbies, or travel? An extended period away from full-time work like a sabbatical is a great way to do it!

Want to get the most out of your sabbatical? I'm taking everything I've learned from my own experience and dozens of people who have taken career breaks, navigated career changes, and designed better lives for themselves into the definitive guide to taking an effective sabbatical.

If you're a mid-career professional who is dissatisfied or burned out at your job, I'm looking for beta readers to help me test the first draft of the book; email me if you'd like to see what I have so far.

Draft Sabbatical Book Outline

Introduction
1. What is a sabbatical? What can you do with one?
2. What are the advantages of a sabbatical over a vacation, new job, or early retirement?
3. Who I am and why should you trust me.
Pre-sabbatical: preparing to leave
1. A financial plan showing your savings rate, monthly budget and target leave date.
2. An emotional audit cataloging and addressing fears and uncertainties around leaving your job and exploring new things.
3. A work maximization guide to help you get the most out of the “boring middle” between now and your target leave date.
Leave!
Early sabbatical: recover
1. Practicing doing nothing.
2. Taking a vacation to mark the end of work and the beginning of your sabbatical.
3. Journal and reflect on the transition process.
Mid-sabbatical: explore + exploit
1. The prime directives that need to be maintained no matter what else you decide to do: health, financial security, relationships, living space.
2. Using free time to your advantage.
3. Building new habits and schedules.
4. Identifying and pursuing new goals.
5. Building a new identity and personal life meaning.
Late sabbatical: transitioning to what’s next
1. Finding a new job that matches your skills, abilities, and preferences.
2. Explaining your time away to employers