Sabbaticals
Socrates is reported to have said that “An unexamined life is not worth living”. Although he was nonetheless sentenced to death after the trial in which this was part of his defense, we do still believe there is something to this thought. It’s hard to see the big picture when you’re knee-deep and consumed by just trying to live out 10 pixels in the corner. And sometimes your pixels get turned upside down (kind of like the Fresh Prince) and disoriented and you’re not even sure what the big picture is and if it’s the one you want. Often, it’s rest and perspective that solve the challenges that fortitude and giftedness cannot seem to conquer.
This week we’re talking about the benefits of taking a sabbatical. As a society, we value time and money, and intentional rest feels like a waste of both. But this perspective risks prioritizing the presence of action over genuine progress and the accrual of wealth over its use for good. To examine our life and career, to see it for what it is and what it could be, you need the space to sit outside of it, to intentionally rest and assess. In this episode, we’ll cover what it means to take a sabbatical, when you should take one, and the kinds of things you would do during one. Plus, how successful people we know have used a sabbatical to their advantage in taking the next steps to an uncommon life.