What I learned from a month-long sabbatical

Hi everyone. Remember me? When you last heard from me I reported that I was taking a sabbatical — a month off at the beach — to recover and re-energize. I thought I would report on this experiment. After all, how many people get to take a month off?

People often say that you don’t learn and grow unless you’re out of your comfort zone. For me, not working was definitely out of my comfort zone! Here’s what I learned from this experiment.

The limits of “off”

To keep my business running, I blocked out each Monday for calls and presentations. However, I did find some meetings beginning to creep into other days of the week. I had an internal struggle — was I being responsible, or was I simply not disciplined enough to disconnect? In the end, the extra meetings probably relieved stress more than they caused. And I also realized that I had …

A broader definition of fun

Almost all the work I do in my career is fun. So to the extent that I do not work, I miss out on that fun. In some ways, putting work aside — and missing it — validated that I am in the right place in my life.

I learned that in some way I was living up to an outdated narrative about work — that it is something to dread and avoid. But I’ve created a fun and…