Shrinking the Camel
My pastor recently took a three-month sabbatical. I imagined him sleeping in until ten every morning, followed by extensive periods of crossword puzzles and personal grooming. But he assured me that his time off was really more professional in nature: he studied up on the Emergent Church, and did a biblical tour of Turkey.
Am I jealous? No, of course not. Resentful is probably a better word. Not that I dislike my job, but the idea of taking three months off to focus on just-for-me time, well, that’s hard to stop fantasizing about. In fact, I already have it planned: the German lessons; the family rafting trip; the Executive Strategy conference; the monastery retreat; the writing seminar; the culinary tour of Spain – I would keep very, very busy working just on me.
Although sabbaticals are a defining element of academic life, they are practically unheard of in the corporate world. Yet I keep hoping they will catch on, since I have noticed a handful of culturally hip companies are paving the way by offering corporate sabbaticals as a means of retaining superstar employees and spurring innovation.
To continue reading, click here to read my guest post at Michael Hyatt’s Blog, Leading With Purpose.
(And thanks to nAncY for the photograph, used with permission.)
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