Last Updated on July 10, 2026 by Bethany Wilinski
There’s no clear roadmap for planning a sabbatical
You earned tenure or promotion–congratulations! Now you have the opportunity and privilege to take a sabbatical, one of the best perks of being an academic. You’re so exhausted from the tenure track that it feels as though your sabbatical can’t get here quickly enough.
You know you have to plan your sabbatical, but it’s overwhelming, and unlike getting a faculty job or earning tenure, no one tells you how to do it.
No matter–you’re highly motivated and successful. Surely you can figure out how to plan a sabbatical, right?
Unfortunately, great sabbaticals don’t happen by accident, and so many academics get it wrong and end up regretting how they spent their time away.
Luckily, these mistakes are easy to avoid, if you know what they are. Here are the top three mistakes I see academics make when they start to plan a sabbatical, and what you can do to avoid making them.
Mistake #1
Assuming there’s only one version of sabbatical available to you. Part of what is exciting about a sabbatical is that there are so many different ways to do it. Often, though, we get stuck thinking there’s only one way to make a sabbatical work for us, based on our field, our care giving responsibilities, or other logistical constraints. When we assume we know what our sabbatical will be, we deny ourselves the opportunity to dream and explore alternatives.
As you begin the sabbatical planning process, give yourself space to dream a bit and imagine different possibilities for your sabbatical, even if they seem out of reach.
Mistake #2
Assuming a sabbatical application is the same as creating a sabbatical plan. Most institutions have an application process for sabbatical, which requires you to describe how you’ll use your sabbatical to further your research and/or teaching goals and how your sabbatical will benefit the university. At many institutions, this process is competitive, so there’s a lot of pressure to write a compelling application.
While the sabbatical application serves a purpose, it is not the same as having a plan for your sabbatical. The application lays out a set of professional goals, but often does not account for personal ones, which are just as important to consider going into sabbatical. The application says what you will do, but it doesn’t give you a clear plan for how you will do it. That’s why planning your sabbatical with intention is so important.
Your sabbatical plan starts with identifying your sabbatical purpose. This blog post explains why, and you can download my free Sabbatical Clarity Toolkit to get started identifying the purpose of your sabbatical.
Mistake #3
Assuming that everything will naturally fall into place. Ensuring your sabbatical gives you the break from routine or the rest that you need doesn’t end with choosing a destination and arranging the logistics to make it happen. If you’re don’t get clear about how available you’ll be during your sabbatical, and to whom, you’ll find your calendar filling up quickly during sabbatical. All that time you thought you’d have to get inspiration for your next project or brainstorm with collaborators will disappear, and you’ll be left with sabbatical regret.
Planning your sabbatical doesn’t end with figuring out the logistics-you also need to determine how you’ll protect your time on sabbatical so you can achieve the goals you set for your time away.
A transformative sabbatical takes intentional planning
Sabbatical is one of the few times in academic life when you get to ask “what do I actually want?” instead of “what’s expected of me?” But that question only gets answered if you make space for it. You can do this by imagining more than one version of your time away, by building a real plan alongside your sabbatical application, and by setting boundaries to protect your time away.
You don’t have to figure this out alone, and you don’t have to start from scratch. If you’re ready to plan your sabbatical and you’re unsure where to begin, I’d love to connect. Schedule your free, 30-minute call to ask me your sabbatical questions and learn more about how I can support you.