I know almost nothing about agriculture, but from what (very) little I understand, I know that you can’t plant the same fields with the same crops over and over.
If you do, the soil gets depleted and the crops fail. Instead, you need to rotate your crops and occasionally let your fields lay fallow. This gives your land a chance to rest and replenish.
Isn’t that lovely? Sensible? Doesn’t it feel… right?
Yet that’s not a rhythm that we’re encouraged to follow culturally. For myriad reasons (outside the scope of this writing), we’re instead encouraged to go go go go GO. Keep producing, building, advancing until you retire.
Harder Better Faster Stronger by Daft Punk says nothing about resting or replenishing. After all, you can “sleep when you’re dead.”
I object to that sentiment. I bet you do, too. I bet you know and can feel how important it is to rest and replenish, to take breaks, to follow a cyclical ebb and flow with your work and life, rather than pursue relentlessly-paced forward motion. With that in mind…
I’m taking a sabbatical for the rest of 2023.
I’ll be off work until January 2024. While I’m away, I’ll be learning how to parent a brand-new baby, whom we’re expecting in mid-June.
The timing of my sabbatical coincides with having my first baby, yes, but this break-from-work has been a long time coming. And whether you foresee a caregiving leave or would like to plan a sabbatical for any host of other excellent reasons, today I’m sharing how I planned this break, what I’ve had to let go, and what will (temporarily) change while I’m gone.
1. Create Redundancy
I’ve known for some time that I wanted to take an extended leave from work. I also knew that I didn’t want to halt my entire business (and income) to take leave.
So it was clear I needed to build internal capacity in the business if I wanted to take sabbatical. I needed to train other people to do all or most of my responsibilities, so I could take time off and the business would run without me.
That process has been equal parts gratifying, humbling, frustrating, and ego-checking.
It’s been gratifying to have other people take the reins on projects and responsibilities. When you work for yourself, you typically start by doing everything. It’s a mental and scheduling relief to share those responsibilities with other people.
It’s been frustrating to discover that training others on my methods requires painstakingly clear communication, time, repetition, and patience. Anyone who’s trained anyone knows this already, but it was new to me!
I’d built many “processes” within Medusa that were held together with chewing gum and Scotch tape, plus my wits, memory, and ability to make fast decisions. This is a recipe for chaos when it’s time to train other people, so I’ve had to slow down, document my processes, and entrust them to people who aren’t me.
Lastly, it’s been humbling and ego-checking to recognize that… I’m not that special. Other people are equally capable — if not more capable! — of doing everything at Medusa that I do.
This sent me into a brief and necessary identity crisis: If I’m not uniquely capable of doing XYZ for our clients/the business, then what am I good for? Why do I matter? The invitation amid this discomfort and growth is to discover what my ultimate zone of joy/genius is, and it’s a work-in-progress.
2. Determine what matters
As I began preparing for my sabbatical, I created a HUGE list of projects I wanted to complete, both before my leave started and for my team to work on while I was away.
Did I mention it was a HUGE list? 😂 As my sabbatical start date drew closer, I realized that not only was my list enormous, but it was largely unnecessary.
This sparked an important eureka moment about priority and focus. It made me realize I/we needed a filter to determine if projects and tasks are fundamental or nice-to-have. Our filter involves four simple questions:
- Is it related to client retention?
- Is it related to sales?
- Is it related to the foundation of the business?
- Is it related to our impact?
If not, it’s almost guaranteed to be a nice-to-have. For example, I wanted Medusa’s team to review all our old thought leadership blog posts to update imagery, social media posts, and internal links but:
- Was it related to client retention? Nope
- Was it related to sales? Not directly
- Was it related to the foundation of the business? Sort of…
- Was it related to our impact? Sort of…
It would be nice to have our blog posts optimized, but a pass through this filter made me realize it’s not something that will make a substantial difference in our business. For the sake of focus and priority, not to mention simplicity, it makes sense to let this project go. Speaking of…
3. Let go
Woof, letting go. It feels good to have done, but it’s dang hard to do.
Preparing for my sabbatical has involved multiple layers of letting go:
- Identity/ego (which I talked about above)
- Control
- Momentum
- Opportunities
- Growth
Control:
The Medusa team has made great strides in setting up systems and processes for our work. My least favorite part of this learning curve and experience is when we discover cracks and holes in our systems. I do what I can to work with myself and the team to patch those holes and cracks, but once my leave starts I have to let them go. I have to trust Medusa’s team to handle them.
Momentum:
I like to describe my sales strategy as “following up my face off.” I’m accustomed to a lot of forward momentum: pitching myself to podcasts, inviting clients into Medusa’s programs, following up, sending Roundtable invites, following up some more.
So far, the only person at Medusa who keeps the momentum going is me. This is one area where I have not yet created redundancy. (By the next time I take leave, I intend to have created internal capacity so others can keep up some forward momentum.)
On the other hand, I started all this by talking about the importance of rest and fallow fields. So while it feels risky to let go of this momentum, I’m eager to see how temporarily letting it go will “prime the pump” for when I return full time to work.
Opportunities:
Argh, opportunity cost! Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO)! I grapple with those regularly. There is an opportunity cost to taking a sabbatical. There are clients, speaking invitations, networking events and more that, by nature of not working, you’re letting go. I have faith in the open window — I know from experience and observation that new opportunities are always coming — but still! It feels counterintuitive to refuse opportunities!
Growth:
Thanks to Medusa’s team and clients, we will keep delivering superb thought leadership content on behalf of our private thought leader advisory clients while I’m away. This makes me so proud and grateful, both for Medusa’s team (and all they’ve learned), Medusa’s clients (and their trust in us), and in my past self (for building that internal capacity and forging those relationships!).
And, because I won’t be doing my job of forward momentum and sales while I’m off, the company won’t grow this year — at least not in the revenues department. In fact, I’ve chosen to take a pay cut during my sabbatical, to ensure we have plenty in our coffers.
I’m fortunate to be able to take a pay cut. I’m married to someone with a salaried job and health insurance; I have savings that will support me; and I was able to build my savings thanks to not having debt.
I’d prefer not to take a pay cut. I’d prefer to have a business model and internal capacity that would allow our revenue to stay steady, even while I’m off work. But, that’s not where we are right now — and it’s my job to make peace with that.
What will (temporarily) change during sabbatical
In the spirit of our filter and letting go, some of Medusa’s “regularly scheduled programming” will pause during my sabbatical. I won’t be sending weekly emails while I’m away. And I won’t be writing new blog articles, posting on LinkedIn, publishing Client Impact Reports, or working with new clients until 2024. Eek!
Of all I’m letting go during sabbatical, no new clients and no weekly emails makes me the most nervous. They bring up fears like, am I letting you down? Will you be offended or forget about me? Be disappointed? When I start emailing again, how many of you will realize you didn’t miss me, and unsubscribe? When I start working with clients again, how many of you will have hired someone else in the meantime?
Taking a break like this flies in the face of many business and marketing best-practices (including some I agree with): consistency, proactive communication, staying “top-of-mind”. These are valid and effective. And…
I’m excited to see what opportunities and perspectives a long break reveals. After all, a fallow field gets the chance to replenish itself, soak in nutrients, and prepare for an abundant future harvest.
(Caveat: I will send emails to my delightful email list if and when the spirit moves me! Other parents have told me they missed work while on parental leave, and I’m glad to have the option to work here and there as I desire. I also intend to send a picture of my baby to my list and you can join the list here.)
What will not change during sabbatical
We will continue serving our private thought leader clients, as mentioned above. My colleague Nicki will helm the Medusa ship while I’m away, managing client content and hosting advisory meetings. She’ll also provide details about our group programs Exponential Influence™ and Micro Marketing Method (Mx3), which I will be leading again in 2024.
If you’re interested in either of those programs, check out the program pages linked above and make sure to submit your application. We’re super-early-bird enrolling qualified women in our thought leader program Exponential Influence™ this year, and there are some bonuses for early enrollment. Once you submit your application for either program, Nicki will reach out with details about next steps.
When I come back from sabbatical
When I return from leave in January 2024, I’m extremely excited to share original research on women and professional authority. I’m preparing this research project now, before I start sabbatical, and Medusa’s team will support it with follow up while I’m away.
I also look forward to emailing my list again, to enrolling women thought leaders in our programs, and to just… being back! I love my work and I derive so much pride and pleasure from my connections with fellow women thought leaders. I’m eager to see what new ideas and inspiration I bring to the table, after spending seven months focused on something very different from work!
I’ll conclude with the acknowledgement that I’m fortunate to be able to take a break. I’m grateful to my past self for providing me the means. Credit also goes to the many social privileges I have but didn’t earn — those too impact my ability to take leave.
I’m extremely excited and grateful, and hecking nervous. I’ve never taken a sabbatical before! I’ve never separated from my business for more than a few weeks of vacation. What will happen!? How will I feel? What new perspectives will come from this separation? What will I see when I look at my work with new eyes?
I can’t wait to find out.
If you liked this article, share it LinkedIn! Copy/paste below:
Have you ever taken a sabbatical?
In this article, thought leader trainer and advisor @Eva Jannotta shares how she planned her sabbatical, including what she had to build, let go, and risks she had to grapple with. Eva’s sabbatical is timed for a maternity leave, but her thinking and experience applies to anyone planning an extended leave from self-employment: https://medusamediagroup.com/business/how-this-thought-leader-is-taking-sabbatical/
