You may also be able to use the current economic downturn to your advantage. If your company is looking for ways to cut costs, this could be a good time to win approval for some unpaid leave.

(There are some other good sabbatical tips in this one, too.)

This idea is particularly relevant for folks in long-term career positions. After all, quitting your temp job is one thing, but bailing on twenty years of corporate ladder work with a great company is another level of risk altogether. Right now, you’ve got a chance to cut that risk dramatically.

The Opportunity for You

Economic slowdowns means companies end up with excess resources (read: people). Even in this age of job hopping, lack of loyalty, and self-interest, companies really don’t want to lay good people off.

Enter your opportunity: pitch your sabbatical now. You might just be offering the perfect solution to an employer looking to cut costs. You disappear for a while, they hold your job, and maybe even pay you a portion of your salary. You get a much needed career break, and your employer gets to preserve some bottom line. It’s a win-win.

How about these Land Rover employees who were offered a sabbatical at 80% pay? I’d take that deal in a heartbeat:

Leave of up to 3 months is being offered to Birmingham based LandRover workers at 80% pay, plus they can apply for other jobs whilst on leave from manufacturing vehicles such as the Freelander. This announcement must be a blow to workers, having recently been awarded a 5.5% pay rise.

This sabbatical offer is previously unheard of in the industry and is the latest in a series of moves by Jaguar Land Rover to avoid a stockpiling of vehicles.

Or how about Infosys, who appealed to their employees to take sabbaticals?

India’s second-largest information technlogy services provider, Infosys Technologies, has issued letters to its employees stating they could opt for a one-year sabbatical to engage themselves in philanthropic activities. They would continue to draw 50 per cent of their salary during the period.

Now, instead of waiting around to be offered a sabbatical, wouldn’t it be better if you pitched one instead? Here are a few more articles you might use to mine some strategies from:

• Sabbaticals - Good for Staff and Business
• Career Breaks and Sabbaticals

Today marks the official launch of Train for Humanity, a grassroots, non-profit humanitarian organization that combines getting fit with making a difference. I’m honored to be one of the co-founders of this unique project. There a few very simple ways in which you can help - I’d like to take a few minutes of your time to tell you how and why.

Train for Humanity raises funds and awareness for organizations that help alleviate the pain and suffering of children, orphans, and refugees who have been affected or displaced due to genocide or civil war.

Making a Difference for Kids In Darfur

For our first phase, 100% of the funds raised will go to the Darfur Peace and Development Organization. They run some truly remarkable programs.

Darfur is currently the scene of one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, the biggest U.N. aid operation, and the 21st century’s first genocide.

The civilian population has suffered systematic destruction of homes, agricultural land, livestock and wells, mass rape and displacement. More than 450,00 people have died.

How TFH Makes a Difference

TFH “everyday athletes” (like me) train and participate in endurance events, such as triathlons and marathons. The money they raise from sponsors online goes to humanitarian causes.

We rely on bloggers and social networking tools to spread the word - that keeps the overhead low, so we’re able to deliver 100% of the money raised directly to the cause.

How You Can Help

1. Sponsor Me

As one of the three pilot project “everyday athletes”, I’ll be running the Niagara Falls Half Marathon on October 26, 2008. You can sponsor my run here. All the funds will go to the Darfur Peace and Development Organization. Our goal is to raise $50,000.

2. Help Spread the Word

Helping isn’t just about money. If you have a blog, a website, a Facebook or Twitter account, or just an email address book, I’d like to ask you to take just a few moments of your time to post, Digg, Stumble, forward, tweet, email, or otherwise help spread the word about Train for Humanity. You can find pre-written blog posts, badges for your site/blog, and other easy word-spreading ideas right here.

3. Become a Participant

We’ll soon be opening TFH to other “everyday athletes”. Anyone with a desire to make a difference can participate - the only requirement is that you take part in an endurance event, such as running, walking, cycling, or swimming. The distance isn’t important. Some TFH participants will run marathons, others will walk a few miles, but they’ll all be making a difference. You can signup here.

Thank You For Your Help

I’m grateful for your contribution, whatever form it may take - a few minutes or a few dollars will make a difference.

Many thanks,

-Dan

Learn More About:

The origins of TFH (a very cool story), via creator Mark Hayward

The Darfur on the DPDO website

The solution? Enter Escape 101, the audiobook. We’ve been eagerly anticipating the arrival of the audio version for a few months. Now you can drive, jog, cycle, walk or otherwise listen your way to planning your sabbatical or career break. For the crazy busy, the audio lovers, or for those who just aren’t big readers, this is a great way to experience the book.

The audiobook is published by Gildan Media, who brought such greats as The Attractor Factor, Blue Ocean Strategy and The Go-Giver to audio, and it’s read by the wonderfully talented Erik Synnestvedt, the voice behind such classics as Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, and Timothy Butler’s Getting Unstuck. We’re thrilled to be in such good company.

You can download the audiobook directly via Audible or iTunes. Enjoy!

“How long should my sabbatical last? Is a month long enough? A year? Does it matter?”

We’ve been asked this question more than once, and it surprised me a bit the first time. The truth is, though, it does matter. Whether you’re considering a permanent escape, a full-on sabbatical, or a mini-retirement, here’s why duration is important, and how you might decide how long your escape should last.

Up To 1 Month

At the risk of getting into semantics, breaks of just a few weeks are really just long vacations. But given that many people have never taken more than a single week off in their entire working lives, these short breaks can be an important starting point.

For business owners, it’s a great way to test-drive being away from things. For workaholics and the chronically under-vacationed, it’s a taste of what life might look like when it’s not fueled by adrenalin 24-7. For many, a month off is the perfect catalyst to start thinking about a longer escape.

These short breaks are a great introductory step. Your cat can probably survive a few weeks with a huge bowl of food, a cat door, and an open toilet bowl. Train him well and he might even water the plants. Your boss will forgive you, and you won’t need to auction off the contents of your home.

The bottom line: A month is a stepping stone to something larger. If six months feels too overwhelming for you, and stops you from taking action, then start small and commit to using your short escape as a springboard to something longer.

1-3 Months

For most people, this is getting outside the range of standard vacation, and so for the first time you’ll have to make more serious workplace and business plans. It also requires a little more financial planning.

The cat and the plants are going to need more permanent arrangements, but you don’t need to sell your car, rent your home or quit your job in order to wrangle a couple of months off. For the first time, though, you’re going to get a real taste of what it’s like to shed some of the mental life load you’ve been carrying.

Be prepared for: some eye-opening insights into your life, and the appearance of a strange voice inside your head that asks a lot of tough questions about what you’re returning to at the end of this short sabbatical. And be forewarned - that little voice doesn’t like evasive answers.

3-6 Months

For me, this has always marked the entry into “true” sabbatical territory, although everyone has their own definition.

When traveling, I’ve always found that by the three month mark a place begins to feel more like home. You’ve had an opportunity to make relationships and become involved in a community. If you’re planning to do volunteer work, three to six months is also an opportunity to make a more significant difference. Also, most short term volunteer programs require you to pay to jump on board, but when you get into longer time periods, a lot of new doors can open up.

If you’re relocating to another country, you’ll also discover that your language skills are really going to kick into gear after 3 months. You’ll find your ear warming up to foreign sounds, and you’ll develop solid confidence in your ability to speak.

Watch out: Once you crack the three month mark, that little voice inside your head is going to start making sense. You might never look at home the same way again.

6 Months and Beyond

Once you begin to crest the six month mark, some important changes start to happen. For lengthy escapes like this, you’re dealing with a whole different kind of preparation. Most people can’t just cobble together a year’s worth of time using a few sick days, unused vacation and some good grace from their employer - this is serious time off.

In Escape 101 we used the idea of “big rocks” as symbol of the difficult to shift, inertia-heavy things in your life that might hold up a sabbatical - things like your house, cars and job. The first thing you’ll notice when you plan a longer sabbatical is that you start to look at some of those big rocks differently.

People planning long absences are more likely to sell their cars, rent or sell their homes, and go on indefinite leave or quit their jobs altogether. Business owners make sustainable changes in the people and processes of their companies, as opposed to patching together more temporary solutions.

The result of course, is that the different type of preparation that goes into a long career break tends to create a different type of experience while you’re away. You’ll have fewer ties to your “normal” life, and less mental baggage as a result. The cat, the car, the boss, the house, the banking - in order to escape for up to a year or more, you’ve had to move beyond band-aid solutions for those things.

When you leave briefly, all those things still exist. When you take six months or more off, you need to solve those things,and the result is an extraordinary peace of mind that’s difficult to find any other way.

In the End, A Regular Vacation Won’t Cut It

Sabbaticals are about time. Doing something “crazier than usual “with your standard two-week vacation isn’t the same. It’s great, don’t get me wrong, but you’re not going to get into the good stuff until you’ve really escaped for longer.

The message here is this:

The longer your sabbatical, the greater and more enduring the benefits.

If you’ve never taken a decent vacation, then do it. Book the time now. You need it, or you wouldn’t be reading this. A short sabbatical beats no sabbatical at all. But don’t fool yourself into thinking that a good vacation and six months off are the same thing.

The great thing is that you can start small. Try to double the longest vacation you’ve ever had, and you’ll notice some significant benefits. Double that a couple of more times, and you’re into sabbatical territory and a whole new way of looking at your life.

Craig’s got a great FAQ at the blog that answers a lot of common questions, regarding work, money, school and safety, so for our interview, Craig and I delved into the mental game of sabbaticals and family travel. If you’re planning your own escape, this is required reading…

Q: It’s pretty close to departure time. What’s been the hardest thing so far?

I think both Dani (my wife) and I had a hard time telling our parents. Taking a year off to travel the world is just so alien to their experience; they have no way to process the information. Even worse, we’re taking the grandchildren.

We’ve really tried to demonstrate to them that we’ll be able to stay in touch. That was part of the reason for getting the blog up and running so early. And we’ve been practicing with them using Skype.

On the work front, there have been challenges too. I’m an an independent consultant, so in telling my clients, I was quitting my job. I’ve been fortunate to have had several long-term clients. In more than one case, I was telling a friend that I wouldn’t be working with them for at least a year.

I suppose the common thread is that disengaging from daily relationships - family and co-workers - has been the most difficult thing for me.

Q: Is everyone on board? Did it start out that way, or was this your vision at first?

Everyone is on board. I think my daughter Caroline (age 13) summed it up very well when I told her I had bought our airline tickets. Her response: “Dad, that makes me feel excited - and queasy.”

But getting to where we are today has been a process.

This trip grew out of an on-going conversation that Dani and I had been having. We knew that in June 2008 both of our kids would be changing schools. Caroline was going to be entering high school; Conor (age 11) would be heading off to middle school. We knew that if we were ever going to do something out of the ordinary, this was the year to do it.

In February 2007 Dani and I began a running conversation, brainstorming ideas about what we might do. I wasn’t thinking explicitly in terms of a sabbatical, but as it turns out, that’s what I was moving towards.

The first idea I suggested was to live a year in Australia. I have friends there, and I found that we could enroll our kids in Australian public school for a modest amount of money. Dani didn’t say no, but she wasn’t excited about the idea. She thought living in Australia would be too similar to living in the U.S. So we tried to expand our thinking.

One day, we found a Canadian family, the Carlsons, who took a round the world trip in 2001. We read their web site, then emailed them. Five years after the Carlsons returned home, they were all doing well and considered their trip around the world to be a life-changing experience.

Then I started looking for other families who had taken round the world trips and was surprised by the how many I found. (We list of about two dozen on our web site).

One day Dani came running in my office (I work at home) and told me to turn on Oprah. Dani rarely watches daytime TV, but happened to have it on that day. When I tuned in I saw why Dani was so excited. Oprah was doing a satellite interview with the Andrus Family of Atlanta, Georgia, from the top of Table Mountain in Capetown, South Africa. They were about two-thirds of the way through a round the world trip.

I immediately went to their blog, Six in the World, and read every word. I think that’s the moment I knew our family could do a round the world trip too.

As a family, we spent the next several months discussing the pros and cons of taking such a trip. At first my daughter was skeptical. My wife was probably just humoring me. Conor, bless his heart, was ready to leave right away.

We spent a lot of time talking about where we would go, what we would do, what life on the road would be like. We had a very open discussion about our expectations - and our concerns. The more we talked about it, the more we wanted to do it, and the more we believed we could do it. We knew it would a challenge, that there would be good days and not-so-good days. Still, we all knew it was the chance of a lifetime.

One night, Caroline said to me: “Dad, I want you to know that I’m scared to go on this trip. But I also want you to know that I’ll be really disappointed if we don’t go.”

By Christmas 2007 we were all on board.

Q: Have you encountered much in the way of skepticism, or negative response from friends or other family? If so, how have you dealt with “disapproval”?

Just yesterday a “friend” told me he’d been reading our blog recently and it was obvious to him that I was a “very tortured person.” Uh huh.

One of the things that has surprised me most - something I never predicted and didn’t expect - is the wide range of reactions we’ve gotten to news of our trip.

We have casual friends who have adopted our trip as their “cause,” sending us information about every stop on our itinerary. And we have good friends who do everything they can to avoid even acknowledging that we are going to be away for a year.

One family in our neighborhood has studiously avoided mentioning our trip to either Dani or me. But they’ve pumped our kids for information at every turn. Where are you going? Is your father going to work? How’s he paying for this? I find their reaction to be rather odd, and I have no explanation for it.

I’ve also had a lot of colleagues tell me they wish they could do something like this, but they can’t because of X, Y, or Z. I’ve had others tell me all the reasons they would never want to do something like this, and then tell me a vacation to a five-star resort is the only way to travel.

It reminds me of something John W. Gardner once said: “At a certain point in your life you learn that people are neither for you or against you - they’re thinking about themselves.”

On the other hand, I’ve also been surprised by the number of people who have reached out to me, offering encouragement and advice. Several other travelers found me on the web and sent notes of encouragement. You sent me an email and a copy of Escape 101 at a time when I really needed the wisdom you had to offer.

There really does seem to be a different spirit among travelers. It’s refreshing to talk to people who share information rather than hoard it.

Q: What advice would you offer to someone who would love to do what you’re doing, but is convinced that it’s impossible to leave work for that long?

I recently read a great quote from Joseph Campbell, the author and mythology professor. He said “A mid-life crisis is when you reach the top of the ladder, only to find it’s been place against the wrong wall.”

Over the years, I’ve worked with a lot of top performers and hard chargers. Almost every one of them has talked about how important their family is to them - but very few have walked the walk. In a showdown between work and family, work seems to win more often than not. So I am immediately skeptical when someone tells me they want to take time off. They probably need to… but want to? I’m not always so sure that’s the case.

If a person said to me, “I wish I could do what you are doing,” I’d say, “What’s stopping you? What’s really stopping you?”

Certainly there are circumstances that can prevent a person from taking a sabbatical. But often the the obstacles in our way are of our own making: The need to feed the beast. To climb the ladder. To maintain your place in your tribe.

If a person or family really wants to take time off to travel the world, they can figure our a way to do it. It may take some creativity. It may take some compromise. But it can be done. But the first step is really wanting to do it.

In my search for other families traveling the world, I discovered a Kiwi family of eight (eight!) who are about to take off on an multi-year travel adventure. They’ve been saving for this trip, pinching pennies, for years. But family travel was their dream - and they worked together to achieve it. You have to respect and admire that. I know I’m going to be following their adventure, and I hope to meet them one day.

Q: Even though you haven’t left, have the decisions and planning so far changed you at all? If you had to cancel your sabbatical before it even started, what would you take away from the experience to date?

Every day I am acutely aware of how fragile it all is.

I know there are things that could derail us before we leave or once we are on the road. But there are two thoughts I keep coming back to.

First, I have a new appreciation for what’s possible, for what a family can do together. I have nothing but admiration and respect for the many families who are out there living their lives on their own terms. That’s what I aspire to.

Second, I am deeply grateful for my wife and my children, for their spirit of adventure, for their willingness to take a leap of faith into the world. I hope they never lose their sense of wonder, their willingness to break from the pack, and their ability to confront their fears, take a risk and move forward.

This is already the best thing we’ve ever done. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

I’d like to thank Craig for his time and his thoughtfulness. Visit The Wide Wide World and subscribe to follow their trip. If you’re planning a sabbatical of your own, you won’t be disappointed by their updates.

This isn’t the first time they’ve done this. I asked Nancy Sathre-Vogel if she’d share some insights into what’s required - mentally and logistically - to pull off an escape of this magnitude.

Q: How are you dealing with jobs/careers/work?

Jobs? Are you implying that a responsible, logical parent would consider their job in all this? Yes, I suppose that would be the wise thing to do, but I’m not sure we fit in that category.

The short answer is that we feel life is too short to not take advantage of it. Our boys will never be ten years old again. We are (relatively) healthy right now, but we all know how quickly that can change. In other words – bag the job and live life.

OK, I happen to have a career where I know I can always find a job (I’m a Special Education teacher). That makes the decision a whole lot easier!

Q: What’s your budget for the trip, and how are you funding it?

The financial aspect of an extended journey will always be the most difficult one. That being said, traveling by bike is a relatively cheap method of travel – especially with gas prices the way they are today! In 2006-07 we spent twelve months cycling around the USA and Mexico, and found that our monthly expenses on the road were $1000-1500. We expect food prices to be slightly higher due to gas prices, but should be approximately in the same range.

We have also sought out insurance for expats and will be able to pick up an insurance plan for much less than we paid on our last trip. This policy will have a high deductible, therefore will only cover major incidents. We’ll plan on paying the small stuff out of our pocket.

So – all total, we are planning for a monthly budget of around $2000 or approximately $60,000 – 70,000 for the entire 2 ½ years.

To pay for it, we will take money out of our retirement account if need be. Yes, we will have less money when we’re old and decrepit, but we’ll have memories like nobody else! That said, we are hoping we won’t have to take much out.

• We own our house outright, and will rent it out while we’re on the road. Anything over the expenses of maintaining the house (taxes, insurance, and maintenance) will be used to pay our daily expenses.

• We are also hoping to have our website be a valuable educational resource for teachers and homeschooling families. We will be writing up a series of photo essays about the various places we pass through and are hoping educators will use them to help kids learn. We have a map posted where we will link to the various essays. I know the map is pretty empty and forlorn right now, but we’re hoping to start getting info in there as soon as we start pedaling! We’re hoping to get a small amount of money from ads and donations from that.

• Another possibility for raising a bit of money is with John’s website design. We will have a computer with us on the journey, and he will (hopefully) find a few clients who are impressed enough with our website to want him to design one for them.

• I will also try to write a few articles for magazines and get a small amount of income that way.

Basically – the game plan is to get a lot of ‘little bits’ and hope they add up to enough. Or at least close to enough.

Q: You have a great deal of travel experience. What would be your top advice for a family that’s dreaming of getting away for the first time?

Just do it. There are a million reasons not to go, and that’s what most people tend to focus on. There will never be ‘enough’ money and there will always be job demands. The time and money for a family adventure will never just fall in your lap out of the clear blue sky. You simply have to make the decision to go, and DO IT!

I’ve got blog entry that could relate to this topic perfectly called “One More Pedal Stroke“. Although I’ve likened my experience of climbing a hill to life in general, I think it also pertains to setting off on an extended journey. If you look at the preparations of the journey as a whole, it seems insurmountable. But once you’ve made the decision to tackle it, just take it one step at a time until you reach the eve of departure. That’s really all there is to it.

Q: How are you dealing with school for the kids?

Basically, we will allow Mother Nature and our journey itself to be the boys’ teacher. Our daily lives will be filled with learning – although that learning will be far from predictable. As we pedal alongside the Alaska pipeline, we will learn about oil production and the permafrost. When we see wildlife on the side of the road, we will learn about bears and moose. Our boys will see Aztec and Incan cultural relics and gain an understanding of how people in those cultures lived. They’ll experience various political and economic environments. All those sights, sounds, smells, and tastes will be their teacher.

I’ve written a blog entry about our approach to “roadschooling” – you can read it here.

Q: What about playmates, besides each other?

Our boys have an uncanny ability to seek out other kids to play with. At campgrounds, they stay at the playground until darkness drives them away and they somehow manage to find all kinds of kids everywhere we go.

It is true that they will not have the chance to develop long-term friendships, but we feel the advantages of a journey like this far outweigh the disadvantages.

Q: For many families, safety is one of the first things that comes to mind when they consider traveling with kids. Any words for those who would like to try a family adventure, but are scared off by the thought of international travel?

I think we live with an illusion of security in our own home. My home is Boise, so I feel Boise is ‘safe’. Carlos lives in Bogota, so he feels it’s ‘safe’. Galya lives in Israel, so Jeruselem seems safe to her, and Cairo feels safe to Wallah. Why would Gitanjeli’s home in India be any less safe for me than it is for her? I’ve written a blog entry to address this issue.

Thanks to Nancy for sharing the details of their sabbatical. You can support this educational trip via their website at http://familyonbikes.org/, and by subscribing to their blog at http://familyonbikes.org/blog. We’ll be checking in with Nancy and the family later in their escape. Good luck!

It’s hard to describe the combination of excitement and sheer terror I feel right now.

One thing for sure. We’re not staying home.

I know exactly what he means. The great part, though, is that the sheer terror steadily gives way to rising excitement. It’s that first “point of no return” step that really makes your stomach flip. Those big steps, though, are the ones that lock you in, and ensure that you really do escape.

Beyond a great glimpse into the psychology of family sabbatical planning, The Wide Wide World has a great list of round-the-world family bloggers. The site is well worth following.

Go Big or Stay Home

PS: We’ll be checking in with Craig before and during their escape. To make sure you don’t miss the interview, subscribe to Escape 101 by email or RSS!

Escape 101 started out as a website to help promote our latest book by the same name. It didn’t take long, though, to realize that we still had a lot more to share on the topic of sabbaticals and lifestyle design.

The purpose of this blog is to help you make your way toward the the life that you want, and in the end, that requires change. You might do it in big leaps, or you may do it in small steps, but either way we’re here to help.

Your First Steps

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Check Out Escape 101: The Book

You’re not alone in dreaming of a sabbatical. Escape 101 has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The Miami Herald, and been endorsed by best-selling authors like Timothy Ferriss (The 4-Hour Workweek).

Learn more:

Reviews and Press | Excerpts | Order

Get in Touch

Creating the life you want is a lot easier (and a lot more fun) with some help. If you’ve got questions about sabbaticals or lifestyle design, contact us anytime. We really don’t mind.

What’s really going on here? Why is it so hard to accomplish the things we want so much? The challenge is that desirable outcomes in the long-term (like good health or wealth) tend to require not-so-desirable actions (like exercising or saving money) in the here and now. The result? We avoid the less-desirable options, and put off for yet another day what we should do right now.

Enter StickK. It tries to leverage your psychological wiring by penalizing your lack of action. At StickK, you create a “Commitment Contract” for your desired goal - quitting smoking, or running a marathon, for example. Fail to butt out or stick to your training, and you’re subject to your chosen penalty, ranging from public shaming on the StickK site, to actual financial costs, which are donated to the charity you choose. To ramp up your motivation further, you can even have your money donated to a charity you hate if you fail to perform.

Using StickK to Lock In Your Sabbatical Plans

You can use StickK to get some leverage on yourself and accomplish a few of the steps that can help make your sabbatical a reality.

Some goals you might choose:

• Pitching your boss, announcing your plans or otherwise going public at work with your sabbatical goals
• Opening a savings account and setting up an automatic paycheck deduction
• Buying plane tickets, or other financial commitments

A word of caution: make sure you set your penalty high enough that it represents enough pain for you to be sure you’ll follow through.

StickK

JoAnn Ussery, shown here, lost her home in an ice storm, and replaced it with a Continental Airlines 727.

Ussery named her dream house “Little Trump,” a reference to Donald Trump’s $16-million corporate jet, also a Boeing 727. The floor plan consisted of three bedrooms, a living room/dining room, a fully equipped kitchen, a laundry area and her favorite room, the master bathroom with a Jacuzzi, in what was once the cockpit.

The tail was anchored in 18 inches of concrete. The nose extended out past the shoreline of the lake, giving the 727 home a dynamic look, as if it were flying. The 11-foot-wide cabin looks roomy with the high-density airline seats removed. The 76 side windows and 10 cockpit windows provide ample illumination.

Her story is one of several on the site - have a look:
Airport Journals