The Sabbatical Journey Podcast

What happens when you step away from work, but your mind and body don’t know how to stop? After years of significant personal and professional change, leadership coach and author Kadi Cole took an extended sabbatical and discovered that even though life had changed, she was still operating in crisis mode. In this conversation with Alan Briggs, Kadi talks about what it took to truly slow down, why she entered sabbatical without a big agenda, and what she learned when she was no longer constantly producing, solving, or pushing through. They also explore how sabbatical changed some of Kadi’s spiritual rhythms, what becoming a beginner again taught her about life outside of leadership, and why preparing your family for sabbatical can matter just as much as preparing your team. In this episode Recognizing when you may need more than a vacation What happens when your body is still operating in crisis mode Why Kadi entered a three-month sabbatical without a big agenda Learning to slow down after years of high-capacity leadership Creating new spiritual rhythms during sabbatical Becoming a beginner again outside of work and ministry Preparing your family and your team for extended time away Bringing healthier rhythms back into everyday life About Kadi Cole Kadi Cole has spent nearly 30 years in leadership, including serving on the executive team of a 20,000-member multisite church. Today she speaks, coaches and consults around leadership development and ministry strategy and is the author numerous books including  Developing Female Leaders. Learn more about Kadi Start Your Sabbatical Journey If you’re considering a sabbatical, curious about one, or wondering if it could even be possible for you, the Sabbatical Journey Field Guide is the best place to start. Find it online through Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Explore more resources at sabbaticalcoachinggroup.com.

What becomes visible when you finally create enough space to slow down? This summer, Jonathan took his first sabbatical. And even though he works alongside our team helping leaders prepare for, experience, and reorient from sabbatical, knowing the process didn’t remove the fears that came with actually stepping into it himself. Would work keep moving without him? Would he overplan the experience? How would he make space for his family while also protecting what he needed from the time away? And after years of helping build many of the tools our clients use, would he actually be able to experience them as something more than part of his work? In this episode, Alan sits down with Jonathan just a few weeks into his reorientation to talk honestly about what led him toward sabbatical, what helped him prepare, what was life-giving, what was difficult, and what he began to see once the pace and demands of everyday life were removed. For Jonathan, sabbatical came during a season that already felt like a threshold. After several years of significant change, he had a growing sense that God was doing something new and that this time away might create space to pay attention to it. And some of what surfaced surprised him. Slowing down brought unfinished things back to the surface that he thought he had already moved beyond. It exposed places where he had been carrying more than was actually his to carry. It helped him recognize how creatively flat he had become and how much that creativity is connected to the rest of who he is. And it revealed rhythms in his life and leadership that were producing momentum, but not always in a sustainable way. Jonathan describes realizing that he had been skipping “first gear” in life and leadership. He could still get up to speed, execute, and produce, but he was missing some of the starting rhythms that allowed that momentum to build in a healthier way. Sabbatical gave him enough distance to see it and begin rebuilding those rhythms differently. The conversation also explores what it means to return without simply picking everything back up again. Four weeks into reorientation, Jonathan still wasn’t back to what would have been considered 100% before sabbatical, and that was intentional. Because one of the things he learned is that 100% after sabbatical can look very different than 100% before it. In this episode, Alan and Jonathan talk about: The fears that can still show up even when you know the value of sabbatical Preparing well without trying to engineer the perfect experience What can surface when there is nothing professionally demanding your attention Recognizing the difference between what you can carry and what is actually yours to carry How overfunctioning can create exhaustion, confusion, and even make you a bottleneck Rediscovering creativity and recognizing its connection to the rest of life and leadership Why reorientation requires resisting the urge to immediately return to your old capacity How stepping away can change the way you understand effectiveness, margin, and the way you were designed to lead Jonathan also shares one of the convictions he carried out of the experience for any leader wondering whether they can really afford to step away: “You’re not taking sabbatical for who you are right now. You’re taking sabbatical for who God is shaping you into on the other side of it.” If you’ve been curious about sabbatical, wondering whether this kind of space is realistic for your life, or simply sensing that there may be things you cannot see while you’re still moving at your current pace, this conversation is for you. Mentioned in this episode Jonathan recorded this conversation while our H2 Leadership and Sabbatical Coaching Group teams were together in Colorado for our annual team immersion. For a deeper look at that experience, including how our decentralized team works together and why we intentionally create space to be in the same room, listen to the latest episode of The H2 Leadership Podcast right here Resources for your sabbatical journey The Sabbatical Journey Field Guide A practical guide from Alan Briggs designed to help leaders navigate the full sabbatical journey, from preparation through reorientation. Learn more about The Sabbatical Journey Sabbatical Coaching You don’t have to figure out sabbatical alone. Our team walks with leaders through the preparation, experience, and reorientation process so the time away can lead to meaningful and sustainable change. Explore Sabbatical Coaching Group Curious about sabbatical? Maybe you know you need space but have no idea how stepping away could actually work. Maybe your organization is considering sabbaticals for its leaders. Or maybe you simply have questions about what a healthy sabbatical could look like in your season. We’d love to talk with you. Connect with the Sabbatical Coaching Group team You don’t need to have the whole thing figured out before you start the conversation. Sometimes the next right step is simply getting clear on what sabbatical could look like for you.

A great sabbatical does not begin the day you stop working, and it does not end the day you return. In this episode of the Sabbatical Journey Podcast, Alan Briggs walks through one of the most important parts of the sabbatical process: how to enter it well and how to return well. September is a natural transition point. Some leaders are just returning from a summer sabbatical, while others are beginning to think ahead and plan for next year. Wherever you are in the process, how you step into sabbatical and how you come back matters. Alan explains why the final week before sabbatical should be intentionally lighter, why your team should feel prepared before you leave, and how to avoid launching into sabbatical at full speed. He uses the picture of a gentle boat ramp into a glassy lake to describe what healthy transition can look like. He also walks through the return. Rather than stepping immediately back into a full calendar, Alan recommends a gradual reentry: roughly 50% capacity the first week back, 70% the second, and no more than 80% moving forward. That margin gives you space to pay attention to what changed during sabbatical, what your team learned while you were away, and what may need to be redesigned in the next season. One of the central ideas in this episode is simple: Don’t resign. Redesign. Sabbatical often creates clarity around what no longer fits. Alan explores how leaders can use that clarity to rethink their schedule, role, energy, responsibilities, and the season of leadership ahead rather than simply returning to the exact same patterns they left. In this episode Why your final week before sabbatical should be lighter How to prepare your team before you step away Why sabbatical can be a shock to the system The “gentle boat ramp” into sabbatical How to return without immediately filling your calendar The 50% → 70% → 80% reentry rhythm Why leaving margin after sabbatical matters What sabbatical can reveal about your role and responsibilities The difference between going back to work and going forward to work Why you should redesign before you resign How to use sabbatical to rethink the next season of your life and leadership A practical way to think about the prepare, experience, and reorient phases Resources The Sabbatical Journey Alan Briggs’ field guide walks leaders through the full sabbatical journey, from preparing and experiencing sabbatical to reorienting after the return. The Right Side Up Journal A 90 day tool designed to help you name the changes you want to make and build the consistency to carry them forward. The Sabbatical Journey Self-Paced Coaching Experience A guided experience for leaders who want practical support through each phase of their sabbatical. Sabbatical Coaching If you’ve returned from sabbatical and need help turning what became clear into changes that last, Sabbatical Coaching Group can walk with you through the reorient phase and beyond. Learn more at sabbaticalcoachinggroup.com.

There isn't one right way to take a sabbatical. Some people head into one with a list of things they finally have time to accomplish. Others want to travel, explore, and experience a different way of living. Some need to turn inward and reconnect with parts of themselves they've lost along the way. Knowing what you need matters. In part two of Alan's conversation with DJ DiDonna, they dig into three sabbatical archetypes DJ identified through his research: the achiever, the explorer, and the seeker. Each approaches time away differently, and each has its own opportunities and pitfalls. For the achiever, a sabbatical can quickly become another job. The explorer can become so focused on what's somewhere else that they miss what's right in front of them. The seeker can do important internal work but forget that sabbatical should also include other people, experiences, and some fun. The conversation moves from there into a bigger question: What would you regret not doing with your life? DJ describes sabbatical as a kind of "regret insurance." It gives you an opportunity to stop putting meaningful things off until retirement and actually test some of the ideas you've been carrying around. Sometimes you discover something you want more of. Other times, you discover the thing you've dreamed about for years isn't actually what you want. Both are valuable. The point isn't to create the perfect sabbatical. It's to know yourself well enough to create the space you actually need. In this episode The achiever, explorer, and seeker sabbatical archetypes Why achievers need to be careful not to turn sabbatical into another job How exploration can create awe, wonder, and a wider view of what's possible Why sabbatical can help you rediscover interests and parts of yourself you've left behind How Alan's reflective, connective, adventure, and "sacred work" framework overlaps with DJ's research Why DJ describes sabbatical as "regret insurance" How time away can help you test assumptions about what you want from the next season of life Why courage and self-knowledge both matter when making meaningful changes What DJ hopes sabbaticals could look like ten years from now How to move sabbatical from "that would be nice someday" to something you can actually plan for Why real disconnection from work matters once your sabbatical begins A question to carry with you What would you regret not doing? Not what sounds impressive. Not what someone else thinks you should do. What is something you've carried with you for years and keep telling yourself you'll get to someday? Maybe it's traveling somewhere, learning a language, developing a skill, spending meaningful time with your family, exploring your faith, creating something, or simply finding out whether the life you've imagined is actually the life you want. DJ's challenge is to make it concrete. Spend 30 minutes with a journal and start writing those things down. Then ask yourself why they haven't happened and when they realistically could. Maybe your sabbatical isn't possible this year. Maybe it isn't possible for five years. That's different from someday. About DJ DiDonna DJ DiDonna is a Senior Lecturer of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, where he teaches MBA courses on entrepreneurship and building meaningful professional and personal lives. He has spent his career translating social science research into real-world tools for positive change. In 2019, DJ founded The Sabbatical Project to define, explore, and research the role of sabbaticals in modern life. He has helped organizations around the world, from nonprofits to Fortune 50 companies, design and implement sabbatical policies. His work has been featured in The Atlantic, Harvard Business Review, Time, Fast Company, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. His new book, Big Time Off, brings together his research, personal experience, and stories from sabbatical takers to explore what becomes possible when we create meaningful time away from work. Resources Big Time Off DJ's new book brings together years of research and real-world stories about sabbaticals and extended time away from work. bigtimeoffbook.com The Sabbatical Project Research, stories, and resources exploring the role of sabbaticals in modern life and work. thesabbaticalproject.org Connect with DJ DiDonna linkedin.com/in/djdidonna The Sabbatical Journey Alan Briggs' field guide for preparing for, experiencing, and returning well from a sabbatical. If this conversation has moved sabbatical from something that sounds interesting to something you're seriously considering, Sabbatical Coaching Group can help you figure out your next right step. Learn more at sabbaticalcoachinggroup.com.

What happens when you finally have enough time away from work to see your life clearly? DJ DiDonna has spent nearly a decade trying to understand that question. After his own sabbatical changed the direction of his life, he founded The Sabbatical Project and began researching what actually happens when people step away from work for an extended period of time. In part one of this conversation, Alan sits down with DJ to compare what the research says with what we've seen through years of walking alongside leaders on sabbatical. They talk about why sabbaticals are becoming more common, why so many people wait until something goes wrong before stepping away, and what happens when work has slowly taken up more of our identity than we realized. DJ also shares his own story. On paper, he had built the company and career he wanted. Underneath it, something wasn't working. He describes what he calls "functional workaholism," where life can look successful from the outside while you're operating at a lower level on the inside. Sabbatical gave him enough space to recognize it, reconnect with parts of himself he had neglected, and consider what he wanted the next season of his life to look like. The conversation also gets into something that's difficult to measure but shows up again and again in the research: people often come back from sabbatical feeling more human. They rediscover hobbies, relationships, curiosity, creativity, and parts of themselves that didn't have much room when work was setting the pace. In this episode Why sabbaticals have gained momentum over the last decade What DJ's research reveals about why people finally decide to take one DJ's experience with functional workaholism and the sabbatical that changed the direction of his life Why identity can become so closely connected to our work What it means to develop a more human relationship with work How sabbatical creates room for relationships, curiosity, creativity, and things that are important but rarely urgent Why some of the most meaningful sabbaticals happen during seasons of difficulty The role sabbatical can play in seasons of celebration and transition What leaders can learn by paying attention to what changed while they were away A question to carry with you What in your life is important, but never urgent? For DJ, sabbatical created room for things he had said mattered but that his calendar told a different story about. Relationships, spirituality, curiosity and simply being present had gradually been pushed aside by work. Most of us have something like that. The question isn't whether those things matter to us. It's whether the way we're living gives them any room to matter. About DJ DiDonna DJ DiDonna is a Senior Lecturer of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, where he teaches MBA courses on entrepreneurship and building meaningful professional and personal lives. He has spent his career translating social science research into real-world tools for positive change. In 2019, DJ founded The Sabbatical Project to define, explore, and research the role of sabbaticals in modern life. He has helped organizations around the world, from nonprofits to Fortune 50 companies, design and implement sabbatical policies. His work has been featured in The Atlantic, Harvard Business Review, Time, Fast Company, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. Before this work, DJ cofounded EFL Global, a fintech company that enabled more than $2 billion in capital to underbanked businesses and individuals across twenty countries before its acquisition in 2018. His new book, Big Time Off, brings together his research, personal experience, and the stories of sabbatical takers to explore what becomes possible when we create meaningful time away from work. This is part one of our conversation with DJ. In part two, we'll talk about the three sabbatical archetypes, regret, what the future of sabbatical could look like, and how to move from thinking about a sabbatical to actually making one possible. Resources Big Time Off DJ's new book brings together years of research and real-world stories about sabbaticals and extended time away from work. bigtimeoffbook.com The Sabbatical Project Research, stories, and resources exploring the role of sabbaticals in modern life and work. thesabbaticalproject.org Connect with DJ DiDonna linkedin.com/in/djdidonna The Sabbatical Journey Alan Briggs' field guide for preparing for, experiencing, and returning well from a sabbatical. Learn more about Sabbatical Coaching Group and take your next right step at sabbaticalcoachinggroup.com.