I just wrapped up the second week of my sabbatical so wanted to take a few minutes to look at what I’ve done, what I’m thought and felt, and check-in with my overall intentions.
I told myself that I’d try to spend at least the first couple weeks, possibly the first month, of my sabbatical being very kind to myself. I didn’t want to immediately dive into some kind of productive activity even though there’s a large part of me yelling about using this time productively. I’m becoming increasingly convinced that it’s important to not give into that voice. There’s a kind of unwinding or slowing down that I think is extremely necessary and I can’t do it if I don’t give myself the time, space, or permission for it to happen.
Before I do any additional subjective retrospection, I think it’s worth capturing a handful of objective metrics from the past couple weeks (week 1/week 2):
Average hours slept per night: 7.62/7.75
Average “quality” hours slept per night: 5.53/5.38
Average “deep” hours slept per night: 2.12/1.95
Average sleeping heart rate: 51/48
Average steps per day: 14,850/13,019
Total miles cycled: 8.8/9.4
Average weight: 206.4/206.7
Days exercised: 7/7
Days read: 6/7
Days written: 2/2
Days meditated: 2/1
In week 2 I tried to do a better job of just letting myself sleep until I naturally woke up. The only number that stands out to me as particularly interesting is the average sleeping heart rate of 48 in week 2. I think that’s the lowest I’ve seen in well over a year — maybe longer. Obviously, I de-emphasized cycling miles in favor of walking/running and really didn’t do much consistent writing or meditating. As far as what else I got up to over the past two weeks, here’s a brief log:
Finished reading Tiamat’s Wrath by James S.A. Corey (The Expanse #8)
Started and finished reading On Writing by Stephen King
Started and finished reading The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Wrote and published an article on SamSpurlin.com, What I’m Thinking About as I Embark on a Sabbatical
Went to my first doctor checkup in several years. Got some bloodwork done and found out my cholesterol and triglycerides are higher than they should be. Woo!
Watched the Tampa Bay Lightning win the Stanley Cup.
Hung out by the pool at our apartment complex a few times. Tried to not get sunburned.
Conducted a coaching session with a client (agreed to keep meeting every other week throughout my sabbatical)
Had a conversation with a friend about his experience with sabbatical and about a piece of software he’s working on
Had dinner at La Collina in Washington D.C.
Got a massage. Managed to stay awake the whole time, for a change.
Got a fresh haircut.
Recorded an episode of the Brave New Work podcast (was scheduled before I knew I was going on sabbatical and I didn’t want to reschedule it). I’m guessing it’ll come out in a few weeks.
Had my first salsa lesson.
Talked to a former grad school classmate about some career stuff she’s working through
Had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen
Lots of cooking dinner at home
Made some bread and cookies
Went for a couple 2 mile runs for the first time in months
Emptying the Tank
Other than these activities, the other thing that had my attention over the past two weeks was a general intention of “getting to empty.” This initiative actually started a couple weeks before the official start of my sabbatical. I’ve been going through as many services, files, backlogs, tools, and physical belongings as possible and asking myself, “Do I really need this?”
Unsubscribed from all newsletters
Unsubscribed from all podcasts
Blocked myself from all social media
Deleted all my RSS feeds
Unsbscribed from as many services as possible
Used default apps & tools wherever I could
Went through my files and deleted anything I no longer needed (old project files, notes, etc.)
Wiped out my Instapaper backlog
Wiped out my Someday/Maybe project list
Wiped out everything in my task management software
Wiped out my backlog of potential personal experiments
Simplified and consolidated my personal finances
Donated or threw away as many unused physical items as possible
I’ve since relaxed a few of these restrictions (I resubscribed to a few of my usual podcasts and am no longer restricting access to Twitter or Instagram) but the overall effort will generally continue over the next two weeks, too. It’s amazing the nearly physical effect it can have to remove things that are ephemeral yet apparently carry considerable psychological weight (like lists of projects or tasks I feel like I should do or articles I said I wanted to read but hadn’t gotten to, yet). There are a few more things in this decluttering vein I think I still want to do and I may tackle a couple of them in Weeks 3 and 4 (potentially a complete online account audit/purge and a deep clean of my personal and work Google Drive).
Intentions for Weeks 3 and 4
As far as my intentions for the next two weeks go — it’s much of the same as the first two weeks. I’m still not going to hold myself to any expectations around sitting down and “working on” something everyday. I’d like to continue doing some light writing (like this) around what I’m doing and experiencing, but it’d be premature to really dive into a substantial project right now. Instead, I’m going to continue the process of clearing the decks as much as possible. Creating space and then giving myself permission to wander through that space is the name of the game right now. Realistically, that means trying to hit my Anchor Habits everyday, continuing to use Starcraft 2 as an arena to practice useful metacognitive skills, deliberately working on my golf game, and generally just doing whatever I want — as long as I do those things one at a time. The only additional thing I’m going to add to my plate this week is to try to notice and write down when I’m thinking about something I miss, want to do, or feel like I should do. There’s no commitment to actually do anything with that information (at least not right away). I’d just like to have a bit more of a running log of what’s going on in my brain when I take away the stuff that’s usually using up all its cycles.
Keep following along with my sabbatical adventures by subscribing to The Deliberate newsletter, following me on Twitter, following me on Instagram, or subscribing to the Fields of Work podcast.