How To Plan A Sabbatical-Style Career Break

How To Plan A Sabbatical-Style Career Break

I recently quit my job to take a two-year break. Whenever I mention this to someone, the most common response is a variation of “I wish I could do that.” Most people believe they can’t, and I used to believe I couldn’t either.

A major health scare in my family forced me to question some of the norms, including the one that you must work until you’re 65 and then take a break. I wondered if engineering my own sabbatical-style break much sooner were possible. Surprisingly, I discovered that not only is it possible, but it’s also easy to summarise the process in five simple steps.

Now, I realise my break is longer than most people can (and need to) take off, but whether it’s three months or two years, the process remains the same. Also note that an extended career break requires serious thought and careful inspection of the motivations. Let’s assume here that you know the why and keep our focus on the how.

Step 1: Choose the Idea Start Date and Duration for Your Break

You probably want to start your break right now, but we both know that ain’t happening. So, start by picking an ideal date and duration instead. Don’t worry too much about getting it exactly right — we’ll be revisiting it again.

A few things to keep in mind:

  • Make it concrete — “someday” is not an option.

  • If possible, tie it to a life event. It’s much easier to track and provides a nice psychological push. For example: “I’ll take a six-month break to travel the world before my 30th birthday” or “I’ll take a two-year break to care for my family when my baby is here.”

  • Be flexible. This date is just a starting point — you’ll probably revise it several times.

  • Discuss it with someone close. Mention it casually to your spouse, friends and colleagues during everyday conversations and seek feedback. This helps to make it feel real and possible, get valuable input for the rest of the planning, start building support and keep you from wimping out.

Step 2: Plan Your Finances

Since you’re reading this on Lifehacker, let’s assume you want to make this happen in a financially responsible way. The following questions will help you decide what you need to cover. How you handle these depends on your personal financial constitution. As you address each question, see if your ideal start date and duration need tweaking.

Do you have any debt? Debt is like a sword hanging over your head — if possible, get rid of it before the break. If not, determine how to continue paying it off during the break. At the very least, ensure that you won’t add any new debt because of your break.

How will you pay for everyday expenses? Consider the following options:

  • Savings: Put away enough to pay yourself a salary during the break.

  • Spouse: If you are a dual-income family, check if your spouse can cover for you.

  • Side income: Establish a stream of side income before the break — rental property income, investment dividends, website revenue, etc.

  • Part-time job: Work part time during the break — baby/pet/house sitting, freelancing, upscaling products; the possibilities are limited only by your imagination.

How will you survive any unexpected emergencies/expenses? Determine your comfort level and build up an appropriate emergency fund.

Do you have a tight hold on your spending? Starting as early as possible, adjust your lifestyle to trim the fat.

In my case, we paid off all debt, including our mortgage. I plan to pay myself a small salary from my savings, and we’ve adopted a relatively frugal lifestyle. My husband’s job pays for health insurance and serves as a fallback. We’ve set aside a few investments to cover for unexpected/emergency expenses. All of this took time, and I had to modify my start date several times, but the peace of mind it offered made the wait well worth it.

Step 3: Plan What You’ll Do During Your Break

Now, we get to the fun part! If all you want to do is veg-out, sit back and dammit-just-take-a-break, that’s perfectly fine — you’re just reading the wrong article. What you need is a holiday, not an extended career break. Doing nothing for several months/years can turn anyone into a depressed mess, so you better figure out something productive to do.

For many of you, the reason why you’re taking the break may naturally determine what to do during the break. For others, things may not be so straightforward. If that’s the case, here are a few ideas to get your juices flowing. A break like this is a perfect time to:

  • Pursue your passion — travel, gardening, reading, writing, volunteering, social work, etc.

  • Pursue a bunch of random things to discover your passion.

  • Raise a family.

  • Go back to school.

  • Try a new career — entrepreneurship, freelancing, etc.

  • Cross items off your bucket list.

  • Catch up on pending stuff — projects you started on weekends but never finished, personal situations that need closure, etc.

I was one of those who knew why I wanted to take a break, but not the what-to-do part. After much thought, I decided to start a personal development blog exclusively for parents. This allows me to do what I really want — experiment with how to become a better person and a better parent — while at the same time letting me explore entrepreneurship, writing, marketing, etc.

As you nail down what to do, remember that:

  • While this is the fun part, it’s not necessarily the easy part. You may take a while to figure things out, so do this while you’re trying to get your finances in order.

  • Not everyone will understand or support you — especially if what you plan to do is radically different from what you do now.

You may need to revisit the earlier steps. What started as a pipe dream is turning into a definite course of action. You may have to constantly rework your plans to work in the unforeseen details like travel costs, training time, etc.

Step 4: Plan Your Exit Strategy

A year or two, or at the very least several months, will likely pass until you take that break. During this period, continue to do your best at work — that’s the right thing to do. As you get closer to your date, figure out your exit strategy:

  • Have the big conversation with the boss. When and how you do this depends on your relationship with your boss and your workplace dynamics. I told my manager early on, and though he was surprised, he was very supportive.

  • Investigate the company policies. You may actually get some help from your employer. For instance, if you want to pursue higher education, you may be eligible for tuition reimbursement; workplace policies may guarantee an equivalent job after a short break to care for family, etc. Even if no explicit policies exist, check if you can negotiate an unpaid leave of absence.

  • If you decide to quit, do it with dignity and grace. If you cannot negotiate a break, or choose to quit, remember it’s a small world and make sure you:

  • Don’t burn your bridges.

  • Provide the required notice.

  • Train your replacements.

  • Write a cordial resignation letter and hand it in personally.

  • Be professional with your exit survey/interview.

Step 5: Go For It!

Time goes by a lot faster than you think and before you know it you’ll be saying goodbye to your colleagues. Use the following tips for the final transition:

  • Expect last-minute cold feet — I ended up with a case of severe anxiety!

  • Consider easing into the new lifestyle. I took two days off each week for the last few weeks to test drive my new lifestyle.

  • Plan in detail the first few weeks off. I started my break the week before a much anticipated family get-together and on returning, I stuck to my old daily schedule, except instead of going to work, I showed up at my laptop.

  • Make a conscious attempt to socialise and not become isolated. I have a date to meet my old friends from work once a week, I have joined a few forums relevant to what I do, and I sparked up conversations with long-lost friends and family.

Are You Ready for Your Break?

If you’ve ever wanted to take an extended career break in a responsible way well before you retire, know that with some planning and a slight shift in attitude you can make it happen. Fill out the sentence below, leave it in the comments, and just see how you feel…

I want to take a [how long] break to [do something] on [some life event].


Sumitha Bhandarkar is the creator of afineparent.com, a unique personal development blog exclusively for parents. If you’re a parent who believes that good parents are made, not born; if you believe that modelling how to live right is far more effective (and fun!) than lecturing; if you’re a do-er and not just a planner; click here to join Sumitha and a small group of like-minded parents.


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