On Taking a Life Sabbatical

The current life trajectory goes something along the lines of: learn for 20'ish years, work for 45'ish years, relax for 20'ish years. But what if you tried doing things a little differently? What if you interspersed some extended time-out through your working life in the hope of being more creative, productive & happy?

That's what people like Ferran Adria, Stefan Sagmeister & Elizabeth Gilbert have done, with results well beyond their dreams. Chef Ferran Adria took five months off every year to research & experiment, resulting in his restaurant ElBulli becoming the most creative & celebrated in the world. Stefan Sagmeister became one of the world's most well known designers for his TED talk & book about what he learnt from taking a year long sabbatical. Not only did it give him a renewed love of design, it's also been so financially beneficial he now takes a sabbatical every seven years. And of course Elizabeth Gilbert is the writer she is today because she took a year off which sparked her most famous book Eat Pray Love.

Perhaps taking some time to follow what feels good could be the most productive important work you ever do.