A career break is not wishful thinking, but a reality!
Taking a career break can have many benefits for your personally, but let’s face it, it’s also a very scary step to take. In this article we walk you through the merits and challenges of taking a career break. We explain how we dealt with the challenges, and share 5 reasons why a year later, we still don’t regret making this life changing decision.
A career break might be either quitting your job or taking a sabbatical. We have done both in parallel (Ana quit her job, Tomer took a sabbatical).
If you want to learn more about sabbaticals, check out our Ultimate Sabbatical Guide.
Also read Ana’s intimate post about what it’s like to quit your job to travel the world?
Save this post to your Sabbatical board on Pinterest!
Giving up work to do better work?
It might sound contradictory at first, but leaving your job behind can have the power to bring you back stronger and more productive into the workspace. While in the past, having a gap in your resume practically meant career suicide, examples show that a change of scenery will allow you to clear your mind and prosper with new ideas and potential.
In fact, one quarter of Fortune’s 100 Best companies to work for offer their employees sabbaticals. They understand the benefits of time off for their staff and company’s well-being. Some of them will also pay you for taking time off. See our post that explains the most common reasons people take a sabbatical.
There is no right timing for a career break
When we started our first ‘real jobs’ after our master studies in Amsterdam, we vowed that we would take a gap year to fulfil our bucket list wish of going traveling. Our rough time plan to pack our things and go was 2 years and definitely before turning 30. But of course 1 year turned quickly into 2, 2 into 3, and 3 into 4. Our careers and opportunities kept progressing and the timing didn’t seem right.
“Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.”
In spring last year Tomer received an attractive offer from another company and Anastasia was offered a promotion to a new role.
This moment could have been a turning point in both our careers, but we still gave it up. Some called us crazy, some careless about our career and financial prospects. But we knew it was the right decision for us. In another post, we talk about 6 signs that tell you’re ready to quit your job and travel.
A career break can be stressful at first
Leaving a job can be a very stressful change to your life. Especially if you have been with the company for several years and are truly involved in what you’re doing. When you quit your job or leave on sabbatical, you don’t only free yourself from your responsibilities and an exploding mailbox.
You are also leaving behind the social environment and routine that has been defining a large part of your life. This is something that people often don’t think about at first but tend to be thrown off the tracks once they realize it. And of course, on top of that, there comes the loss of financial stability.
Planning a career break may be an emotional rollercoaster
The time after handing in your letter of notice can be an emotional rollercoaster. We had moments in which we felt like we failed to live up to the expectations of others and ourselves. Then moving on to phases of not giving a damn anymore, and then getting panicked that our last days were approaching and we still wanted to do so many things.
How would the company survive without us? Combined with other to-do’s like renting out our apartment, quitting phone contracts, closing travel insurances, planning our trip, etc, we got so stressed that we almost stopped looking forward to the trip of our life.
Here are 5 reasons why a career break leads to a brighter future
Our careers are a big part of our identity and the purpose we create for ourselves. Finding a better job after a gap year is uncertain. So why should we give it up in the first place? Read below why taking some time off will help you to do even better when you come back.
Distance can help you resolve issues and mind blockages
It doesn’t matter what work you do, there will be always moments when you feel uninspired. Whether you’re a marketing manager struggling to find effective ways to attract new customers, a designer or writer with a creative low, or a techie writing the same code for the 100th time. It’s likely you’ll feel stuck!
And when this feeling lasts for several months, our advice is: Just walk away. Really!
The answer often comes when you least expect it and you will be surprised by the new motivation and potential that you can apply when you return, or in your next job.
Transferring your responsibilities will teach you to delegate
Did you know that a human brain can make only 12 thought-through decisions a day?
That is why Mark Zuckerberg and ex US president Barack Obama, for example, wear the same outfit every day. Minimizing the decisions you have to make per day – especially the trivial ones – gives you space to focus on the important ones.
When you are an expert in your work and have a tendency to perfect things, the risk is micro management. Leaving your job or taking a sabbatical will force you to delegate your responsibilities to others. You might be worried at first but the world won’t go down without you!
You will learn how to delegate to free up valuable mind space and to channel your attention where it’s really needed. Moreover, once you start delegating your responsibilities to your replacement, you realize how much you have actually been doing and how much you have grown in your career so far.
Reflecting can reveal a new set of priorities
A 9-5 job, 5 days a week, creates a routine that we tend to execute on auto-pilot. Getting up for work and coming back in the evening is as obvious as locking the door when you’re leaving the house. No second thought needed.
When was the last time you asked yourself if you are still happy with what you are doing? Does jour job motivate and fulfill you in the same way it did on your first day? If not, you know what you have to do.
You’ll never change something unless you change something you do daily. Dutch football player, Johan Cruyff said it best – “Sometimes something’s got to happen before something is going to happen.” Adding some change into your routine or dropping it entirely for a while will allow you to reflect on your priorities and give a sense check if you’re still on the right track.
Take time to improve or expand your skills
Having a set list of responsibilities and expectations we have to meet makes us often eliminate time that we can attribute to other things that seem like distractors. On the one hand, this is good because it allows us to focus and optimize our existing key skills. Yet here comes the interesting part.
The other side of the coin is that we spend too little time on expanding our skill set and learning new things that we are passionate about. We can’t remember how long ‘learning Photoshop’, ’Photography’, or ‘taking guitar lessons’ have been collecting dust on the bottoms of our to-do lists.
Why does learning always need to be so serious? Picking up new things you enjoy will teach you things you might not even expect, disclose entirely new career opportunities, and make you overall happier.
Allow yourself time to focus on yourself
Life coach guru Tony Robbins said that success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure. Unfortunately the last thing we often think about is ourselves. When was the last time you have been really kind to yourself?
In a world of social media, competition, and burnouts, it’s more important than ever to dedicate yourself the time and space to de-stress, find inner peace, and just be. We don’t always need a plan. Sometimes we just need to let go, breathe, and see what happens. A more fulfilled self is a better self – in any aspect.
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