Your Sabbatical: A workbook for defining your career sabbatical and creating transformative change.

By Christopher Grossmeier

You've taken the two-week vacation. It didn't work. You came back and the same weight was sitting there waiting. What you need is months. Enough time to recover, recalibrate, or change direction, without blowing up your finances, blindsiding your family, or torching your reputation on the way out.

Your Sabbatical is that plan. 17 chapters. Every phase covered.

Christopher Grossmeier took a sabbatical in 2025 after years of burnout he kept outrunning. He planned it, funded it, negotiated it, survived the first weeks off, did the identity work, and figured out how to come back. This workbook covers rest, reset, and pivot sabbaticals of 3 to 18 months. Every exercise runs 15 to 45 minutes and ends with something tangible.

Part One: Before Your Sabbatical (Ch. 1-5)Build a real budget, calculate your runway, pitch your employer, align your household, and count down your last 30 days. From vague idea to a plan you can act on in 4 to 8 weeks.Ch. 1: Why You're Here, defining your typeCh. 2: The Money Conversation, burn rate, three budgets, healthcare, runwayCh. 3: The Conversation with Your Employer, three departure paths, pitch languageCh. 4: The Conversation with Your Family and FriendsCh. 5: Timeline, Logistics, and the Last 30 Days

Part Two: On Sabbatical (Ch. 6-12)The companion for while you're away. Decompression, rhythm, identity work, learning, relationships, wellness, and the mid-sabbatical slump. It probably will happen.Ch. 6: The First Two Weeks, decompression and phantom workCh. 7: Finding Your Rhythm, anchor habits and sleep debtCh. 8: Who Am I Without the Title? Identity workCh. 9: Learning, Creating, and Going DeepCh. 10: Relationships During SabbaticalCh. 11: Wellness, Rest, and the BodyCh. 12: The Check-In, weekly reflection and the mid-sabbatical slump

Part Three: Returning to Work (Ch. 13-17)Where most sabbatical resources fall flat. Take stock, make the career decision, build your narrative, run the job search if needed, and protect what you gained.Ch. 13: Taking StockCh. 14: The Career Decision, return, pivot, or something elseCh. 15: Telling Your Story, handling the gap without apologyCh. 16: The Job Search, 8 to 12 weeks for the modern marketCh. 17: Sustaining the Change, protecting what you gained

"This book provides the structure and purpose I wish I'd had from day one. Do the exercises, follow the recommendations, and invest in yourself."Robert Graves, Principal, Galaxie House, LLC

"It's the book my bumps and bruises would have appreciated before I got started."Dave Payne, Owner, State Change, LLC, Former Google

Open to wherever you are. Do the exercise. The guide you needed exists now.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GWNQ91G3
• ISBN13: 9798994914601
• Release Date: April 2026
• Publisher: Christopher Grossmeier
• Length: 310 Pages
• Weight: 1.59 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 8.5" x 11.0"