How to Take a Sabbatical: An Author Interview with Dan Clements

Escape 101, by Dan Clements and Tara Gignac, is as much about boldly creating personal change as it is about escaping our comfort zones. The book is not another over-romanticized travel guide for 20-somethings. It is deeply grounded in reality, was written for everyone from business owners to parents, and provides a step-by-step plan for getting its readers on sabbatical.

Because I enjoyed the e-book so much (it’s also available in print), I’m honored to present this interview with Dan. (Please see this book excerpt and consider joining Dan’s mailing list if you’d like a deeper look). Escape 101 is a book that stands to blow open your reality and show you how to break the rules in all the right ways; I believe this interview provides a taste of that.

Let’s get started . . .

At its core, Escape 101 seems to be more about lifestyle design than anything else.  What are some of the more interestingly designed lives you’ve seen?

I’ve met gold prospectors, people who deliver yachts from island to island, surf instructors, and jungle animal workers. We’ve traveled with people who have been on the road for years, people who’ve climbed Everest, people who worked with the sick, the poor and the homeless, and freelance writers and journalists who interview the rich and famous and travel the globe.

The most interesting thing to me, though, is that there are these people living amazing lifestyles just down the street. There’s a guy in the next town over who does voice-over work in his basement. When a script comes in, he gets an email, reads the stuff into a mic, and uploads the .mp3 file. Then he heads to the gym, or hangs with his kids, or whatever.

We live in a ski and cottage area, and there are people running businesses from the chairlift by Blackberry, or by cell phone from their boats. There are ski bums who bartend at night and ski all day, and millionaires who work and play in bands.

The compelling thing about all of them, from the vagabonds to the business gurus, is not what they’re doing. It’s that they wanted to do it, and so they did.

We’ve both had significant experiences at the Mayan ruin site at Tikal, Guatemala.  My monumental experience was catching malaria (note: you should never buy shady anti-malaria drugs from street vendors or believe that you’ll get any sleep while camping in a jungle filled with howler monkeys).  Would you mind sharing your transformative Tikal experience?

Beyond the whole Indiana Jones-style setting, the place has this…feel to it. It’s difficult to explain. We hiked in before dawn to watch the sun rise from the top of one of the temples, and it was an astonishing experience.

What really had an impact on me, though, was this chance encounter we had there. We met a family who’d pulled their kids out of school, sold everything, and were traveling, spending a month here, a month there. They’d been good corporate soldiers, these folks – just normal, middle-class Americans – and they’d bailed out of all of it. What was so compelling, though, was that they looked like the happiest family I’d ever seen.

They were the ones who explained to me that it wasn’t leaving that was hard. It was thinking about leaving that was challenging – the fears, doubts and anxieties about making a huge life change.

That experience – over a decade ago – would eventually lead to Escape 101. It made me realize that in addition to the logistics of money, work, businesses and kids, people who want to escape need to somehow get the mental side of things figured out. They need to find a way to get to a place of “this is all going to be okay”.

What are some of the top myths that prevent people from taking sabbaticals?

There are many, but the big ones tend to be:

• I can’t afford it.
• I can’t leave work.
• I can’t leave my business.
• I can’t do it with kids.

The truth, of course, is that they’re all exactly that: myths. Other people are doing these things all the time.

People tend to have this idea that their circumstances are special, but that they themselves are ordinary. That’s completely backwards. The truth is that most of us face the same challenges and fears, but as individuals, we have this unique and tremendous capacity to do anything we choose to. It’s that shift in focus, from external circumstances to internal belief, that’s a big part of Escape 101.

For me, the most difficult part about going on a Sabbatical is not the leaving, it’s the coming back.  I don’t like making difficult logistical decisions about things like housing while away, and I especially don’t like job searching or lining up clients while on Sabbatical.  How do you address these problems?

The best thing you can do to ease re-entry – emotionally and logistically – is to give yourself some time. If you take six months off, for example, it’s tempting to plan your return to your “real life” for the last possible day. The best way to cap off an excellent escape, though, is to give yourself a week or two with nothing planned to start wrapping your head around getting back into things, and sorting out those logistics.

I’m also a believer in keeping in touch. I think there’s something to be said for leaving your work behind, but there’s nothing wrong with keeping clients, colleagues and friends up-to-date on what you’re up to. Keeping in touch with your other life makes it easier to re-establish those work and personal connections when you return.

Do you have some kind of muse powering you?  Is it necessary to have automated income — a source of income while you’re gone?

It’s not necessary at all. We really haven’t had any automated/passive income in the past – maybe a few bucks. We’re getting to that point now, but all our previous sabbaticals have been traditional career breaks, funded by some savings and a little creativity and determination.

By the time our next trip rolls around, I expect to have a lot more passive income. Ironically, though, I know we won’t need it. It’s not hard to find an escape to fit any budget. It’s a topic we give a lot of time to in the book because it tends to be such a mental hurdle for people.

In Escape 101, you talk about creating a muse to generate automated sabbatical income and devote an entire chapter to maintaining the muse while on sabbatical.  I think that for many people, muse creation and remote maintenance are the most unrealistic aspects of The Four Hour Work Week (4HWW).  Now that 4HWW craze has hit and spread, do you have any recommendations for muse creation that are sabbatical compatible?  What types of businesses do you run?

The majority of my income now comes from book sales, most of which is automated. Those sales are driven almost exclusively online. Tara’s naturopathic practice is a far more traditional business model, but it sustained itself quite well for our last sabbatical.

The 4HWW focuses in part on building a business in order to better your lifestyle. I think that’s absolutely fantastic, and I’d rank Tim’s book as one of the best in recent memory for challenging assumptions about work and lifestyle.

Escape 101 looks at the same outcome – a better life – but via a different route. We’re using dramatic temporary change – a sabbatical – to give you the experience of a better life so that you can see firsthand the value that a great life can deliver. That in turn creates the motivation to make sustained changes afterward.

We all know of people who desperately need to make change, but can’t seem to do it until something comes along that makes it important – the guy who has the heart attack and finally starts to eat better and exercise. The near-death experience that makes you spend more time with your family. A sabbatical is a way of having the same epiphany without the negative catalyst. It’s a great tool to get you to the point of doing what Tim’s talking about.

The business chapter of Escape 101 is about helping business owners who don’t believe their businesses can operate without them. They essentially have no passive income. These people stand to gain the most from a sabbatical because leaving their business will force them to make the transition from owning a job, to running a business that can generate income in their absence. We’ve been through it, and it’s a powerful change.

There is an incredible range of opportunities now for people to become more entrepreneurial. If you’re going to build a business to support your escape, though, it should be first and foremost because you’re passionate about building that business. It can be a lot of work, but also tremendousl
y rewarding if it comes from a place of passion.

Some people want to go on Sabbatical without traveling.  They might want to spend time with older relatives, write a novel, build a house, or get involved in a community cause.  How might their situation differ from the situation of someone who wants to move abroad?  Is it easer or more difficult to stay put while one sabbatical?

In a way, it’s just plain easier to stay put. There are very few unknowns other than finances. The problem is that “easy” doesn’t usually offer a high return.

You simply grow more by leaving. Staying put is just that: it’s staying put. There’s no need to travel if you’re not interested in that, but there’s a lot to be said for shaking things up. You want to write a novel? Do it somewhere else. Want to become involved with a cause? Find one that exposes you to a whole new environment while you’re at it.

That being said, there is no shortage of sabbatical ideas that don’t involve leaving home, and plenty of them can change your life. A sabbatical doesn’t have to be about travel, but the what’s critical is this: Don’t stay home without a good reason. If you find yourself with six months off and nothing to do, it’s worth shaking up your routine to the fullest extent you can. That’s where the good stuff is.

Surprisingly, it can be also be cheaper to leave. Lifestyles out side of North America can be significantly less expensive (although there are many exceptions), but even in major first world cities, a mobile lifestyle can be cheaper. As a matter of fact, Location Independent has a line-by-line cost breakdown that shows them spending less money by moving from city to city around the word – it’s a great analysis.

Your book talks about the sacrifices that you don’t have to make: you don’t have to sacrifice your career or spend your life savings.  What sacrifices might you have to make?  Is there a downside to going on sabbatical?

The downside is that if you’re not happy in your current life, spending a large block of time doing something you love is going to make that old life intolerable when you return to it.

In the end, though, that’s what an escape is all about – living deliberately. If a sabbatical forces you to question your current life, then I’d call that time well spent.

Of what aspect of your book are you most proud?

I’m most proud of the fact that it’s made a difference for people already. There are people out there putting it to the test, and it’s helping them plan to do things they’ve wanted to their whole lives.

We lay out some pretty clear processes in the book for escaping, and making it affordable. When people tell me, “I’ve started. I did this, or that.” I know that they’re going to make it, and it won’t be long before we’ll hear back from them saying, “Wow. This experience changed my life.”

I think the happiest people in life are those who feel they have choices. It’s been great to be able to take what I feel are the most important choices in our life, and offer them up in a way that gives other people the tools to do the same.

I’d like to thank Dan for his insightful and value-packed comments. If you liked this interview and would like to learn more, check out Dan’s website and check out the free book except, and see what others have to say about Escape 101.

Note: I have no financial affiliation with Escape 101.

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