Sabbatical 1/3

How to be effective in Doing Nothing
A client of mine decided beginning of this year to ask her employer for a six months sabbatical and received the approval. Since then I am more aware of the topic and the implications that come with it. Most people want time off work because they sense that they need change of some sort and they somehow feel that they hadn’t addressed certain areas in their lives in a way that fully represented their values, i.e. spending time with family. (I hope that I am clear by writing vague enough)
Setting the targets
The more you are clear about how you want to spend the time and what you want to achieve during your time off work, the more fulfilling and meaningful will your experience become.
You want to ask yourself, how you will know that you have spent the time worthwhile? What will people close to you notice about you during the time and afterwards? How will the time rub off on you personally and professionally?
Be cautious of trying to do too much. Is it realistic to learn Spanish, sailing the world with family and explore new business ideas at the same time within 6 months? Discuss the feasibility of your targets with the people around you.
Before you throw yourself into “Doing absolutely nothing” or “Finally doing what you always wanted to do” it helps a lot to identify: what are your biggest fears with regard to the time off work? What would it mean to you, if those fears come true? How will you feel? Whom can you confide in? And then apply an attitude of gratitude to these fears. What happens to your fears when you see the time that you have as a gift and also a responsibility? What do you wish to receive from the world around you? And what do you want to give back?