Most leaders know they need rest. Very few know how to take it well.
The Sabbatical Journey podcast exists to change that. Hosted by Alan Briggs, founder of Sabbatical Coaching Group and one of the most trusted sabbatical coaches in the country, this show gives leaders the practical wisdom, honest guidance, and real stories they need to prepare for, experience, and reorient from a life-changing sabbatical.
Alan has personally walked through three sabbaticals and has coached hundreds of leaders through every phase of the journey. He knows what burnout actually feels like. He knows what the thaw process does to a leader. And he knows what's waiting on the other side when a sabbatical is received well.
This podcast follows the same framework Alan uses with every leader he coaches. Demystify. Prepare. Experience. Reorient. Whether you're exploring sabbatical for the first time, actively preparing for one, or trying to make the most of what you discovered while you were away, there's an episode here for exactly where you are.
Sabbatical isn't a vacation. It isn't a reward. It isn't something you earn after enough years of hard work.
It's a gift. And this podcast will show you how to receive it.
New episodes drop every two weeks. Subscribe so you never miss one.
sabbaticalcoachinggroup.com
What Sabbatical Revealed About Crisis Mode: with Kadi Cole
Leadership coach and author Kadi Cole shares with host Alan Briggs how her sabbatical revealed her persistent crisis mode and taught her to embrace slower, healthier rhythms.
7 Oct 2026TRANSCRIPT
What I Didn’t Know Until I Took a Sabbatical | Jonathan’s Sabbatical Journey
Host Alan interviews Jonathan, who shares surprising insights gained from his first sabbatical about hidden fears, unsustainable rhythms, and rediscovering creativity.
15 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT
How to Enter and Exit Sabbatical Well
Alan Briggs guides leaders through intentionally entering and exiting sabbatical to foster thoughtful redesign rather than simply returning to old patterns.
1 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT
Big Time Off What Kind of Sabbatical Do You Actually Need with DJ DiDonna
Host Alan interviews DJ DiDonna, Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School, about sabbatical archetypes and how time off acts as "regret insurance" for a more meaningful life.
18 Aug 2026TRANSCRIPT
Big Time Off: What Sabbatical Gives Back to Us with DJ DiDonna
Host Alan interviews DJ DiDonna, Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School, about how sabbaticals foster a more human connection to work and life.
11 Aug 2026TRANSCRIPT
Sabbatical Isn’t the Finish Line
Alan Briggs shares insights on sustaining sabbatical-inspired changes and navigating reentry challenges in this interview.
28 Jul 2026TRANSCRIPT
What a Sabbatical Policy Says About Your Organization
Host Alan Briggs interviews industry experts on how sabbatical policies reveal organizational values and foster trust, retention, and creativity.
14 Jul 2026TRANSCRIPT
You Can't Make Changes You Haven't Named
Host Alan shares how leaders can intentionally carry sabbatical insights back into work by naming and communicating changes for sustainable reentry.
30 Jun 2026TRANSCRIPT
How to Actually Plan a Sabbatical That Works
Alan Briggs guides listeners through creating a practical sabbatical framework, revealing the five essential planning blocks for a transformative experience.
16 Jun 2026TRANSCRIPT
The 5 Areas That Make or Break Your Sabbatical (And They All Happen Before It Begins)
Host Alan Briggs explains how preparing your heart, schedule, family, mind, and team before a sabbatical is crucial for transformation.
9 Jun 2026TRANSCRIPT
What to Actually Do With a Sabbatical: The Six Things Every One Needs
Host Alan Briggs guides leaders through six essential elements for a transformative sabbatical, offering a clear path beyond extended time off.
26 May 2026TRANSCRIPT
The 4 Types of Sabbatical: Which One Do You Actually Need?
Host Alan Briggs guides listeners through four distinct sabbatical types, helping them identify the perfect fit for their life stage and avoid common planning pitfalls.
19 May 2026
Why The Best Leaders Take Halftime Seriously. Retire Often, with Jillian Johnsrud
Jillian Johnsrud and Alan Briggs discuss how leaders can strategically embrace sabbaticals to enhance long-term success and avoid burnout.
12 May 2026
Business Leaders and Sabbatical: The Hidden Case Nobody Makes
Most business leaders think sabbatical is something that happens after the exit. Sell the company, cash the check, then maybe rest. Alan Briggs wants to flip that assumption on its head.
In this episode of The Sabbatical Journey, Alan goes directly at the business leader. The CEO. The founder still in the weeds. The owner-operator who looks at the P&L and concludes there's no way to step away. Drawing on his own experience leading businesses and three personal sabbaticals, Alan makes the case that sabbatical isn't an escape from the business. It's one of the most strategic moves a leader can make for the business.
What you'll hear:
Why selling a company creates a "hinge and pinch point" where money is high but meaning is low
The real financial fear of stepping away, and how to plan two or three years out for a "sunny day"
Why four weeks is the floor and six to eight is where the real reset happens
The secret nobody tells business leaders: sabbatical is a leadership development tool for your whole team
How space creates clarity, and clarity creates courageous action on the team, the vertical, and the next season
A real sabbatical story: You'll also hear from a leader who entered his sabbatical struggling and came out the other side healthier, more at peace, and with the long-game perspective he didn't know he was missing. His words: it helped him loosen his grip and stop letting short-term pressure drive his decisions.
Mentioned in this episode:
The largest study on sabbaticals ever conducted, published by Harvard Business Review
The Sabbatical Journey field guide (available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble)
If this episode landed for you, the best thing you can do is send it to a leader who needs to hear it. Research shows people are far more likely to pursue sabbatical when they've heard from someone who has gone before them. You could be that someone.
Ready for a next step? Book a free Sabbatical Clarity Session at sabbaticalcoachinggroup.com. And if you have 30 seconds, leave a rating and review wherever you listen. It's one of the simplest ways to help normalize the conversation around sabbatical and get this content in front of more leaders.
28 Apr 2026
Pastors and Sabbatical: The Unique Challenges Nobody Prepares You For.
Pastors carry a weight most people don't fully see. In this episode Alan Briggs speaks directly to the unique challenges pastors face on sabbatical and why this gift matters more than most will admit.
Alan spent 13 years as a full-time pastor before founding Sabbatical Coaching Group. He coaches pastors every week. In this episode he draws from that experience to address the things pastors rarely say out loud.
In this episode:
How long it takes to develop a mature pastor — and how quickly exhaustion can take one out. Why reading the Bible as throughput is one of the hardest habits for pastors to break during sabbatical. The get-to versus have-to framework for navigating congregational relationships while you're away. Why introverts and extroverts both need social rest, even when it looks different. The false pressure to return with a massive epiphany — and why reminders are greater than epiphanies. What it means to not go back to ministry but go forward into it.
You'll also hear from Josh, a pastor of 25 years from Southwest Louisiana who was depleted after COVID and two back-to-back hurricanes. Alan asked him one question that changed the trajectory of his leadership. Josh shares what happened on the other side.
Resources mentioned:
The Sabbatical Journey Field Guide available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble Free Sabbatical Clarity Session — sabbaticalcoachinggroup.com Monthly Demystifying Sabbatical Webinar
Subscribe, rate, and review. Reviews in the first weeks of a new podcast matter more than most people know. If this episode helped you, take 60 seconds and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps other leaders find this content.
13 Apr 2026
The Sacred Work of Sabbatical: Trading Marketplace Work for Relational Work
Leaders resist sabbatical for a lot of reasons. But one of the biggest is this: they don't like doing nothing.
Good news. Sabbatical isn't nothing.
In this episode Alan Briggs reframes what work actually looks like during sabbatical. You don't stop working. You trade one kind of work for another. You move from financial and transactional work in the marketplace to something deeper, more connective, and honestly more meaningful. Alan calls it sacred work.
He also introduces seven types of rest from physician Sandra Dalton Smith's book Sacred Rest that will stretch how you think about what replenishment actually requires. Most leaders are only thinking about one or two of them. The other five might be exactly what they've been missing.
If you've ever told yourself you're not the kind of person who can just stop and do nothing, this episode was made for you.
In this episode:
Why sabbatical is not nothingness and what it actually asks of you
The sacred work waiting for every leader below the surface
Why work has become an identity issue and what sabbatical does about it
The vertical and horizontal relational work of sabbatical: God, family, and friends
Alan's most meaningful moments from his own three sabbaticals
The seven types of rest most leaders have never considered: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social, sensory, and creative
Why creative rest might be the most surprising gift sabbatical offers
A question to sit with: What relational work do you need to do below the surface during your sabbatical? And what are a few ways you could plan that into your time?
Resources mentioned: Sacred Rest by Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith : https://a.co/d/08K7cJdhThe Sabbatical Journey Field Guide: https://a.co/d/0eZY6Yj2Free Sabbatical Clarity Session: sabbaticalcoachinggroup.com
Follow us on socialFacebook: @sabbaticalcoachinggroupInstagram: @sabbaticalcoachinggroup
13 Apr 2026
Burnout, Brakes, and the Benefits of Sabbatical: Knowing When It's Time
We are in a burnout epidemic. Leaders are overworked, overwhelmed, and running on adrenaline they don't even know is driving them. In this episode Alan Briggs gets honest about the cultural moment we're in and why sabbatical isn't a luxury for exhausted leaders. It's a necessity for all of them.
Alan walks through three indicators that tell you sabbatical is needed and three powerful impacts it delivers. He calls them brakes, alignment, and shocks. Drawing from his own sabbatical experiences and years of coaching leaders through the journey, he gives you a clear picture of what sabbatical actually does to a leader who receives it well.
If you've ever wondered whether you really need a sabbatical or whether it's just for people who are burned out, this episode answers that question directly.
In this episode:
Why the way we work isn't working
The burnout epidemic and what it's costing leaders
How adrenaline is running your life without you knowing it
The auto shop sign that changed how Alan thinks about sabbatical
Brakes, alignment, and shocks: the three things sabbatical gives every leader
How to know if the indicators are showing up in your life right now
Resources mentioned:The Sabbatical Journey Field Guide: https://a.co/d/0eZY6Yj2Free Sabbatical Clarity Session: sabbaticalcoachinggroup.com
Follow us on socialFacebook: @sabbaticalcoachinggroupInstagram: @sabbaticalcoachinggroup
13 Apr 2026
What Is a Sabbatical? Clearing Up the Confusion Once and For All
Most leaders have a picture of sabbatical in their head. And most of them are wrong.
In this very first episode of The Sabbatical Journey, Alan Briggs does something that changes everything. He tells you exactly what a sabbatical is, what it isn't, and why getting that definition right is the difference between a transformative experience and a missed opportunity.
Alan has coached hundreds of leaders through every phase of sabbatical. And the single biggest obstacle he sees isn't logistics or timing or organizational resistance. It's a wrong picture of what sabbatical actually is. This episode replaces that picture with the real one.
In this episode:
Why the academic definition of sabbatical has nothing to do with what we're talking about
The one posture shift that changes everything: you don't take a sabbatical, you receive one
Why sabbatical is one month or more and why that timeline actually matters
The difference between primary work and sacred work and why sabbatical invites you into both
What sabbatical is: a gift, engagement, a cosmic reset, a creative pause, a development tool, and relational reconnection
What sabbatical isn't: a reward, an escape, a leadership hack, a vision cast, a blank page, or an isolation chamber
Why the outdated way leaders think about sabbatical is actually keeping them from something that could change their life
A question to sit with: What picture of sabbatical have you been carrying that might not be accurate? And what would change if you let that picture go?
Resources mentioned: The Sabbatical Journey Field Guide: https://a.co/d/08wIoFnRFree Sabbatical Clarity Session: sabbaticalcoachinggroup.comFollow UsFacebook: @sabbaticalcoachinggroupInstagram: @sabbaticalcoachinggroup
Inside a recent episode
What Sabbatical Revealed About Crisis Mode: with Kadi Cole
Published 22 Oct 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] I really thought of it as I feel like I need to build new neural pathways. I've got ruts in this direction. And if you give me an emergency of anyone I care about, even in the slightest, I am in top A performance mode. But these other spaces, they're clunky. I don't feel like I know myself in them. […]
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