Have you ever been tempted to take an extended break from work? If you’ve had one forced on you through redundancy or ill health, this may not seem attractive, but if like me you have been in full-time executive roles for many years, the chances are that the thought has crossed your mind. After sixteen years of running Spindler, I decided to act on these thoughts by taking a six week sabbatical back in the autumn last year. Here’s my story.
I have enjoyed considerable success running Spindler since 1993 and I have plenty to be thankful for. I have always taken my allocation of annual leave, but I couldn’t remember the last time that I’d had more than two weeks off at one time. I really felt that I would benefit from an extended break, when I could truly get away from the day-to-day demands of the business. It would also be a chance to indulge a long-held desire to get out into a very different world.
I was keen to do something useful, rather than just having a long holiday. I focussed on conservation in Africa, an interest originally stimulated by two safari holidays, in South Africa and Botswana. Once I started looking, it was not difficult to find potential projects! There are lots of organisations offering volunteering opportunities of this sort and many now deal with ‘career break’ people of any age, not just the classic gap year students.
There is not room here to go into great detail about what I did, but in summary it consisted of living out in the African bush, sometimes in lodges and sometimes in tents. I learnt about animal behaviour and recorded animal numbers, movements, feeding patterns and the like. Some of the camps had an established water supply and electricity; some had neither! I and my fellow volunteers got pretty close to some large mammals, predators included, and had a few close encounters with snakes and large bugs! Communication with the outside world was very limited - there were no e-mails, and text messages got through only very intermittently.
The group that I was with were a very mixed bunch in age and background. Most were Brits but there were some Germans, Swedes and Aussies as well. Some were straight out of school, others had significant careers already.
Did I achieve my objective? Yes, absolutely. I was away long enough, in a totally different environment, to ensure that I forgot all about the usual work routines. The experience was mentally stimulating and it showed me that I can still learn new things. I really enjoyed the contact with the other volunteers on the programmes, which reminded how important it is to remain open-minded to the views of others outside my normal sphere of contacts. My sabbatical also proved that I’m not indispensible, because the Spindler team performed admirably without me!
I returned to work refreshed and invigorated, armed with new enthusiasm to continue developing the business and not fall into the trap of sticking to the tried and tested routines. Without getting too precious, I also gained a renewed appreciation for what I already have in my business and personal life – in short, I’m not yearning to leave everything behind to go to live in a wooden hut in Africa!
So, if you are attracted to the idea of a sabbatical, my recommendation is to go for it and make it happen. If you can organise the time off, you will find no shortage of projects that you can do, whatever your interest and wherever you might like to go. It may change your life – or it may not – but the chances are you will return reinvigorated and with a new sense of purpose.
