In this episode, I talk to Raya Dvakos, an academic librarian at the University of Toronto, about how to intentionally craft a sabbatical that supports personal growth, research breakthroughs, and even retirement planning. Raya’s experience is firsthand evidence that a sabbatical can be more than just a break, but only if you plan it with intention. She shares how her sabbaticals were opportunities to reimagine routines, explore new behaviors, and make space for what truly matters.

Raya describes the strategies that have worked for her over three sabbaticals including how to set meaningful personal goals, craft daily routines that match your energy levels, and use sabbaticals as testing grounds for new behaviors or career directions. You'll learn how to reframe setbacks, stay flexible in your plans, and build habits that carry forward long after your time away.

If you've ever felt overwhelmed planning your time away or worried about losing momentum, this episode offers practical insights from someone who’s been there multiple times.

Feeling overwhelmed or stuck planning your own sabbatical? Learn more about my sabbatical planning program and schedule your free consultation.

Listen to these episodes for more about sabbatical planning:

When it comes to planning a sabbatical there are a lot of logistics to be aware of. This information is often not clearly laid out on institutional websites or faculty handbooks.

In this episode, I go over six things you should know about before you start to plan your sabbatical. I discuss: eligibility, sabbatical timing, the application process and deadlines, understanding how to fund your sabbatical, and when to start applying for fellowships.

I hope this episode will help you understand when you'll be eligible for sabbatical and will help you understand the requirements at your institution.

You can learn more about the Summer Reset Workbook here. And purchase your copy here.

Learn more about funding your sabbatical here.

In this episode, I talk with Dr. Kaitlin Clinnin, Associate Professor of Writing and Rhetoric at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. We discuss Kaitlin's ambitious sabbatical goals, in the process, reframe her expectations for what productivity will look like during her yearlong sabbatical.

Listen in to learn how we approach structuring sabbatical time, balancing productivity with rest, and reframing sabbatical “success” from high-stakes output to foundational learning, fieldwork, and engagement with a new disciplinary area.

If you're wondering what counts as "productivity" during a sabbatical or worried that the work you plan to do to read and learn about a new research area or think deeply about your current projects will "count" as a sabbatical output, then I encourage you to listen. I think you'll find Kaitlin's reframing about what "counts" as work during sabbatical very insightful.

If you’re wondering how to figure out what to prioritize during your sabbatical, click here to download my free Sabbatical Clarity Toolkit!

To learn more about my signature coaching program, Reignite, check out my website: www.bethanywilinski.com.

If you'd like to talk more about your sabbatical and learn about how I can help, you can schedule a Free Consultation here.

Does this sound familiar? It's the start of summer and you feel like you have nothing but time ahead of you, time to finally get all those things on your to-do list done. Fast forward to August and you feel overwhelmed by how much you still need to get done and vaguely guilty that you didn't get more accomplished.

This episode is your invitation to break that cycle. In it, I teach you how to approach the summer like a mini-sabbatical, and how to use the strategies I teach my sabbatical coaching clients and apply them to your summer.

Planning a summer with intention involves:

1. Identifying your priorities (and being honest with yourself about what really matters)

2. Having fewer goals (only 2-3, max!)

3. And mapping your projects to your calendar to see if your plan is realistic (and then getting rid of projects or making them smaller if not).

If you need this summer to be different, you need to listen to this episode.

At the end of the episode, I talk about the Summer Reset Workbook, a planning tool that walks you through the steps I describe in the podcast, and much more. It's only $20, and it's your guide to planning a summer with intention, so you can feel great in August.

Until April 11, 2026, you can save 25% on the Summer Reset Workbook using this link.

Learn more about the workbook here.

This episode is a live coaching session with Dr. Courtney Burns about planning a year-long sabbatical at home. Courtney is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Bucknell University and plans to use her sabbatical to submit journal articles, make progress on a book manuscript, and get back in touch with her hobbies.

We talk about how to intentionally design a sabbatical at home (instead of letting it “just happen”), balancing personal needs with professional pressure to produce, common challenges faculty face on sabbatical, including guilt, overcommitment, and unclear goals, and Courtney’s experiment with structuring her year as a series of focused writing sprints followed by true rest.

If you’re a faculty member heading into a sabbatical—or dreaming of one—this episode will give you ideas for creating a sustainable, satisfying balance between your personal life and your writing goals.

To learn more about my signature coaching program, Reignite, check out my website: www.bethanywilinski.com.

If you'd like to talk more about your sabbatical and learn about how I can help, you can schedule a Free Consultation here.

Do you want to spend your sabbatical living abroad? Figuring out all the logistics of moving away for sabbatical can be challenging. One of the biggest questions I get is how to find funding for a sabbatical abroad. If funding a sabbatical abroad is on your mind, then this episode will give you tons of information and insight into one option that might work for you.

This episode will help you think about and navigate the process of applying for a Fulbright Scholar award. My guest is Mark Lilleleht, Fulbright Coordinator at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Mark brings deep knowledge of the Fulbright program to this conversation, in which he shares information about the types of Fulbright awards available, his recommended strategies for navigating the Fulbright Scholar Award Catalog and building relationships with potential host institutions, and so much more.

If you're interested in Fulbright, you might also want to listen to these Sabbatical 101 episodes, which feature interviews with scholars who have gotten Fulbright awards:

Courtenay's Fulbright semester in Ireland (Courtenay took a semester leave for her Fulbright)

Planning a sabbatical away with Kristine Bowman (Kristine had a Fulbright in Australia for her sabbatical)

Running a lab during a research leave or sabbatical (Monika had a 3-month Fulbright in Uruguay)

You can also read this blog post I wrote about How to Fund an International Sabbatical for more ideas and funding opportunities.

Are you planning a family sabbatical away from home? My Family Sabbatical Program is a step-by-step guide that will take you through all the steps you need to plan and prepare for your time away!

If you'd like to talk more about your sabbatical and learn about how I can help, you can schedule a Free Consultation here.

Allison Bloom is an Associate Professor of Anthropology in the Sociology and Anthropology Department at Moravian University. She is a medical and feminist anthropologist and her research centers around social services and gender-based violence, particularly for marginalized populations.

Allison has a yearlong sabbatical coming up, and in this episode, we discuss her plan to pursue a professional licensure program, finish a book, and determine her future research directions during her sabbatical.

If you’re wondering how you’ll make time for all your sabbatical goals while also making time for rest and self-care, you’ll want to listen to this conversation. We talk about how to prioritize sabbatical goals, how to create buffer in your daily schedule, and how create a plan that feels balanced and not just like you’re trying to cram everything into your sabbatical year.

To learn more about my signature coaching program, Reignite, check out my website: www.bethanywilinski.com.

Setting boundaries is definitely not the most fun part of sabbatical planning, but it's incredibly important. Boundaries are the guardrails that help you preserve your time and energy on sabbatical, so you can accomplish the goals you set and not get bogged down in with meetings and other commitments.

In this episode I share why setting boundaries before your sabbatical starts is so important, and I give you strategies for determining your boundaries, communicating those boundaries, and holding your boundaries.

Setting and communicating boundaries is a critical part of planning a successful sabbatical and requires some time and thought. If you're on sabbatical and haven't set boundaries or if you're planning a sabbatical, I encourage you to listen and follow these steps for setting and communicating boundaries.

Need more support? I can help! Learn more about my sabbatical planning services here and schedule your free consultation today! If you'd prefer to read about boundary-setting, check out this blog post.