So what’s a tired ad executive to do when faced with his five hundredth gray Monday morning? Splash on some Old Spice, suck it up, and join the rat race one more time? Here’s a fresh idea: why not quit your job and do something that inspires you for a year. Step off of the treadmill and rediscover what it feels like to really live your life again. Yes, it can be done, it should be done, we’ve done it, and I’ll show you why.
The cube wars suck
Yes, you read that right, damaging your career potential. How can spending the best forty hours of every week in an environment that stifles creativity ever create the kind of visionary who changes the world or does something spectacular in the business sector? It can’t. You must escape the cubes and stretch your wings in the real world!
Reignite your passion for life (and work!)
Build your resume
Perhaps you love what you do and you have no desire to “run away” from it all and reinvent yourself. That’s okay – you don’t have to storm into your bosses’ office and quit. Perhaps a leave of absence is possible? You never know unless you ask. And even if you do love your job, a year off could do more than just give you the breath of fresh air your creativity has been needing. It could actually make you more marketable.
Increasingly, employers are looking for world citizens with international connections who are savvy to the “rest of world” experience. That could be you, but not unless you’re willing to leave Idaho for a few months and branch out a bit. Why not consider a stint doing volunteer work with a reputable organization like the Peace Corps for a career break, a career builder, and the adventure you’ve been longing for all rolled into one!
Professional education
Why not give yourself the time to pursue what inspires you about your career path by taking a year to just learn. Better yet, go do it somewhere new and inspiring to get your creative juices flowing. Take a cooking class in Paris. Pursue restaurant and hotel management in Hawaii. Teach business English for a year in Japan. Learn Mandarin in Beijing. The possibilities are endless, and if your year abroad includes some serious work in professional development, this will only increase your marketability long term.
Become your own rainmaker
We’re not alone, we’ve met loads of people just like us and they all have the same story: Once they climbed out of the box there was no way to go back, so they created ways to live their dreams.
It’s entirely possible, whether you’re 24 and a wildfire fighter in the summer so you can travel all winter, or you have four kids and the goat rodeo that goes with family travel. There are ways to make travel your life, if that’s your passion.
Life is too short to settle for less than your dreams.
To read more about career breaks, check out the following articles:
- Swapping Your Blackberry For a Backpack: What To Expect
- 8 Crappy Reasons Not to Take a RTW Trip (and 8 Great Reasons Why You Should)
- 9 Hard-to-Resist Reasons to Take a Gap Year
- 12 Career Skills that Travel Will Improve
- Why a Travel Break Can Be the Best Career Move You’ll Ever Make
- Should You Quit Your Job to Travel in a Still Uncertain Economy?
- Top 10 Reasons to Take a Career Break…and Travel