Sabbatical Coaching for Academics

COMING SOON! New episodes of Sabbatical 101!

I can't wait to share more sabbatical insight and inspiration with you.

In the meantime, get caught up by subscribing to Sabbatical 101 wherever you get your podcasts, or by listening here: https://bethanywilinski.com/sabbatical101/

That moment when summer flies by and you realize your sabbatical has officially started... but you have no idea what to do with it.

As academics, we spend years getting ready for sabbatical - the research, the applications, the anticipation. But when that precious time finally arrives, many of us find ourselves paralyzed by possibility.

A semester (or a year!) of freedom sounds amazing in theory. In practice? It can feel terrifyingly unstructured.

If you're sitting there with your coffee, watching summer slip away, wondering how to make the most of your sabbatical time - you're not alone, and you don't have to figure it out alone.

I created Sabbatical Rescue to help academics like you, who are feeling overwhelmed and unsure how to make the most of their sabbatical, QUICKLY create a plan for a fulfilling experience that advances their career and personal goals.

Learn more about the Sabbatical Rescue program here: https://bethanywilinski.com/services/sabbatical-rescue/

Wait... it's already mid-August? 😳

That sabbatical you've been dreaming about is HERE, but suddenly you're staring at months of unstructured time feeling completely lost.

Sound familiar? You're not alone.

The Reignite Sabbatical Planning Program helps academics transform overwhelming freedom into purposeful, career-changing time.

Learn more: https://bethanywilinski.com/services/reignite/

Three years ago, I was so burned out that I nearly quit my job, even though I had just earned tenure.

Fortunately, I was able to take a sabbatical.

And that changed everything.

My sabbatical allowed me to rest and reset.

I stopped doing things just because I thought I "should" do them, and started focusing on my priorities.

I decided to do less, but better.

The result: I love my job again (okay, not every single thing) and I'm living a life that's aligned with my values and priorities (personal and professional).

My sabbatical literally changed my life.

How did I do it? It started with getting really clear about what I needed from my sabbatical.

If you're feeling stuck and unsure what you need from your sabbatical, check out my free Sabbatical Clarity Toolkit: https://bethanywilinskicoaching.kit.com/clarity

Here's to life-changing sabbaticals!

💭 "Is all this work to plan a family sabbatical away even worth it?"

The answer? 100%

Here's what we got from our family sabbatical in France:
-Deeper family connections
-Inside jokes and memories that we talk about every day
-A desire to travel and explore more as a family
-Perspective on what truly matters

I loved our family sabbatical so much that I created a new program to help others plan their own family sabbaticals away with ease.

The Family Sabbatical program is a clear roadmap with 5 lessons and all the activities, worksheets, checklists, and templates to make your sabbatical away a reality.

Learn more and start planning today:
https://bethanywilinski.com/services/family-sabbatical/

Here's what I know about sabbaticals:

A sabbatical is not just time off or a break from your regular routine.

It's a chance to reset. To evaluate your career and your relationship with work and decide: Is what I'm doing now what I want to do? If not, what needs to change?

I've supported dozens of faculty planning their sabbaticals, and I've seen this reset over and over again.

It's not a huge, dramatic transformation. It's incremental, but it's powerful.

A reset looks like:

Saying yes to the things that energize you and saying no to what drains you

Doing fewer projects with greater intention

Allowing margin in the calendar for self-care and non-academic pursuits

I like to think of it in terms of James Clear's Atomic Habits: Each time you set and hold a boundary, you're casting a vote for the career you want.

Do you need a reset? Do you want to use your sabbatical to make it happen?

If the answer is yes, you may be a good fit for my sabbatical planning program, Reignite: Your Life-Changing Sabbatical.

Learn more here: https://bethanywilinski.com/services/reignite/

What should I do during my sabbatical?

If you've been asking yourself this question, I can assure you--you're not alone.

It may feel strange to be unsure what to do or prioritize during an academic sabbatical, but the reality is having so much unstructured time can be overwhelming!

If you're planning a sabbatical and looking for guidance about what to prioritize, download my free Sabbatical Clarity Toolkit and start getting clear about your priorities today:

https://bethanywilinskicoaching.kit.com/clarity

If you've been asking these questions, I've got answers.

Q: What is sabbatical coaching, anyway?

A: Sabbatical coaching is personalized support for academics planning their sabbatical. I help you clarify your goals, identify your priorities (both personal and professional), and create a realistic plan that reflects what you want to get out of your sabbatical.

Q: Do I really need a coach to plan my sabbatical?

A: You don’t need one, but it helps. With a coach, you don’t have to figure it out alone, and you don’t waste time spinning your wheels. You get a proven process, regular accountability, and a clear plan you can feel confident about.

Q: Is this only for people feeling burned out?

A: Not at all. Some of my clients need deep rest and recovery. Others are excited to write, travel, or take on a creative project. There’s no one way to sabbatical—there’s just your way.

Q: How much time does this take?

A: One hour of prep each week + one 50-minute session with me. That’s it. I send summaries, next steps, and structure so you can stay on track. I make it easy for you to create a clear plan efficiently, with no added stress.

Ready to learn more and see if we're a good fit to work together?

Schedule your free consultation today: https://bethanywilinski.com/discovery-call/

I've been reading a new book about sabbaticals (more to come!) that's geared toward folks outside of academia who are thinking about a sabbatical.

The book is part of a broader advocacy movement to raise awareness about sabbaticals and encourage people who don't have access to a sabbatical to take one.

Having access to an academic sabbatical is obviously a privilege. Getting paid while taking a semester or year away from regular work is a truly amazing perk of being an academic and one not to be taken lightly.

Reading more about non-academic sabbaticals, which often require more groundwork to get approved, more planning to fund, and rarely come with the benefit of a salary and health insurance, has prompted me to reflect on what makes academic sabbaticals so tricky.

In theory, an academic sabbatical should be straightforward. You advance to a certain point in your career (typically earning tenure), submit your application, and head off into the sabbatical sunset unencumbered by student emails, committee meetings, and university politics.

Like sabbaticals outside academia, in some cases, just getting a sabbatical approved is extraordinarily difficult, especially now as universities pull back many of the benefits that used to come with an academic job.

But the thing that sets an academic sabbatical apart from sabbaticals in other industries is that an academic sabbatical comes with an expectation of WORK. And no one tells you how much work is enough during sabbatical.

For most of my clients, sabbatical also intersects with caregiving, which makes riding off into the sabbatical sunset and just doing whatever you want to do much more difficult.

Because sabbatical is a huge privilege that also requires some scholarly output and also intersects in sometimes inconvenient ways with real life, it can be hard to know how to make the best use of this time.

I think sometimes people feel guilty for being unsure how to plan their sabbatical, simply because a sabbatical is a privilege that so many people outside and even within the academy don't have.

For me, part of my job as a sabbatical coach involves normalizing the uncertainty that comes with a sabbatical. It's totally normal to be unsure how to set goals for your sabbatical, to wonder how much work you actually have to do, and to feel so overwhelmed by the whole thing that you feel completely stuck.

That's why I provide a framework and one-on-one support to develop a custom sabbatical plan that meets you where you're at in your personal and professional life.

Learn more about how my signature program, Reignite: Your Life-Changing Sabbatical helps you turn "I don't know where to begin" into a sabbatical you're excited about:

Sabbatical Planning Struggling to plan your academic sabbatical? Work 1:1 with a sabbatical coach and tenured associate professor Bethany Wilinski to create a plan that's productive and restorative.

I had such a great session this morning with a faculty member wrapping up her sabbatical. She didn't relocate for sabbatical or do anything particularly Instagram-worthy, but kept reflecting on how fulfilling the experience was.

One of the big takeaways was something I've seen over and over again with my sabbatical coaching clients: Slowing down, working with great intention, and resting more actually led to a higher level of productivity than she expected.

Slowing down is hard and, in academia and modern life, it's counter-cultural.

What slowing down has done for me and so many of my clients is to help us reconnect with the curiosity that brought us to academia in the first place.

Sabbatical is a great time to build what ideally can become a lasting habit of working more slowly and with greater intention.

Learn more about what this can look like in this blog post: https://bethanywilinski.com/why-you-should-resist-maximizing-your-productivity-during-sabbatical/

And if you want to slow down, but you're unsure how to do it, let's get in touch! Schedule a free 30-minute consultation below (link in comments)

Why you should resist maximizing productivity during sabbatical I love connecting with my clients while they’re on sabbatical and hearing how the plan we made together is panning out. This week I had a session with Claire, who is on yearlong sabbatical. One of her priorities for sabbatical was to overcome burnout and develop a more sustainable approach to her ...