Designing My Perfect Sabbatical - by Mayank Verma
It's been roughly 23 years since I took a break longer than six weeks. Finally, today (June 29, 2024), I am starting my six-week sabbatical.
To generate ideas, I talked to folks who have recently returned from their sabbaticals or have taken one in the past. I also talked to my friends in academia about what they do during their sabbaticals. Academia wasn’t that helpful, as their sabbaticals are often opportunities to do industry work, so I skipped that advice.
Further searching did not result in any new activities. So I decided that I would go on sabbatical when I could answer the questions:
This is my first true six-week break in 23 years. If this sabbatical is successful (as per my goal below), I plan to reduce the time between my sabbaticals and increase their length.
Coming up with an answer took a while. It actually happened by talking to the same folks again and asking two additional follow-up questions:
