I did the scariest thing in my career...
...and I don't regret it
I did the scariest thing in my career.
After 10 years of working in an EdTech startup as a founding team member, I decided to take a sabbatical.
What makes this scary you may ask? As a self-identified high achiever, "taking a break", "figuring things out", "rediscovering myself" were phrases I associated with weakness.
I made excuses to not take my vacation days when I needed them; citing "not being in the loop", "falling behind", or "creating bottlenecks" for my team.
What resulted from this relationship I had with work manifested in a slow but certain burnout.
It was time I flipped the mirror of empathy I would show to my users towards myself and create an environment for something new to emerge.
So yes, I am taking a break from my day job to hone other less obvious "superpowers" I have, but to be clear, I am not taking a break from my career. This is part of the journey and I can't wait to see what will come out of it.
Some of you have asked what it is I will be working on in my time away and I have a general outline I will be investing in:
📚 Education - With 10 years of working in EdTech, I am 100% bullish on Education and that means taking the time to upskill myself both as a PM with hard tactical skills but more importantly the soft skills to thrive.
💬Networking - I missed the art of amazing conversation and using it to reconnect with people and building net-new relationships. For all those I've connected to in the past two weeks, thank you for your undivided attention. Engaging in conversation with you has brought an insightful perspective that I would never have explored without you.
📖Reading - I have a long list of reads that I've been meaning to get to but didn't have the chance unless it directly related to my day-to-day.
✍🏼Writing - I quite enjoy writing and storytelling - one of the big reasons why I enjoy writing feature specs. I haven't chosen the exact medium or types of writing I would be engaging in, but I do hope to spend more time on this.
❓Random interests and projects - What is life without a bit of spice? This is time I will be allocating to give myself the permission to explore whatever interests me at the moment.
Follow along as I post about this exciting journey and if this message resonated with you, feel free to connect! #sabbatical
