Yes, if you want to do it as originally envisioned [Leviticus (25:3-5)] you’ll need to work six years then take one off.
I’m with @glenthompson. This has nothing to do with biblical references, but with common use of the term. It’s a break. A couple days off work. A short vacation at best. Seems the term ‘sabbatical’ is only used here to make it sound more interesting.
Sure, you have to start somewhere. But don’t make it sound more interesting then it truly is.
Wishing @MacSparky a good week off and much of fun nonetheless. 
I think it would be good if people listened to the Sabbatical Episode of Focused (101) for the definition of Sabbatical that David is using. (One week off after 6 weeks of work.)
I don’t think there’s much insight to gain by discussing what qualifies or does not qualify as a sabbatical.
That said, here are my tips, as someone who works with Americans but tries to have European-style vacations sprinkled through the year:
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Communicate early and often. – While your hunch is that you don’t even want your clients to notice when you’re out, you cannot afford that. It is just a background radiation of being concerned that a client could notice or brings an important project during that week. It’s better to have them know and clearly communicate.
In your case I would start with a general email four weeks before the sabbatical that contains
- sabbatical dates – I would always list the three next ones, that give clients a way to put them in their calendars and plan ahead. I might even attach a calendar ICS file with the pre-planned sabbatical dates.
- your motivation – Why are you doing it, what are the benefits for the clients?
- what happens in emergencies – see below
- how work can be structured between your weeks off – When is happening what in each circle, how can clients plan ahead?
I would follow up 2 weeks and 1 week before the sabbatical and also create an auto-responder.
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Offer meetings before you leave for the sabbatical. – Schedule or offer to schedule meetings with all clients in the penultimate week before the sabbatical. That allows you to catch time sensitive issues and address them in the week before your leave. For everything non-time sensitive, schedule it to after your absence and communicate that to your clients. This will be reassuring.
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Create an emergency email address. – This sounds antithetical, but hear me out. Create an emergency@example.com email address that you communicate to your clients. Say you’re only reachable through this email in case of life/business threatening emergencies during that week. During the week, set an autoresponder on your regular email that says the same. That way people who are afraid to have a real emergency have a way to reach you, which is reassuring. And changing the email address or the need to send the email again to another address usually means that people don’t consider things to be emergencies in the end.
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Schedule time for catch-up. – When I return from a three week vacation, I usually schedule the next week for catch up. When you’re away for a week, maybe schedule Monday & Tuesday. Also communicate that. That way people who come up with “Emergencies” will probably say on Wednesdays “It’s ok if it is dealt with on Monday.”
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Don’t overthink it. – If an emergency comes in, and it really is one (it might need some push back and communication to get a common understanding between you and clients of what is an “emergency”), take the time, concentrate on making it go away, so you can return to your sabbatical. Issues happen and cutting a couple of hours out of your day is not too bad when you then can go back to sabbaticaling with a clear mind.
I hope that helps, @MacSparky, you deserve some sabbaticals 
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And who says people don’t have a sense of humor any more?
Kudos to starting. When I was in private practice, I blocked out 11a-1p every day as I began to take control back from the billable hour. It allowed me to run errands, go to lunch, and do things that were important to me. I guarded the time ruthlessly (even when Courts would try to set things during those times - which didn’t always work). I realize this doesn’t count as a sabbatical. But I want to encourage people that’s it’s 100% okay to take time for yourself (no matter how it’s broken down) and it’s 100% okay to be selfish in the enforcement of that time.
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David, I was really nervous when listening to the Sabbatical episode. The words, “Don’t do it!” ran through my mind. “Just because it works for Sean doesn’t mean it will work for you.” While this is true, it’s also true that it may indeed work for you, and it’s really good that you’re giving it a go.
The idea of creating space or margin free from obligation is really fascinating. It’s an example of the push/pull dynamic where you’re trying to eliminate (or at least reduce) things pushing on you, so that you’re free to pull into your life whatever you want or need. While on your sabbatical, you’re free to do work, you just can’t pre-plan to do work. What an awesome concept.
The human condition means we are never completely free of obligation. David I assume you are pre-planning to breath while on your sabbatical, and eat and go to the bathroom and wake up and go to sleep and the other normal things that keep you alive and healthy. So it’s not a matter of completely eliminating obligations, but filtering out as many of the normal obligations as possible to create space for rest and recovery and creativity. (I’m so jealous.) Therefore maybe pre-planning to spend say 20 mins a day reviewing client emails for authentic emergencies could be considered part of the minimum obligation required to keep your business alive and breathing, and therefore acceptable and even desirable.
Not all anxiety is bad. Some anxiety keeps your business alive. But some anxiety is more than what is necessary, and of course that causes problems. It’s not easy to tell which is which.
What you’re attempting here is pretty awesome. I know you’re working hard to make it possible. I wish you every success, and will be really interested to hear how it goes. Thanks for sharing this part of your life with us.
agree completely
Even if I plan to take only a day or two off tell customers and coworkers 1-2 weeks before. I only have one person that I will respond to if I get a text. I will not check emails and tell people this up front. Never had a real problem that others could not resolve well enough for when I got back.
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I took an 8 week sabbatical in July-August 2019. I used to work for a Fortune 100 company, so my situation was a bit different than yours. I work independently now and manage 2 contractors. If I was to do the same thing today, this is what I’d do:
- Delegate ALL work projects
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I had 3 team mates take over my 3 big projects that needed to move forward (1 a piece). I documented action items, timelines, what to expect and met with each of them 2x before leaving. This happened 2 weeks before sabbatical.
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What I’d do now: In my current job, I employ 2 contractors that work 10 hours/week for me. I feel confident that I could train them to respond and fix customer issues. I’d reach an agreement to compensate them accordingly for the extra time. I’d stop taking on new clients during sabbatical time and just block my calendly calendar for the week I’d be out so no discovery calls get scheduled during that time.
- Set an autoresponder that points to a FAQs document + ways to reach your coverage
- Self explanatory. I already have a wiki setup to do this.
- Set a vision of your sabbatical, what does it mean to be off for X amount of weeks?
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In my case, I wanted to travel with my SO to 3 different countries, read a lot of Sci-Fi, do a self-authoring program and record podcasts with interesting people. Overall spend time on things that energized me. I was able to do all those things. I didn’t want to worry about commuting, meetings or any work-related obligations. I still had to worry about things like changing my car’s oil, paying bills and the like, but these were small compared to all the extra time I had during the day. I was able to do all these things and go back to work with renewed energy and focus. I actually wrote a note in my notes app to remind myself of the big things I wanted to do and not do during this time. I called it “Sabbatical Plans” and checked it often throughout the time I took off.
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I know there can be a lot of separation anxiety when it comes to not checking email, specially when you are so used to reading fan messages or email from friends, but something that worked for me was signing out of my work account across all devices + uninstall the Mail app from my phone. Whenever I got the urge to check email “just for 5 minutes” I’d open up my Notes App and checked my “Sabbatical Plans” note. It was a way to remind myself what it was all about. I was actually SO engaged in my 1st week of time off traveling and exploring a new place with my girlfriend that I hardly cared on checking email.
Best of luck in the sabbatical!
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I take a sabbatical every three years. However, I spend much longer on one (usually 4-5 months). This is normal in my university, most professors do this regularly.
I always go somewhere completely different on my own, my family are understanding about it.
Last time I went and travelled around China, trying to find inspiration for my next research projects. I was there for four months. While on sabbatical, I spent time without technology around me, and left all my devices at home. I only had a dumb phone and accessed the internet using cafes and public terminals. I had several notebooks that I filled with ideas. I found my inspiration through observing and seeing the people and society there, and I intend to do another next year, although I’ve not decided where. I would like to go to Asia again, maybe Japan.
The result has been six good research projects, all inspired by the time there.
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Give it to Stephen to figure out and just go. The world won’t collapse if you are gone for 4 podcasts. Stephen could invite a different guest to each podcast and do deep dives into different topics with maybe a more technical bent. Maybe one of the weeks Katie could come back for a guess appearance (if she wants to do that). Just go. Take a break. Do something completely different.
I’m reminded of the adage that cemeteries are full of irreplaceable people. Go enjoy, don’t think. Sleep late and go to bed early. And give me the same advise please!
Why does relaxing have to be so stressful, right?
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