Every seven years, successful designer Stefan Sagmeister closes his studio and takes a year-long sabbatical. The renewed energy and creativity he brings to his work upon his return more than makes up for any missed opportunities and the break in cash flow. If you haven’t seen it, his presentation at the TED conference is worth watching:
I’m sold.
As a writer, the benefits of travel, exploring new cultures and pursuing other interests are obvious. As a marketer, I can see how the horizon-expanding effects of a sabbatical could more than compensate for the missed office hours. As I’ve said before, in many cases, we can do more and better work if we occasionally, even systematically, step away from our desks. Focus and drive are great, but too much can lead to myopia. It’s a short trip from there to mediocrity, boredom and burnout.
Why is the sabbatical such a crazy notion? The benefits are huge. And it’s not all sitting on the beach drinking daiquiris. In fact, for the driven creative, I’d argue that lounging on the beach for more than a day would be boring. Given more free time, I’d be racing to try new things. I can’t even sleep in on the weekends because there’s so much I want to write and read and do. I start drooling when I think about having six months free to write.
If you agree, then join me: make it a priority, plan accordingly and enjoy. I look forward to hearing about your adventures.
What type of sabbatical to take?
Of course, once you clear your schedule for a few days, weeks, months or more, you have to figure out how to best use that time. Travel is the obvious choice, but not the only one. The way I see it, there are actually four types of sabbaticals:
The Education Sabbatical – Most professionals reach a profitable skill level and stop growing. Why spend valuable time and energy on practice, the thinking goes, when you could be making good money? The bold answer is that practice — unpaid, mentally-draining, confidence-shaking practice — is the only way to get better and raise your game. Claude Monet took time to travel and practice his art when he was young, publicly-scorned and desperately-poor, and he still took time to practice when he was old, respected and free of his money woes. Throughout his life, his commitment to his art remained a priority.
As a writer, you could use a sabbatical for an intensive study of an author or style. You could expand your craft with daily lessons or work with a mentor or writing club to try new things.
The Production Sabbatical – Eliminate distractions and allow yourself to dive completely into your work. When I moved to LA in 2002, I had a month between vacations with nothing to do. It didn’t make sense to hit the job search before I left for a couple weeks, so I had ample time to write. In three weeks, I finished a 180 page rough draft of a screenplay. Each day I did nothing but write, eat, sleep and take walks when I needed a break. I had nothing to worry about save my story and produced a draft much faster and better than I could have done if I had to squeeze the work around other obligations. The whole time was a joy.
The production sabbatical, which need only be as long as your project calls for, is grossly underused by writers and businesses. Distracted by daily chores and admin, we’re constantly pulled out of our work. To get back into the flow takes time. Over and over, we lose a lot of time. Put it to better use by going away and surrendering yourself to the story.
The Rejuvenation Sabbatical – Burnout is a common problem for creatives. And workers’ compensation doesn’t cover damages to your muse. You need your own insurance policy — time off to pursue your passions and interests (all of them; not just the few on your job description) and remind yourself why you’re a creative in the first place. This is what Stefan did his first year and his results speak for themselves.
As a writer, this might mean finally writing that novel you’ve been threatening to write. It could also mean exploring the diverse influences that used to excite you but which you never seem to have time for anymore. From fishing to yoga to art history to gardening to raves, get back in touch with what makes you feel alive.
The Expansion Sabbatical – Travel is the easiest route to broaden your horizons and comes with a long literary history. Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Stein and the rest of the Lost Generation traveled to Europe for a fresh perspective. John Steinbeck and Jack Kerouac both crisscrossed the United States multiple times to explore the land and people. Elizabeth Gilbert recently turned her travel sabbatical into the bestselling Eat, Pray, Love.
As a writer, exploring new cultures is a valuable way of learning to see the biases, assumptions and paradigms that go unquestioned in your local area. Often the farther you go from home, the more you can broaden your vision. Of course, there are still many things you can do locally that you’ve never done before. What subcultures you can experience? Whether you’re across the globe or across town, the goal is to gradually make your world a bigger and bigger place.
Hey Ryan,
It’s funny you found this TED Talk; my boss (right after announcing he was leaving the organization) recently pointed it out to me, and I really enjoyed the idea.
The one part that I felt was difficult to reconcile was the fact that Sagmeister “optimizes away” the financial requirements.
Ignoring his argument that it’s important—I totally agree with him—I’m not sure how he paid for it.
My guess is that he made enough money that he was able to “drop” $100k on a sabbatical for a year. But some people (you, with family in tow, more than I) can’t… y’know… “just do that.”
Any thoughts on how to overcome that part?
Other than that minor detail, I’m sold too!
I almost included info how to pay for the sabbatical in the post but deleted it at the last minute for length. So here goes:
As I see it, there are three ways to pay for it:
1. Save up and dip into your savings. Sounds like a lot, but it might be less than you think.
Let’s say you currently make $100K. How much of that would you really need for a sabbatical year? Well, you wouldn’t pay income taxes, so that saves you $25K-$30K. Let’s say you skip investing 10% for retirement (since the sabbatical is like a piece of your retirement). That saves you another $10K. How much would you save if you didn’t have a commute, less wear-and-tear on the car, didn’t need new office clothes or had to buy office lunches? If you were traveling, you could even park your car and put the insurance on hold. Maybe save you another $5K? Now you’re down to $60K. Could you save $10K a year for six years? Freelance one Saturday morning each month and you could easily boost your income by that amount.
2. Set up an automated business. Tim Ferriss shows you how to do this in his book THE FOUR-HOUR WORK WEEK.
3. Set up a location independent business. Chris Guillebeau shows you how to do this in his Unconventional Guides.
Of course, you have to have the type of job and the skill-level to be able to pick up where you left off. But chances are if you’re considering a year-long sabbatical (as opposed to a vacation), you’re the type of person who has those skills.
I love the idea of just getting away from it all, or taking a break to do whatever it is that you want to do. However, you don’t mention family at all. I think family limits the type of sabbatical, if any, you can take, especially if you have younger children. What are you thoughts on the role of family and sabbaticals?
I don’t think family and most work sabbaticals are mutually exclusive. Your family will also benefit from the rejuvenation and expansion sabbaticals. Production sabbaticals will likely be shorter, so you might be able to squeeze 1-3 weeks for yourself (sans spouse and kids), but you’ll need to prove how productive you are and be ready to pay the favor forward and back. And educational sabbaticals can fit into your normal 9-to-5, around the kids’ schedules.