CONTEMPLATING

Considering a career break can be overwhelming as fears and questions flood your head. You need some inspiration - well, we have it! We will discuss the circumstances that brought you to this point and examine ways that you can take advantage of channeling them into a career break. You can also find out the many benefits of taking a career break (trust us, there are many) and be inspired by hearing others' stories of self-discovery, inner-growth, and re-examining goals.

Check out articles in the following categories:
Circumstances | Benefits | Supporters | Testimonials

Recent Posts

In the Career Break Closet

Are you stuck in the closet – afraid to come out and act like you really want to? I bet you are. In fact – I bet about 90% of you are. You are lurking in the dark, afraid to declare your secret desires, but willing to watch; from a safe place.

You are in the career break closet.

Research shows that about 90% of the people who read online media do not actually participate in the conversation; consumption vs. production. That’s fine, I understand, communicating online isn’t for everyone.

However I’m willing to believe that a percentage of that 90% are not lurking because they want to, but because they feel like they have to. They are staying in the closet because they can’t yet let people know about their career break plans. They must stay in the closet in order to remain at their jobs and while they quietly plan their getaway.

Keith and Amy Sutter from Green Around the Globe share their time in the career break closet:

In January of 2009 Amy and I made the big decision, to travel the world for a year. And with all of the excitement and anxiety that comes with such a big decision there was one unpleasant aspect that regularly kept us up at night. We now had a huge secret to keep from everyone we knew. There are practical elements to keeping your decision a secret initially. What if you decide not to do it? What happens if something comes up? A family member gets ill, you get ill. There are any number of potential events that could change your plans. So Amy and I went into the “traveler closet” for 6 months. This meant that as we were doing our initial research, reading books, blogs and anything else we could get our hands on, we had to be sure to keep it all under wraps. When friends came over for dinner we had to spend 10 minutes scanning the condo to make sure an incriminating book was not left laying out.

When we did start telling people, starting with close family we had to bring them into our “circle of trust”. We had to make sure we controlled who knew when. Practically it was to make sure we handled giving notice at our respective workplaces on our terms and in a professional manner. We could not afford, either financially or professional, for word of our plans to leak back to our companies before we were ready. The other reason to control the information is so that we would be the ones to personally tell every one of our family and friends. That reason was selfish, we wanted to be there to see or hear their unfiltered initial reactions. One of the best parts of planning the trip is telling the people you are closest to and getting their reactions.

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Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Have you ever asked ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go’ when contemplating your own career break travels? Janice Waugh of Solo Traveler shares with us how she and her family decided to go on their travels – and where she has arrived today.

How does one balance the importance of living in the present with the need to prepare for the future? Some people don’t contemplate this issue. They simply do what comes naturally – sometimes suffering the consequences of favoring one over the other.

But, if you are one who does consider how to balance the two, where does the answer lie. And, what is the question?  If you love travel, the question is: should I stay or should I go?

We chose to go.
Late in 2000 my husband and I decided to go.

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Be Present

The team behind Briefcase to Backpack, Sherry Ott & Michaela Potter, recently attended the Travel Blog Exchange conference (TBEX10) where we were able to meet many of the people we network with online in the flesh. The experience of having our virtual worlds collide with our physical lives impressed upon us the importance of old school networking.

The digital world is king. Most of our interactions are done digitally now; just think about your average week of texting, social networking, and emailing. Even for people who don’t live online as I do, the digital world has crept into the heart of our days. When was the last time you mailed a letter, or called someone’s land line? Do you even have a land line? We read our news digitally, we date digitally, we even manage to purchase our gas without ever having to see or talk to another person. Physical interaction is old fashioned.

In the world of digital connections sometimes I forget the power of simply being physically present. So when the panel of travel writers and editors sat down in front of the audience and actually started talking I was a bit startled; they were real people talking to me. Their wise voices emoted rise and fall in pitch, and there were pauses for emphasis. I could read their facial expressions and most importantly understand their tone. All little things I have come to take for granted in the flat world of reading text online.

The panel was impressive. Even though I had met some of them before in social settings, it felt different this time. I was here to hear them speak about there craft – in person; I was present.

The expert panel of writers and editors talked about the importance of story telling as opposed to simply describing the situation. They discussed the importance of arc in a story, and writing using all of the senses. As I sat and listened to them it hit me; none of what they were saying was rocket science. In fact – I’m pretty sure that in my digital world of Google searches I could have found these exact pieces of information if I had googled “how to write a good travel story”. But listening to them speak the words and see their expressions and body movement gave it all a different impact.

It inspired me.

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One Career Break Inspires Another

Brian Setzer experienced his first career break in 2006, taking a leave of absence from his job to travel for a year. That break inspired him to take yet another one four years later, this time leaving his job. He’s now riding his motorcycle around the US before heading overseas. He is documenting his current travels on Bike and Boots.

What motivated you to go on a career break the first time in 2006?
In 2005 I went a on a Grand Canyon rafting trip with my dad. One of the guides went to New Zealand to travel and work for their summer. It got me to thinking how cool that would be. After returning from the trip the concept kept coming back to me. I found Bootsnall.com a month later and realized that there were other people, including Americans, who took career breaks or even left corporate jobs altogether. Upon realizing that I wasn’t alone, the dream that was forming of taking a break to travel started to become more concrete. I wavered between quitting or asking for a year leave of absence. Ultimately, I realized I liked the company I was with and thought that a year trip would be enough.

How did you approach asking for a leave of absence to travel? What advice would you give to others?
My career break started July 1 and I asked for the leave sometime in March. I had planned to wait a little bit longer, but received a call about a potential promotion (and move) before I asked to take a leave. My boss and I were close so I told him about the offer, which he knew about, and that I had planned to ask for a LOA in a few weeks. After his initial surprise he could see how the leave was for me personally and not about my job. His opinion was that if the offer was there now, it would come around again later, and that I should do what was best for me. I agreed and after declining to be interviewed for the promotion submitted my request for a one-year leave of absence.

As for advice, I think that talking to my boss first helped so that I could explain where I was coming from instead of handing him a letter out of the blue. He wasn’t the one who was going to make the decision regarding if the LOA would be approved, but it was nice to have him on my side early on. I didn’t know about anyone asking for something like this before and didn’t know how it would go over. To my surprise it was very smooth. Within a week our VP of Operations said that he couldn’t say exactly what I would be doing when I came back, but that they would find a job for me. After a few calls and emails from HR it was all setup.

You said in your website that things didn’t go exactly as planned on your first career break. What obstacles did you run into and how did you overcome them?
Yes, I wasn’t referring to the normal itinerary changes that always appear with a big trip, this was health related.

My plan was to spend 3 months traveling in the US driving Oklahoma – Illinois – Oregon – California and then 9 months around the Pacific and SE Asia. Two months into my trip I woke up in the middle of the night and could barely move. I had a severe pain in my back that appeared out of nowhere. After trying to crawl my way around for a couple days I knew I needed help. I drove to my sister’s in Portland and a week later flew to San Diego where my parents lived.

After getting an MRI I was put into the hospital to treat an infection in my spine. At that point I was using a walker to do what little moving I could and was simply relived that they found something they could work on. I was in the hospital for two of the next four weeks and on a six week IV antibiotic treatment after that to get rid of the infection. No one ever figured out what it was or how it got there, but they were able to get rid of it. After that was 6 weeks of physical therapy to return my range of motion.

I was ok in early December and went to Australia with my family for three weeks as a test. (They had already bought tickets to meet me on my trip for two weeks at Christmas.) Once that trip went well I came back and bought a ticket to SE Asia for the remainder of my time off. In all I lost about most of 5 months of my year off.

I’ll also quickly mention that I have Ulcerative Colitis which is similar to Chron’s Disease. I knew that going into my trip and chose to do it anyway. In preparation, I had stockpiled medicine ahead of time as best I could. Mainly though, I have learned to listen to my body and know when to back off. Having chronic (and unplanned) illnesses are something that can be dealt with to travel.

I’ve been involved in the travel community since 2005 and can’t remember anyone coming back saying they regret it. Usually the question is, “when can I do it again?”

Upon returning to the US, what was the most challenging thing about returning to your job?
I ended up coming back to the promotion at a different location. Simply moving up would have been a challenge on it’s own, but this was a job situation that was by far the most difficult I’ve ever been in. I was immediately working long stressful hours just to get by. A far cry from how I’d spent the previous year.

Oddly, one of the hardest parts for me was getting all of the policies and procedures back into my head. After not thinking about them for a year they tend to get a little fuzzy. I’d be in a conversation with my boss and he was taking those things for granted before moving onto other issues. Identifying and troubleshooting problems at the new plant was actually easier to dive into since each of them are looked at uniquely and you aren’t relying on a set of rules on how to proceed.

What things did you learn on the road that you applied to your career?
I learned a lot about how to give orders that could be followed and asking critical questions. When you’re on the road most of the tour guides, hosteliers, etc are dealing with a new group of people everyday and aren’t always concerned about your personal experience. As I picked up on this I became pickier about who I chose to provide my services. I tried to be clear about what I was expecting from a tour or room and find out if what that is what they provided. I’m a very laid back person and I wasn’t doing this as the ugly American. I was mainly trying to find out if what they were going to do anyway is what I was after. There are always going to be changes and the unexpected, that’s part of the joys of seeing the world. Still it developed my abilities to know how to give clear directions and ask questions to find out the information I needed.

Now you’ve decided to take off again, did you prepare differently for this break? What motivated you to do this again, this time cutting ties from your job?

This time was very different. Instead of thinking that a year break would be enough to see what I wanted to, I am accepting that my travel bug is really a flu and trying to incorporate that into my life going forward, whatever that brings. I also own a house this time, which I am still trying to sell – anyone interested?

If I return to a career it will be closer to friends and family where I haven’t lived for a long time. That is a long ways down the road though.

You are actually taking the first part of your break and traveling through the US via motorcycle. What has been the most surprising thing so far on your journey?
This trip is just getting going, but I really enjoyed New Mexico. I love open spaces and natural beauty. Deserts are very subtle – they make you slow down to find pockets of color and hidden wonders. In two weeks I saw so much – Carlsbad Caverns, the International UFO Museum, White Sands NM, Native American Ruins and Rock Art, Santa Fe, Los Alamos, great stuff.

Any advice you can give someone who is considering asking for a leave of absence for a career break?
Put yourself first. Decide what’s important to you and then find a way to make it happen. I find travel rewarding and enriching so that’s the path I chose to follow. I’ve been involved in the travel community since 2005 and can’t remember anyone coming back saying they regret it. Usually the question is, “when can I do it again?” Each situation is going to be different about how much time should you give or how long to go for. Once you’re moving towards an end you desire you’ll find a way to deal with the challenges that appear.

Enjoy your break and I hope to see you out there!

You can find Brian Setzer
on the road at
BikeandBoots | Facebook | Twitter

Starting a Career Break Movement

I know that Beyonce is on a career break. I know this because I have a google alert set up for the term “Career Break” and get an email every day showing me recent activity on the internet which includes the phrase “Career Break”.

Other hotbeds of career break talk on the internet seem to be about mothers (expectant ones and especially those going back to the workforce), people who had a ‘big break’ in their career, and our global neighbors the Brits taking a gap year. It seems that in the UK the idea of a career break is a regular part of their vocabulary. What I’ve learned from my Google alert for ‘career break’ is actors, singers, mothers, and Brits can take them; it’s socially acceptable.

When I started researching the keyword “career break’ for our SEO plan for Briefcase to Backpack I knew we had a hard climb ahead of us. I learned Americans don’t really search for the word…ever. I tried the word ‘sabbatical’ and had a few more hits, but in general Americans don’t consider this extended time off concept really part of their vocabulary.

This made me sad and happy. Sad because as Americans we just don’t get it. There are people all over the world taking a break from their career and employers who support that idea. They find a break rewarding, invigorating, educational, and they actually enjoy going back to their job more productive; but not in America. Sad. However I’m happy because it does show the need for Briefcase to Backpack to exist. It shows there’s an opportunity to bring this concept to overworked and burnt out Americans.

One problem – there’s a need, but the people who need it don’t know about it. How do you get people to search for a phrase that they don’t really think exists? Actually, they know it exists because they follow Beyonce’s career break; but they don’t really think that it exists for them.

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Circumstances: What’s Stopping You?

If you’ve only thought about taking a career break or sabbatical – what has stopped you from actually doing it? No matter the excuses that you come up with (or believe in) the only thing that is truly stopping you is yourself.

I recently had the pleasure of hearing Seth Godin talk at the Small Business Summit in New York City. (Godin is a bestselling author, entrepreneur, agent of change and overall inspiring speaker.) And although he was addressing an audience of small business owners and entrepreneurs, the messages he imparted can most certainly apply to you as well.

Following are a few of his “sound bites” that made a great impression on me and led to a few observations of my own. (Please note that they are paraphrased from my fastidious notetaking.)

Become a Misfit
“The reason they want you to fit in is that once you do, they can ignore you.” – Seth Godin
Growing up it always seemed so important to “fit in”. And as a grown-up, we’ve been led to believe that we must do what is “expected” of us. If we follow this expected path of least resistance, we are promised a metaphorical pot of gold at the end of the rainbow – retirement. But the trick is on us once we get there to find out we won’t always have the health or wealth to enjoy it. In the meantime, we are serving other people’s goals and not our own.

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Barbara & Elizabeth Pagano’s Sailing Sabbatical

Barbara Pagano & Elizabeth Pagano are the mother-daughter team behind yourSABBATICAL – a firm that partners with businesses to deploy programs that attract, retain and accelerate top talent through the use of highly planned and structured leaves of absences. In 2001, they took their own leave of absence during a 6-month sailing sabbatical that set them on a new course for their lives. “Our sabbatical has had lasting effects. Today, our business partnership thrives, in part, because of our co-captaining experience.” Here they share with us the importance of that sabbatical.

What made you decide to take a sabbatical?
Each of us had different reasons. For me, life was good – but predictable. I had been successful in my career, had a nice home and marriage; yet I wanted to put myself in a challenging situation to “see if I could do it.” My daughter, Elizabeth, was in her mid-30s and had a string of life and career questions stretching in front of her. She hoped that time away might offer clarity… and maybe even answers.

What were you doing beforehand career-wise?
As an executive coach to leaders worldwide, I was busy with corporate client initiatives on leadership and developing a reputation as a facilitator and speaker. Elizabeth was a newspaper reporter before spending a few years working for her father’s manufacturing business.

What was your sailing experience like prior to your break?
This question always makes us laugh! We had sailed for 15+ years as second-mates and galley queens with my husband, Herb. We’d never handled a boat alone and certainly never sailed at night. So, Elizabeth went to a week of sailing school in Key West, and I went to navigation school (and flunked the test).

We practiced docking for a couple of days and watched the mechanic change the engine oil once. Seriously, we weren’t very experienced, and we knew we’d learn a lot along the way. But we had confidence in our ability to learn quickly, and we promised people we’d make good decisions. We put a whole lot of books on “bad weather sailing” and “boat systems” onboard, just in case!

Desire outranks skill and experience. If you really want to do something, you’ll learn what you need to know.

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Benefits of Using a Career or Sabbatical Coach

Deciding to change your career or take time off from your current job can be very challenging on the mind and soul. Add travel plans on top of that and you may get discouraged enough to abandon your career break dreams. Tara Russell, a certified life & career coach through her company Three Month Visa, shares with us the benefits of using a coach to help guide you through this life-changing experience.

What are the benefits of a travel sabbatical and what types of activities do you recommend to your clients?
I think the greatest benefit of travel sabbaticals can be summed up by one of my favorite quotes from travel writer Pico Iyer: “Travel is like love: It cracks you open, and so pushes you over all the walls and low horizons that habits and defensiveness set up.” When we are home, we can begin to define ourselves by our routines and labels (i.e. our careers, our consumer habits, etc.) For example, I’ve had clients come to me and say “I’m a top-level executive consultant with 15 years delivering Six Sigma expertise to tech firms in Silicon Valley” or “I’m an eco-conscious soy-latte-drinking, Prius-driving reusable-grocery-bag-toting Yoga nut!” All good stuff, to be sure…but not who these people really are at their core.

Travel removes us from our habits and routines and lets us rediscover ourselves anew. It expands our horizons, gives us fresh and new perspectives, strengthens our sense of adventure, pushes us to challenge ourselves and feeds an appreciation of our own courage and abilities. By the time those same clients came home, they were able to say “I am someone who survived and thrived during 15 months of solo travel…who watched the sun rise over Machu Picchu and set over the steppes of Mongolia, who learned new languages and opened up to new cultures…who made life-long friendships out of chance acquaintances, etc.” Those are gifts that come home with you and last a lifetime.

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David Lee – Realizing a Dream

David Lee’s path to a life of travel started with a job layoff. And after spending 20 months on the road, David is still keeping the travel spirit alive through GoBackpacking, MedellinLiving, and the upcoming Travel Blog Success (coming Feb. 1). He shares with us his career break experience, including some great preparation advice.

What made you decide to take a career break?
My first unofficial career break occurred after a layoff. I suddenly had the free time to reflect on how I’d lived in my early 20′s, and spent my money. I realized backpacking was not a part of those years, and committed to making my next job a means to travel around the world. Ultimately, I chose to save money to spend on experiences, rather than material wealth or a new home.

What was your travel experience like prior to your break?
Aside from family trips when I was younger, my first backpacking trip abroad was a Summer spent in Europe after college graduation. I started off with a few of my best friends, and when they went home after just a few weeks, I stuck around to explore on my own, developing a newfound sense of independence and self-reliance in the process.

The knowledge that I was about to do something amazing always trumped my fears.

What were some of the ways you prepared for this new experience? Were there any experiences from your corporate life that helped you in the preparation process?
As I’d been backpacking for a few months before, I knew how it worked to travel by way of hostels and guidebooks, so I didn’t have to prepare too much. In 2005 and 2006 I took short trips to Costa Rica and Belize to stay motivated for the bigger trip around the world which began in late 2007.

I used my experience with Microsoft Excel at work to create a few spreadsheets using Google Docs to track both my pre-trip “to-do” list and budget, along with my actual costs once I hit the road. By posting my plans online, I was able to ask for feedback on my budget and itinerary in the BootsnAll message boards.

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Sabbaticals and the Pursuit of Happiness

Career breaks and sabbaticals are a great opportunity to quiet your mind and help you connect with what it is that will make you truly happy. Clive Prout uses the insights he gained from his own sabbatical to help others find their path to happiness. He shares with us what led him on the path to becoming The Sabbatical Coach and how you could benefit from using one.

One of the things that drew me to immigrate to the USA is a phrase in the Declaration of Independence.

I grew up in England, which holds its citizens as “subjects” of the monarch, with no written constitution to guarantee their rights. The idea that the purpose of government was to secure for its citizens “certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” was revolutionary. It seemed a wonderful basis on which to create a country and a new life for myself.

I moved to Menlo Park in the heart of Silicon Valley in the mid 1990s. The computer industry was in full bloom and the Internet was starting to explode. Netscape’s offices opened a couple of blocks from where I worked in Mountain View. Central to my choice to be here was the unquestioned assumption that the pursuit of happiness lay through the pursuit of wealth. I would become rich and happy – or so I thought.

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