Lessons and insights I'm carrying with me after a 4 month sabbatical

“At the end of May 2021, my colleagues at The Ready consented to a proposal I brought to our monthly Governance Meeting called “Sabbatical Policy.” Roughly five weeks later, I shared on Slack the output of a writing exercise I used to get clear on my intentions, concerns, and dreams for my imminent sabbatical and officially became the first person at The Ready to partake in this truly amazing benefit: one trimester, sixteen weeks, of paid sabbatical.

I’m now a couple weeks removed from the end of my sabbatical and wanting to capture some of the feelings, insights, and reflections before they are covered up by the daily demands of work-as-usual.”

Click here to read more about what I learned from my sabbatical and what I’m trying to bring with me back into my daily work.

For Your Attention

Max interviewed me about my sabbatical in our latest episode of Fields of Work. I cover a lot of the same ground as the article I share above, but touch on a little bit of more nuanced ground, too. It’s worth a listen.
Loved this article from Fernando Gros on understanding the “fundamental unit of your craft.” He talks about the importance of playing full songs when practicing guitar. In my case, it got me thinking about the importance of actually shipping articles and newsletter issues, rather than only snippets of writing or personal journal articles. This has been a very useful tweak in my thinking to help me take the extra effort to actually get some things over the finish line this week.
This article from Scott H. Young is super related to the previous idea, too — The Project-Driven Life. I love the way he contrasts “projects” with “goals” and the power of thinking of life as a series of projects. This certainly jibes with how I conceptualize what I do and how I live. Pair it with the previous article from Fernando and I think you have a powerful combination.
I love my morning routine and I kind of hate reading about everyone else’s. I get the sense that Ramit Sethi agrees with me in this article from early October, “My morning routine isn’t guru approved — and that’s what makes it perfect for me.” Key takeaway, “Real morning routines are decided the week before, month before, and year before.”

Until next time!

Your friend,

Sam