00:00Hello everyone, I want to talk a little bit about sabbaticals and why every working professional should bake in a sabbatical in their long-term planning.
00:11I've been a working professional for about 20 years, started off as a gawky 20-year-old journalist in 2006, September 2006.
00:19My first sabbatical happened in 2012 when I got a scholarship to study in Italy.
00:25And mind you, this really gave me a deep appreciation of the importance of going back to academics in your 20s.
00:33If there are any 20-something folks out there who are listening, who are hearing me right now, it's very important that you do not lose your connection with academics.
00:44The 20s are probably the best time after 3-4 years of working.
00:47If you can go back to academics, nothing like it, you would have a renewed sense of purpose.
00:53You would appreciate academics a lot more and also contribute very meaningfully to the discussions and the discourse because now you have examples from your professional life that can be applied and that can be discussed on a common forum.
01:08My second sabbatical was in 2020, bang in the middle of the pandemic.
01:13And this was when the world had shut down and work from home wasn't really suiting me.
01:20My family, I wasn't married back then.
01:22My family was in a different place.
01:24I just couldn't take it anymore.
01:25And I decided to hunker down and just go slow for the next year, year and a half.
01:34I traveled a lot.
01:34I met a lot of interesting people.
01:36But most importantly, I met my life partner during my sabbatical.
01:40So when people ask, you know, how did you spend your off year?
01:44Well, I found someone who was willing to marry me and settle down with me.
01:48And we took that, we took our marriage vows on the 8th of Jan, 2022.
01:54The reason why I'm telling you all this is, look, professional journeys are complicated.
02:02They are rarely linear, right?
02:05Gone are the days when you could, you know, you would work for 10 years at a stretch or work for 15 years at a stretch in the same company.
02:12Today, people also get attracted to the gig economy.
02:15You might pick up a consulting gig somewhere.
02:16So there are different ways in which professional journeys unfold in the current age.
02:26It's very important that if you have the financial cushion and if you have the means and family support, it's very important that you take a little bit of a pause.
02:37This could be for a month.
02:38It could be for a few months.
02:39It could be maybe for a year, maybe more than a year.
02:42But this downtime really helps you to reassess.
02:47It helps you to evaluate your career trajectory and your life in general and the choices that you have made so far.
02:54And it sort of brings in an objectivity that sometimes goes missing in the rigmarole of, you know, your daily bread and butter.
03:03So my recommendation to every working professional is every five to seven years, if you can take a break in between jobs, learn something new, travel the world, meet interesting people.
03:18But, you know, just get into this mold of slow mornings.
03:22It will do you a world of good.
03:26I can definitely vouch for it.
03:28And, you know, the Internet is full of stories of people who have done amazing things during their sabbatical.
03:33Some have gone on to write a book.
03:35So, yeah, working professionals do consider a sabbatical.
03:39But if you are married, if you have dependencies on yourself, then, you know, take an informed call.
03:49Not one size fits all.
03:51Everyone's career trajectory is different.
03:53But if you can, please go ahead and do it is my strong recommendation.
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