The Sabbatical Mindset Blog
Suck in Air and Be Forever Thankful
“I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual. It is surprising how contented one can be with nothing definite - only a sense of existence.” Henry David Thoreau, In a letter to Harrison Gray Otis Blake (December 6, 2020) My subscription to Real Simple Magazine expires next month and bored […]
TEDx Talk on Sabbaticals Sends Misguided, Dangerous Message
I love TED talks and TEDx too. Don’t you? Still, you should not believe everything you hear. Todd Babiak is co-founder of Story Engine, a start-up that uses story-based strategies to make organizations and leaders better: more focused, more cohesive, more influential, more human. I enjoyed his June 2011 TEDx talk, “Tell Me a Story” […]
A Sabbatical Program Launches and No One Wants to Go. What’s Up?
In an initial consulting conversation this week with Jennifer, an individual who is gathering information to design and implement a sabbatical program for a global company, Elizabeth and I re-emphasized the importance of the roll out of any sabbatical program. “What you don’t want to have happen is to launch a sabbatical program and then […]
Innovation Gets Better With Age: Why is This So Hard To Believe?
Does a 65-year-old have significantly more innovation potential than a 25-year-old? My Generation X daughter, who sometimes must teach me a new tech shortcut twice (okay, maybe four times) would answer boldly and quickly, “No way.” Older is slower. So how could her mother possibly be better at new thinking and fresh ideas than, say, […]
Why Your Career Path Should Have No End
Life expectancy is ballooning, but really, who’s paying attention? I wasn’t, and the results were a transition that could have been better navigated. Entering my third act of life, I ended up confused in a swamp land of outdated information, no great “how-to” bestseller as a guide and social benchmarks that just didn’t fit anymore. […]
Experts Identify Extreme Workers’ Ultimate Success Tool - “Get Away from the Job”
Fast Company Magazine’s 2012 two-part series on Generation Flux was their best – intoxicating and evil at the same time - in the last five years. Robert Safian, an author and the magazine’s editor, challenged every conventional thought left in your brain about how to be a successful and survival in the present state of […]
No Resolutions for New Year, Just the Gift of a Journey
Holiday gatherings reunited me with friends, family and colleagues. After hugs and “great to see you,” I used the common conversation starter, “So, what’s going on with you?” Answers included: “Working hard, going nowhere.” “Well, you know, my life is all about the kids.” “Not much of anything.” “Same ole’, same ole.” This is not […]