In this solo podcast episode, the host introduces and walks through his self‑crafted practice called a “sabbatical in place.” He explains that unlike a traditional sabbatical—traveling, quitting a job, or stepping away from responsibilities—a sabbatical in place is a deliberate, structured pause that occurs while staying where you are. The practice emerged from a personal crisis: loss of contracts, an 80% pay cut, and a recent marriage that forced him to ask, “Who am I now?” He outlines the core framework: (1) pressing pause without disappearing, (2) redefining personal rhythm without leaving home, and (3) showing up differently. He then details four pillars that give the sabbatical intention and boundaries—faith (daily silence and listening to God), marriage (weekly check‑ins, screen‑free meals, shared rituals), re‑identifying identity (moving from role‑based to self‑based identity, using the “season” metaphor), and coaching mastery (enrolling in the Professional Christian Coaching Institute, an ICF‑accredited program). Throughout, he shares concrete habits—morning grounding, journaling, phone‑off times, intentional errands, and boundary setting—to illustrate how the pause is lived. He argues that high‑performers, leaders, parents, and creators need such rhythmic realignment to replace urgency with clarity, to prevent burnout, and to steer their teams and families purposefully. Finally, he offers to walk listeners alongside them, providing personalized support to design their own sabbatical in place, emphasizing that small changes (e.g., turning off the phone after 7 PM) can catalyze deeper transformation.
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Hey, in today's episode, I'm really excited to talk to you about, really about a transformation that I've been taking myself through, that I'm going to I want to introduce it. And it's really something that I have been adding to my coaching practice. I haven't really made a big deal out of it. But I think, I think I'm ready to do that now. And I think I've got everything lined up to start walking others through this process. And it's because it's a process I've been working through. On my own. And I call it sabbatical in place. Now, you may be familiar with a term of survival in place, and it means, you know, in the, in the prep world or in the survival world, that if something was to go wrong and everything was to shut down, you know, the A lot of people have envisioned, well, I'm just going to run for the hills. And yet there's this concept of basically surviving in place of where you're at, and you fortify the place that you already live. Well, sabbatical in place is a lot like that. And I want to talk to you about how it is changing my life. And my hope is that it's going to change yours. You see, in business, or 90% of us, 95% of us probably, don't hold me to those metrics, but we can't just take off and take a sabbatical. We can't just go off to Bali or down to South America or spend time at a monastery. And when most people hear the word sabbatical, they immediately think about taking months off, traveling the world, quitting a job, stepping completely away from life and all of its responsibilities. And yeah, sometimes that's what a sabbatical looks like, and that's what we've been taught that a sabbatical looks like. But not all of us can hit pause like that. And honestly, I don't think everyone needs to. A sabbatical in place is different. It's not about leaving your life. It's all about changing the way that you live it. So let me talk about my path and why I took a sabbatical in place. And honestly, I am still taking a sabbatical in place. I've talked about this a little bit on the podcast before, but it deserves to be revisited again. So the real-life context, I got doged. The contracts that I was working under, gone. Projects I poured my heart into. Those ended. I took an 80% pay cut and found myself— I found myself in this space where I had to answer the hard question, who am I now? Now, by the way, the 80% pay cut wasn't Because that's all I could find. It's because I needed to step back and not just look at what I do, but look at who I am. And for me, I didn't want to jump into the next gig, and I didn't want to numb out with busywork. I wanted clarity. So I chose something different. I stayed right here where I was, but I shifted everything internally. That's what a sabbatical in place is. It breaks down to these 3 things. It's pressing pause without disappearing. Most of us cannot just take off. Most of us can't just leave our job. Most of us can't just leave our family behind. Number 2, it's redefining your rhythm without leaving home. And number 3, it's saying, hey, I'm still showing up, but I'm showing up differently now. So what does the structure look like? Well, let me break down Because a sabbatical in place, it's not a free-for-all. And really, any sabbatical should not be a free-for-all. But specifically, sabbaticals in place, they need intention. And probably more importantly, they need boundaries. And this is how I've structured mine. And it's hitting on some very key areas. Number one, I focused on faith. I've been intentionally starting each morning grounding myself in silence, taking moments to reflect, and taking moments to listen. I'm not checking boxes. I'm not performing spirituality. For me, I'm just being with God. It wasn't optional for me, by the way. This had to be the foundation. The second part of that structure was marriage. When I started this, I was about to get married, and then I got married in the middle of it. And I knew I didn't want to breeze through, especially that first year, being distracted or emotionally absent. And again, I couldn't just take off. And really, this has blossomed into where the past few weeks, We're doing these weekly check-ins. We're sharing intentional time together. And even simple rituals like running errands or getting out of town. I think for the big one is sitting down and having a meal without screen time, without the phones, without Watching a movie. We're sitting in the backyard by our fire pit, or we're sitting in the backyard at the picnic table, and we're really getting to know each other. The third part of this, and man, this is huge, it's re-identifying identity. For 30 years, for 30-plus years, I've been known by what I do. I've got another podcast that's going to talk about seasons. And for me, when I look back at seasons, and I just learned this on a PCCI call the other day, and I look at that first season, that first season was me in the military. The second season was me working in Fortune 500 companies. And now I'm in this third season. Where I'm coaching. But for years, I was known by what I do. Now I'm learning to be known by who I am. And even though I've been a journaler, it's getting back into intentional journaling. It's setting boundaries with my time. It's saying no to the hustle culture. And giving myself— I'm giving myself permission to heal from the burnout. I love the work that I've been doing in Neptune Warrior for the past 8 years, but I've had to step back and let that just coast right now so I can come back rejuvenated. Number 4, coaching mastery. I enrolled in PCCI, which is the Professional Christian Coaching Institute. It's an ICF-accredited program, and it's sharpening both my skill set and my purpose. And where I'm taking my coaching isn't looking at it as just a job. It's a calling. And right now, as I go through this sabbatical, it gives me that space to deepen that calling. So let me talk to you why you should consider this, especially if you're a leader. It's not just for people in crisis. It's not just for people in transition. High performers need this. Leaders need this. Parents, business owners, creators, we all need a rhythm of realignment. And I want you to think about it. You know what, what would happen if you stopped running just long enough to ask, am I even headed in the right direction? Am I guiding my team members? To the right destination? Am I leading my family in the path that they should be going down? Think about this. What if you replaced urgency with clarity? Instead of everything being an emergency, Instead of just reacting. And maybe the third thing to think about is, what if you paused? Not because you're forced to, but because you chose to. That's what successful people do. They build in space to reset before life, before work, between relationships, between, uh, you know, before business, before all that stuff breaks you down. I want to walk with you in setting up a sabbatical in place. I want to be that person That walks alongside you, not leads you, but I want to walk alongside you. You don't need to overhaul everything. You just need to create intentional space. Together, we're going to look at What a meaningful pause would look like. I'm going to help you explore where you might be out of alignment and what's a small change that you can make. I want to be there to help you discover who you want to become. You know, maybe it's a— it's simple as turning off your phone after 7 PM or setting aside 30 minutes, but I think it's probably much more than that. I think it's about stepping back and trusting your next season requires something deeper than just hustling and grinding. Hey, for me, I am still in this season. And I know I haven't arrived, but I know that I am clearer, I'm more grounded, and I'm more aligned than I have been in a really, really long time. Years. My sabbatical in place is changing the trajectory of my life. And not because I'm taking off and going somewhere Like Maui or Cozumel or up to the mountains, but it's because I'm staying long enough to see what needs to be changed. But there's structure to it. I'm staying in place so I can hear my own thoughts. And I'm going to stay long enough to rebuild not just a schedule. But a self. I want to walk with you through this. Thank you so much for listening to the podcast. Please reach out. I want to walk alongside you as you do your own journey. Thank you. Sabbatical in place. Have a great day.
