A sabbatical must last at least this long before it has any benefit

It's not like I'm going to close the door behind me for a year (although I don't rule out that I might actually do this once), but I'm going just a bit longer away than the allowed and common three weeks of school vacation. That causes unrest. Not in myself by the way, it's mainly unrest in my surroundings.

People get restless when I say ‘two months away’, people get restless when I tell them I work at adjusted times and people get really restless when I tell them that my boyfriend is taking a kind of mini-sabbatical . The funny thing is that these are almost never business contacts I have to deal with, the unrest is in friends and family. While getting away or taking a sabbatical is actually very good for you, according to the work happiness coach.

I do open my laptop under the Greek sun. I call that working on location, because I don't really see myself as an average digital nomad (if they even exist). But I too am toying with the idea of just taking a sabbatical. Three months of doing nothing (which seems to be very good for you) and traveling. A kind of interim retirement, because honestly: we millennials have to keep working for the rest of our lives. Although I still find it quite scary to actually do it, because imagine if I go back to work and no one hires me? A very normal fear, say sabbatical experts. But it seems to be useful for that reason, so you don't get stuck in habits and insights.

A sabbatical only seems to work if you take at least a month away from your work, but then you must break all contact. Sneakily checking your email on the wifi of the bakery around the corner is out of the question and ruins any form of zen. By literally taking distance from your work environment, you gain all sorts of insights and solutions that you don't have when you're in the middle of it. It's quite a drastic way of reflecting on your work, on your life, and on what you want. That often only works when you literally make the distance to the situation larger.

What you definitely need to maintain if you take a break for a month or longer? Structure in your day. It makes no sense to throw everything overboard, because that only makes it harder when you have to get back to work. So do set your alarm.

Source: MT/Sprout