Ask HN: What should I plan to do on a 6 month sabbatical?

Have you thought about picking up any hobbies? Six months would give you plenty of time to learn a hobby and really get into it; you have enough time to try a few. It might be nice to think back on your sabbatical while doing your new hobby in the future.

Are there any projects you've always wanted to accomplish but thought you'd never have the time?

I am about to embark on a 1.5 month sabbatical - not quite as long as you (I'm jealous!), but here's how I prepared it - perhaps it'll give you ideas.

Over the past few months, I've been keeping a list of things I'd want to focus on. Ultimately, I decided to trim this list to 5 things, because I don't think one can focus on more than 5 things at once. Here they are for me (unranked, equal importance to all):

- Working on my Japanese (I'll be in Japan)

- film photography

- sketching/drawing/painting

- reading

- programming

For the last two items, I've been keeping a list of books to read, and topics to investigate/projects to work on over the past few months as well. Then I trimmed theses lists to end with 1 book per week to read and 1 programming project per week to work on.

Of course, I'm likely to deviate from it, but having these lists and priorities as my guiding star will be helpful.

If I were to do this for 6 months, instead of 1.5 months, I'd probably break it down in 1 month chunks, with varying priorities per month, and a bit of loose time in between said chunks to account for unexpected things/rabbitholes to go down.

I also have a 5 day mountain hiking trip in the middle of it all, because in my experience there's nothing better for your brain than disconnecting absolutely from reality, and centering your days only around walking/eating/sleeping/looking at beautiful landscapes.

- Learn a new skill/craft. If you are in tech, maybe something more physical, cooking, woodworking,etc. Six months is a good amount of time to build a base.

- Learn a foreign language, again 6 months is a perfect amount of time. Highly rewarding.

- Work on holes in knowledge, build a self-course around it. Algorithms, dbs, whatever.

- Pickup an new programming language.

- Build a side project, doesn't have to be commercially viable, could be open source or not. Build a redis replacement for no other reason than to understand it.

- Travel. I understand the constraint of wife/kids, but there are ways to fit it in. Don't have to live in Southeast Asia, but travel, I feel is a great brain boost. Awesome rush of new.

Consistent, frequent, long, unstructured thinking time. Enjoy listening to your thoughts.

Depends on what you are most hungry for. For me this past summer it was to have time off to study without interruption, I absolutely loved it. Also have a family, enjoyed having extra time and flexibility. Took a few vacations.

http://karlrosaen.com/learning-sabbatical/

I understand the family commitment, but could you travel for a shorter amount of time? Even spending one month somewhere else can have a profound affect.

Have you travelled much outside of your home country before?

Get involved with a local community organization, even if it's temporary. Whether it's the local homeless shelter, the local Rotary Club, or a religiously affiliated organization, the thing that recharged me the most during my brief 3-week break between jobs wasn't the hikes, the long drives, or extra gym time, it was spending time helping people who had a lot less than I did.

Now that I'm settled into my new job, it's the one thing that I'm still doing more regularly than going to the gym or going on hikes.

Are you American, or similarly to only have two and a half free days (yes, hyperbole) when you return to work? Then I'd recommend traveling anyway. I'd recommend either Europe or Southern Africa, three or four weeks if possible.

(if you're not essential for childcare or similar at home, and more important if you have not seen the world before).

The greatest part is doing whatever captures your imagination in the moment. Lists and project plans are important even for personal projects, but the freedom to follow my thoughts for days and weeks on end is amazing.

I'm wrapping up a self declared sabbatical right now. Most of it was traveling and reading history books on the country I was in. There were a couple career inspired prototypes (web and mobile). Now I'm on a a coursera and reading kick for stats, probability, and ml.

Enjoy the "break"!

travel, read, and work!

I recently had a 2.5 month break between jobs. I, too, wanted to make the most of it. These opportunities don't come that often in life.

During my break: I learned squash (so much fun - can't get enough of it, and it's so good for you), studied Spanish (lovevto travel in Latin America), learned a bit of Scala (not really that much, to be honest), took some salsa dance classes (tough, but so much fun. Met lots of new friends), and did some Lynda courses on video editing (for making fun travel videos). I also spent a week and a half doing a road trip through southern France and Italy. Read a lot of books that were on my "someday" backlog - almost 0% TV!

As someone else mentioned, the quasi-unstructured time in the day was so refreshing. I loved just doing some random boring errands, bumming around the coffee shop talking to people, taking a long walk in the park with the dogs (I live in NYC)

I'll tell you: I'm 2 months i to my new job (technology job at a startup), and I really miss the feeling of this unstructured "regular life", or whatever you want to call it.

Cherish it, but don't overdo the planning, as it'll stress you out!

All the best!

This question is eerily similar to my current situation: hoping to go on a 6 month sabbatical starting in 2017. My goal is to, basically, work on things that I've always dreamed of doing but haven't pursued because of the demands of everyday life.

See Jeff Bezos' regret minimization framework for inspiration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwG_qR6XmDQ. Imagine yourself at 80. What would you regret not doing?

I'm curious about how most folks get and/or negotiate a sabbatical? I'm getting to the point that I would really love something similar but would not want to derail my career in order to take one if possible.

Brew beer. It is rewarding, (mostly) fun, non-trivial, and the result is surprisingly good.

Improve your health. I have never enough time for that while working.

I would recommend you focus on only 1 technology/software project to tackle. Spend the first 4 weeks doing no programming at all. Over the weeks 5-8, think about the project goals, what tools are best for it and do your research into project feasibility but don't actually dive into starting to do actual programming work. By the end of 2 months you should be pretty refreshed and rested, but you will have also done all the background/prep necessary to hit the ground running with your project. You may also want to limit your programming project to 3 of the 4 remaining months, however you divide your time so that your project doesn't consume your every waking moment.

I recommend meditation in addition to your list. Developing a daily practice and perhaps an extended retreat.

Play Nethack.

Take a neat course! I have on my list of courses I want to take:

- Powerlifting (one session, teaches you good form for several lifts)

- Small diesel engine maintenance (6 weeks, evening)

- Professional bike mechanic certification (5 weeks, full time)

- Upholstery (workshop format, as many as you want, $100 per session)

- Cobblery (haven't found a course yet, just really want to learn how to make sweet shoes and bags)

- Linux sysadmin (online but with a human coach, costs a few grand)

- Welding C certificate (evenings, 3 weeks)

- Swing dancing (Monday and Friday nights before the mixer, 8 bucks/session!)

I am in a similar situation. I am doing the following:

1. Finishing real estate course so that I have the license to pursue alternative career in free time/ weekends, etc.

2. Buying groupons for unlimited Yoga classes. Never been able to stick to a workout routine so hoping will get something from yoga (hot) to be in a little bit better shape before Jan/Feb comes and things get crowded.

3. Planning to travel for few weeks.

4. Talk to some startups (I have been in corporate world) that are really making a difference to just know about 'em!

* Go to a pawn shop and buy a cheap electric guitar, then go to Amazon and buy a cheap USB audio interface, a classic Shure SM57 dynamic mic, a pop filter, and some cables.

* Learn how to play three open chords on the guitar. I would recommend E, A, and D.

* Watch this video[1] on how to write a song using GarageBand. It's easier than you might think, and a fun thing to do with kids.

Compose, record, and mix a song! Also learn about fun technical audio stuff like levels, EQ, compression, reverb and the like.

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNCAGYENNc8

I'd say don't do any tech. Can you challenge to live a week like the 80s? No cell phone, no internet, etc.