Sabbatical 101 – Détails, épisodes et analyse

In this final episode before I take a break for summer, I’m reflecting on a year of sabbatical coaching—what I’ve learned, what surprised me, and what I think every academic should know about planning a life-changing l sabbatical. Whether you’re dreaming about your first sabbatical or actively planning one, this episode is full of insights to help you make the most of your time away from the day-to-day grind.

Plus, I’m sharing a sneak peek at what’s coming this fall: a series of live coaching sessions with academics who are facing real-life sabbatical planning challenges. You won’t want to miss it!

Here are the key takeaways from my first year as a sabbatical coach:

There’s No “Right” Way to Sabbatical Forget the one-size-fits-all model. Sabbaticals don’t have to mean moving abroad or doing research in a specific location. Your sabbatical should reflect your goals and circumstances.

Your Sabbatical Application Is Not Your Sabbatical Plan Submitting your application is just the beginning. A truly restorative and productive sabbatical starts with identifying your purpose—and letting that purpose guide your decisions.

Sabbatical is a time to Reconnect with Your Whole Self Sabbaticals are a powerful opportunity to rediscover non-academic interests and parts of your identity that often get sidelined.

A Sabbatical Can Be a Turning Point The boundaries, habits, and insights you develop during sabbatical can shape your work and life long after it’s over—if you let them.

If you’re wondering how to figure out what to prioritize during your sabbatical, click here to download my free Sabbatical Clarity Toolkit!

To learn more about my signature coaching program, Reignite: Your Life-Changing Sabbatical, click here. You can also schedule a Free Consultation with me here. I hope to hear from you soon!

Rebecca Roache is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of London. She’s also a coach who helps academics ditch perfectionism. Rebecca’s coaching business is called The Academic Imperfectionist, and she also hosts a podcast under the same name.

Join us for this conversation about what perfectionism looks like in academia, what causes it, and how it holds us back as academics. We also talk about how to set reasonable expectations for doing a good enough job, how the culture of academia keeps us in pursuit of perfectionism and ways to recognize and interrupt that trap, including helpful mindset tips.

You can learn more about Rebecca’s coaching work and find her podcast at: http://www.academicimperfectionist.com

Just a quick reminder that this is the second to last episode of the podcast before I take a break for the summer. Next week I’ll talk about how to come back from sabbatical, and I hope over the summer you’ll revisit past episodes or read my blog for even more sabbatical ideas and insight.

As always, you can find me at http://www.bethanywilinski.com.

Setting clear boundaries for your sabbatical is critical to ensuring you’ll have time to achieve what you set out to accomplish during your time away.

In the episode, I discuss the importance of sabbatical boundaries and outline four steps you can take to set boundaries, whether you’re planning your sabbatical or already on sabbatical.

I love helping clients figure out their sabbatical boundaries; this is one of the most important things we do in my sabbatical planning programs. To learn more about my signature coaching program, Reignite, check out my website: www.bethanywilinski.com.

If you'd like to talk more about your sabbatical and learn about how I can help, you can schedule a Free Consultation here.

Margaret Sallee is a professor of higher education at the University at Buffalo. She's taken two sabbaticals—one at home and one away with her two children. In this episode we talk about Margaret’s sabbaticals and she shares insight and advice about taking a sabbatical away with kids.

You’ll find this episode helpful if you’re considering taking a sabbatical away with kids or if you’re in the midst of planning one. Margaret shares her experience arranging all the logistics – housing, schools, visas, insurance – and all about what she and her daughters loved about their sabbatical. Margaret’s sabbatical is also a great example of how to pivot and make the most of a sabbatical when things don’t go as planned, both personally and professionally.

If you want to learn more about planning a sabbatical away with kids, I talk about this in Episode 5. You can also hear about Kristine's experience in Episode 10 and Courtenay's story in Episode 15.

Are you planning a family sabbatical away from home? My Family Sabbatical Program is a step-by-step guide that will take you through all the steps you need to plan and prepare for your time away!

To learn more about my signature coaching program, Reignite, check out my website: www.bethanywilinski.com.

If you'd like to talk more about your sabbatical and learn about how I can help, you can schedule a Free Consultation here.

In this episode I share three steps you can take to start planning your academic sabbatical. Following these three steps is going to help you get clarity about what you want to get out of your sabbatical and more confident in your sabbatical plan. So, pull up a comfy chair, get out a pencil and paper, and start making your sabbatical plan now!

If you’re wondering how to figure out what to prioritize during your sabbatical, click here to download my free Sabbatical Clarity Toolkit!

Are you planning a family sabbatical away from home? My Family Sabbatical Program is a step-by-step guide that will take you through all the steps you need to plan and prepare for your time away!

To learn more about my signature coaching program, Reignite, check out my website: www.bethanywilinski.com.

If you'd like to talk more about your sabbatical and learn about how I can help, you can schedule a Free Consultation here.

Here's another take on going away for sabbatical, this time from my daughter, Clara. Clara was 5 when we went to Bordeaux and started kindergarten in France. In this episode, she shares her favorite things about living in France (spoiler alert: it's mostly food-related!).

If you want to hear more about kids' experiences on sabbatical, check out Episode 6. If you want to learn more about planning a sabbatical away with kids, I talk about this in Episode 5. You can also hear about Kristine's experience in Episode 10 and Courtenay's story in Episode 15.

Are you planning a family sabbatical away from home? My Family Sabbatical Program is a step-by-step guide that will take you through all the steps you need to plan and prepare for your time away!

To learn more about my signature coaching program, Reignite, check out my website: www.bethanywilinski.com.

If you'd like to talk more about your sabbatical and learn about how I can help, you can schedule a Free Consultation here.

Alison is recently tenured associate professor who worked with me to plan her first sabbatical. In this episode, Alison talks about what she has planned for her Spring 2025 sabbatical, and about which aspects of the Reignite program were most beneficial to her as she created her sabbatical plan.

One of the things I love about this conversation is that Alison talks about the specific steps of the program she found most useful. These included creating a calendar for her sabbatical, which is something we do in Week 5 and setting boundaries, which we do in Week 6. Alison also talks about going back to her Guiding Principles, which she created in Week 2 of the program, and using them as a guide to determine what to take on and what to say no to during her sabbatical.

Identifying the purpose and priorities of your sabbatical is such a critical starting point, but most people skip over this step when they plan their sabbatical. If you’d like to learn more about how to do this, you can download my free Sabbatical Clarity Toolkit and listen to Episode 14 of the podcast.

To learn more about my signature coaching program, Reignite, check out my website: www.bethanywilinski.com.

If you'd like to talk more about your sabbatical and learn about how I can help, you can schedule a Free Consultation here.

And we’re back! I’m kicking off 2025 with an episode about how you can gift yourself a solid sabbatical plan for the new year. If you’re someone who’s thinking about planning a sabbatical, or if you’re already on sabbatical and it’s not going well, then this episode is for you.

I mention a lot of different links and resources in the episode, and here they are:

My website: www.bethanywilinski.com

Book a Free Consultation here: https://bethanywilinski.com/discovery-call/

If you’re wondering how to figure out what to prioritize during your sabbatical, click here to download my free Sabbatical Clarity Toolkit.

Learn more about Sabbatical Rescue

Read my blog

Whether you’ve been listening for awhile or this is your first episode, you may be wondering what a sabbatical coach does, and why someone would want to work with one. In this episode, I tell you all about what it’s like to work with me and why my clients have found it beneficial. I give concrete examples from my clients’ experiences so you can see exactly what I’m talking about.

In the episode, I mention links and free guides, so here they are:

To learn more about my signature coaching program, Reignite, check out my website: www.bethanywilinski.com.

To schedule a Free Consultation, click here.

Listen to this podcast episode to learn more about identifying your sabbatical purpose, and this one for an example from Beth, one of my clients.

If you’re wondering how to figure out what to prioritize during your sabbatical, click here to download my free Sabbatical Clarity Toolkit!

My colleague Janine Certo is one of the most graceful and put-together people I know. She has such a calming presence, and I think that sense of calm comes through in this episode. Janine is an associate professor in the department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University and an award-winning poet.

In this episode, Janine talks about her two year-long sabbaticals and her plans for her next one. She describes leaning into her work as a poet during sabbatical and how she has developed a writing and reading habit that supports her scholarly and personal pursuits during her sabbaticals. Finally, Janine shares some great ideas about setting boundaries for sabbatical and about how to navigate coming back to work after sabbatical.

If you’re wondering how to figure out what to prioritize during your sabbatical, click here to download my free Sabbatical Clarity Toolkit!

To learn more about my signature coaching program, Reignite, check out my website: www.bethanywilinski.com.

If you'd like to talk more about your sabbatical and learn about how I can help, you can schedule a Free Consultation here.