Kicking It Up A Notch.
In my home, while raising three daughters, we found this concept extremely helpful. When faced with a difference of opinion from the trio that outnumbered the parenting duo, we had to get creative!
In one instance, the rise of the frequency of sweatpants leaving our home was on the rise. Instead of playing a typical parenting card of “not in this house,” we chose a third option. That option sounded like, “When participating in the upcoming event (church, restaurant), how about we all Kick It Up A Notch?”
With that approach, focused on a third outcome we all could participate in impacting, it allowed the potential lapse into the status quo to shift into something more meaningful which each of us could buy into. It made it…an engaging, creative challenge. Kicking It Up A Notch allowed each of us to come at a desired outcome from a place of agency and shared responsibility.
Professionally Kicking It Up A Notch.
The status quo is sneaky. Instead of operating in our optimal performance zone, we can become conditioned to contributing in ways that are familiar. In my professional experience, few systems and external metrics were nuanced enough to shine a light on the importance of consistently Kicking It Up A Notch.
How I became An EPIC Sabbatical Advocate.
As people, process, and technology became my areas expertise over a career inside a large system, I noticed gaps forming. The margin (space) needed to Kick It Up A Notch ebbed and flowed over time.
There came a day in March of 2022, perched high above the gorgeous and frozen Saint Croix River that sits between the Minnesota and Wisconsin state lines, that an idea crystalized. I was in my short term rental, a lovely 3rd floor flat that offered sweeping views of the birthplace of Minnesota (Stillwater), and its original Lift Bridge. From above the town and river, the working Lift Bridge below acted as metaphor for reinventing options. In that moment I made a decision. It was time to Kick It Up A Notch.
Interestingly, it was the structure and support of my Masters in Educational Technology (MAET) program, fully virtual from Michigan State University, that allowed such out of the box thinking to occur. I was rounding the corner of my final classes with my graduation date in June 2022 in my sights. The brilliant curriculum offered by the MAET staff offered a few welcomed gifts; margin and critical thinking. I was finalizing my Capstone project having navigated virtual courses throughout the pandemic. A challenge was put forth: “How can you bring all this new learning into the world?”
As it always does, when we take the time to step away from the daily barrage of requests and flex our strategic thinking muscles, new ideas surface. It was in that assignment, over the course of the winter of 2022, that a new idea was born: An EPIC Sabbatical.
Wait, my rational brain, said. This isn’t for working professionals in the Midwest. YET.
I knew it was not just me looking at gaps in a different way. My professional context shifted as the newness of 100% virtual working amplified historic, familar organizational communication patterns. The degree of Kicking It Up A Notch became nearly out of reach as external metrics remained wide and sweeping.
I credit the margin (space) created through the masters program and the challenging question it offered up (how to bring the learning into the world) in fueling an urgency to revitalize my arena of contribution to meet and solve for modern, future of work, realities.
Everything around me had changed. My family needs has shifted, there were numerous people back in my home resulting in amplified caregiving realities. Our living, purchasing, and travel habits, along with our family context, all had changed. Contexts were under construction every where we looked.
So, I chose that moment, in the flat in the birthplace of Minnesota, to look forward and outline three desired outcomes of my EPIC Sabbatical.
I chose reflection, reimagine, and reentry as my EPIC Sabbatical, Kicking It Up a Notch, themes. With research for my capstone and much of a career spent providing professionals unique and compelling learning experiences, I designed a Sabbatical framework for just that: Experienced Professionals Igniting Change (EPIC).
What does an EPIC Sabbatical experience consist of?
I curated a multi-week experience (10-12 weeks are optimal) which blended the best of history’s structure and intent of Sabbaticals with a design that allowed myself time to revisit what mattered and revitalize my future contribution arenas. The experience flexed around my caregiving duties and enabled a few short trips. However, travel was not required.
Through a number of challenging writing prompts I gained clarity and flexed strategic thinking muscles. The margin created within my EPIC Sabbatical allowed for rest and restorative workouts. Space was available to reconnect with those that matter in an unhurried context. As I defined my desired outcomes, I built in accountability partners and milestones help me ensure I was making desired progress. This experience was not easy but was a game-changer.
Two Years Later: What Is Your Definition of Taking It Up A Notch?
Now, two years later, I am so grateful for the journey that has unfolded. I am still tapping into the energy, clarity, and strategic change capacity developed from my extended time away. It was such a powerful experience that I am now an EPIC Sabbatical Concierge offering services to others and their organizations looking to craft and leverage a new type of time away designed to keep talent energized, strategic, and retained.
I believe that many of the systems we are part of are not designed for the time we find ourselves in, nor are they designed with an eye toward ensuring that humans are thriving. What this reality requires is that we build our own definition of Taking It Up A Notch. We all have the agency and capacity within us to build new patterns to help our communities, teams, and organizations thrive.
Just Imagine: Margin & Energy To Live An Intentional Life.
Just this week I spoke with an experienced professional that has taken four Sabbaticals over the course of her twenty year careers, all paid for by her employer. It was no surprise that she is not burned out. In fact, she is entirely engaged and exclaimed, “It’s the best benefit ever!”
Why does the act of stepping away with intention matter? Her work culture and system offer a way to work hard, recuperate, and do it again and again and again and again. That is how the humans on the scene thrive. If our systems do not support such a reality, it is up to each of us to find creative means to find and claim our own margin. Otherwise, we can go for years without Kicking It Up A Notch.
I can relate to what it feels like when the non-stop, relentless pull of the familiar begins to crowd out our Kick It Up A Notch selves.
My intent as an EPIC Sabbatical Concierge is to invite you up to a bold new vantage point where there is margin and support to revisit what matters and revitalize your impact. www.epicsabbaticals.com
