Career TOOLBOX #32: Why Work Sabbaticals Matter

10 Ways to Get Away From It All

America is obsessed with work. But Americans should bring back the Sabbatical.

On January 2, 2014, finding a one-day Polar Vortex gap, I got into my car and headed to Chicago. Once there I spent one month with my family, helping my sis plan her wedding and catching up with friends and loved ones.

On February 4, I hopped into a plane and via a connecting flight arrived in Dublin, Ireland, where I spent the next three and a half weeks exploring Emerald City. Upon return, and after a brief one-week stay in the Midwest, I hopped on another plane and arrived in Florida, where I stayed with my cousin in his Coral Springs home for the next three weeks. After that I flew to Austin, Texas, which was supposed to be home next. Instead, it was a four-week adventure. Finally, from Austin I flew to Cancun, Mexico, where together with family I celebrated my sister’s and brother-in-law’s wedding.

By the time I took the three flights back, revisiting most of my hubs (Cancun/Austin/Chicago/Cleveland) to the 216, it had been one third of 2014 on planes, trains and automobiles. An amazing journey across the world and back and one where, as my friend Anita wisely said, “You’ve now lived through three of the four seasons.”

Some people close to me didn’t understand my decisions or my lifestyle. They still don’t. And that’s okay. When you’re Old School from the Old Country, you go to the job. The job doesn’t go to you. But today we live in a modern economy, a disruptive economy that enables tremendous flexibility, provided you’re a good planner and an even better communicator.

I didn’t really understand the why of it all myself when everything began. All I knew, at the time, was that I wanted to move to Austin: no city taxes, no state taxes, warm weather, live music capitol of the world, thriving business. I also realized that if I wasn’t going to pay rent down there for a while, I might as well pay rent overseas. Thus the opportunity for Dublin. But it was only after all those airplane takeoffs and landings that I realized that the soul knew something the mind hadn’t yet realized: I was burnt out.

I love teaching. I love career coaching. And, within four and a half years, I taught nearly 900 students and coached over 100 clients — that’s 1000 people whose careers I worked very hard to advance. Who was working to advance mine? As adjunct faculty, I didn’t have the option to get a paid sabbatical, something reserved for the shrinking number of tenures, who have to apply for it and then have committees approve it.

I reached a certain point in 2013 when I realized I didn’t have much to give to others anymore. And that I had to work so much harder just to generate the same results. Because my mind was out of steam. The brain disk wasn’t so much full as it was empty.

I’m grateful that I listened to the intuitive side of myself to make the journey to two continents, three countries and six cities a reality. And, I also realize that it’s not something someone can just get up and do.

Or can they?

Here’s what I had to do to make it happen:

1. Coordinate Your Contracts. I knew my apartment lease, my car lease and my school contract were all ending ~end of December. As a dear and wise friend shared with me last summer, “You’re Cortez. And you’re sinking your ships.”

2. Sell Everything. Almost Everything. By the time 2013 was wrapping up, I had donated or sold every piece of furniture I owned. The two exceptions? The custom globe my sis once ordered me and the ergonomic computer chair that I got on a double-deep discount at Staples. The rest of my stuff found its way into boxes and storage. And a generous friend who let me keep most of it at her house.

3. Save Your Money. I planned financially and made sure that I had enough in the bank to take me where I needed to be for a certain amount of time.

4. Track the Prices. I shopped for flight pricing every single day for one month. Until one day I found the ticket sweet spot: $590 for the round trip to Dublin. I also passed up on the high-ticket hotel rentals and, instead, sublet a room via airbandb.com. The penthouse suite location was cheaper than the very cheapest hotel in Dublin, not to mention owned by a great hostess that became a friend. And, with the exception of the Cancun resort, in the rest of the cities I either paid cheap rent to people I knew or paid no rent at all.

5. Work Remotely. Since I don’t have a rich uncle or trust fund, I was able to continue to work with my clients from every single place that I stayed at, including Dublin. And thanks to PayPal, and my sis, who would deposit client checks, I continued to earn money no matter where I was. Coffee shops make the best remote offices.

6. Pack Lightly. I could live on whatever would fit in one suitcase, a vanity bag and computer bag. Most women I know are more high-maintenance than that. As long as I had access to laundry, I was good to go.

7. Skip the Souvenirs. I didn’t need to buy stuff where I was. Not saying I lived on $20 a day, because I didn’t. Food, everywhere, is expensive. But, instead of the need to buy things to show-off to others where I had been, I turned to my creative tools and blogged, took photos, shot videos and even kept a journal to document my observations. To me, this form of memory-making is far more fun than stuffing a suitcase full of pricey tourist tchatchkis.

8. Stack Those Apps. I took advantage of all the technology out there, filling my iPhone with apps that I relied on heavily, but only using them where free WiFi was available. So whether PayPal, Viber, Waze, United, SouthWest or my bank at any given moment, I knew where I stood, geographically and financially.

9. Invest in Quality Shoes. Every city I lived in I walked. As in everywhere. In Chicago I took the El and walked from the stops to wherever I had to go. In Dublin I walked 3 – 5 hours a day. In Coral Springs I walked to the gym, the Starbucks and the grocery store. In Austin, I walked where I could, then would hop on a bus to take me elsewhere. No car rental for me, thank you.

10. Know When to Say When. The travel had a finite point. Granted, my original plan was to stay in Austin, but as I returned to Cleveland in mid-May, I also knew that inside, the travel clock reached its course and it was time to get off on a platform to stay grounded, at least until the itch to pull the passport scratches once more.

The journey has been nothing short of incredible: I met great people from all over the globe, I spent more time with my family than I had since 2001, I finished two books that were four years in the making, I talked shop with John Hurt, I built muscle in my legs and I witnessed my parents walk my sister down the aisle. I am fully aware that all of this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Mostly, what this Sabbatical — which was anything but restful (with the exception of Mexico) — did for me is a gift that, back on January 2, I never saw coming: it re-energized the soul battery. And by dropping out of everything, it truly gave me everything: it brought me back to me.

Reprinted with permission and gratitude from CoolCleveland.com.