This might catch your eye if you’ve ever thought of taking a sabbatical.

Harvard Business School published some curious research earlier this year in an article called The Transformative Power of Sabbaticals.

Here’s the TL;DR version for the busy bees:

There are three types of people who decide to go on sabbatical.

First up are “Working Holidayers” who take time out from work to jump into a passion project, and usually go back to their old jobs once their sabbatical’s done.

Second are “Free Divers” who get itchy feet after hearing sabbatical stories and decide they want a piece of the action for themselves.  After their sabbatical, they often go back to new but similar jobs.

And third are the “Questors” who feel pushed into taking time out by their crappy, stressful workplaces.  These guys and gals rarely go back to their old jobs. Instead, they take their sabbatical experience and use this as a springboard for the next stage of their lives.

The part of the article I found most interesting? 

Whichever category someone falls into, the sabbatical outcome is usually the same.

The article calls this outcome “radical transformation”.  Which is another way of saying that people who take sabbaticals often gain fresh perspectives, new tools for their toolkit and a clearer sense of who they are.

Fascinating stuff.

Now you might be thinking this email sounds like a sales pitch for sabbaticals.

And in a sense, you’d be right.  Taking a sabbatical was one of the best decisions I've made.

But sabbaticals aren’t for everyone.  They’re not the most practical option.

You'll need to keep an eye on your piggybank for one.  And you'll also need to keep an eye on the gaps in your CV and the young whippersnappers in the office jostling for your job while you’re writing your memoirs from a beach in Goa.

Of course, none of these are dealbreakers. 

But if you want to find fresh perspectives, new tools for your toolkit and a clearer sense of who you are, there are other ways to go about it.  

You don’t need to take a sabbatical.

One of my favourite ways?

Coaching.

(surprise surprise!)

Transformative coaching in particular.

If you’re feeling nosy and you’d like to find out more, you're in the right place.

More info here:

https://waitinglist.followingfulfilment.com

That’s all for today.

- Tom