I’ve been blessed to have been able to carve out 6 solid weeks away from work over the summer. The time has been truly life changing for me and has given me a ton of perspective on what my priorities should be. It hasn’t all been easy or rosy (ask my wife!), but it certainly has been fulfilling. I wanted to write a post summarizing some of my achievements, lessons learned and tips for others who may be taking deliberate time away from work to refocus.
Achievements
What did I do while I was away from work? Beyond spending gratuitous amounts of time with my kids, I did get quite a bit done:
I completed the Science of Wellbeing course, and have a set of techniques to be happier, including practicing gratitude, savouring and thwarting my natural hedonic adaptation.
I changed my relationship with my phone and technology, limiting the amount of apps that I access on a daily basis. I also committed to having a corporate phone for better work/life balance. Expect a future blog post on this topic!
I did a 50km fundraiser bike ride, the longest ride since I’ve become a Dad. I also raised $500 for Chron’s and Colitis Canada in the process, which was graciously matched by my employer!
I finished a handful of books, including The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown, the Working Dad’s Survival Guide by Scott Behson and Self Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind To Yourself by Kirstin Neff.
I started listening to Podcasts on the daily! I will do a follow up post later this year with recommendations.
Did a bunch of house projects, including learning how to snake a drain, remove a p-trap and how to dampen sounds of older, creaky stairs!
Lessons Learned
Thinking about taking some time away to do self-discovery? I’m hoping that my tips below will help you ensure you spend your time wisely.
Limit Your Goals
Heading into my sabbatical I had a number of goals (which I wrote about) that I was aiming to achieve during my time away. I knew that the time would go by quickly so I attempted to utilize some advice that I received when I was much younger and backpacking: pack your stuff well before your trip, remove half and pack again. In essence, don’t overbook yourself!
While I did apply this on the onset of my sabbatical, I quickly found that I was taking on too much and I needed to achieve less during my time away. As an example, I had signed up to do a handful of online product leadership courses and take a two day course on mental health leadership in the workplace. I opted to reprioritize both of these knowing that I can make space for them as I return to work, and focus instead on spending time with my kids and my family.
Stick to a Routine
Time off away from work means getting to sleep in to 9:00am each day and throwing your diet out the window, right?
While having some time to sleep in and get some rest is important, don’t let yourself stray from your daily routine too much. While I was at home I still managed to keep my regular morning “pre-work” routine. This gave me ample time to get stuff done in my day, as well as spend more time with my family. It also had the added benefit of making my transition back to work a bit easier!
Keep a Journal
I received some really good advice before my sabbatical started regarding how to utilize this time away. It’s a bit like a pendulum: spend too much time getting shit done and it’ll go by too fast, spend too much time doing nothing and you’ll come out of it feeling like it was a waste of your time.
I started a log of achievements and learnings that I had during my time away and it’s something that I’m planning on keeping going forward. It can be big wins (me competing a 50k bike ride!) or small ones as well (fixing something around the house). As the time went by very quickly, having a reference to go back to has made me even more grateful for my time away. And be sure to take lots of photos!
Get Out of Your Space
We purposely book-ended my time off with a few trips away. It was a great way to kickoff my sabbatical as a bit of a celebration, and end the sabbatical with some quality family time and an opportunity to explore outside of our city.
While I was at home it was important to get out of the house daily, particularly during the pandemic we are finding ourselves in.
Summary
I’ll be forever grateful for the time I was able to spend on myself and my family, particularly as I don’t know when I’ll be able to do something similar again. I’d encourage anyone who’s feeling burnout, wanting to find their purpose, or just looking to reconnect with what matters most to them to do something similar.
