‘On sabbatical’

Who would have expected these two words to be this week’s coaching ‘big win’?

No, I’m not on a sabbatical myself but perhaps I should explain.

This week I caught up with someone I recently worked with. I’d noticed they had updated their LinkedIn title to ‘On sabbatical’. So, during our chat, I was intrigued to know how that felt. Their reply: “I wish I’d done it ages ago!”

This might not seem the most obvious ‘big win’ for me as a career coach. But it struck me as significant.

Why? Because it is the very public acknowledgment, to their professional network, that right now they are taking to time to pause, reflect, and focus on other areas of their life.

Sometimes, the right career decision for right now may be to actually prioritise something else!

Maybe choosing to spend more quality time with the people they love; having more fun; focusing on health or even planning ‘adventures’?

For this client, I have no doubt that when they are ready and choose to step back into the world of work, they will make a success of it again (although perhaps their personal view of ‘success’ may look a little different?).

This also reminded me of the quote attributed to Mark Twain:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbour, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover.”