Back to work

Perhaps not the career breakthrough I hoped for

Jan 08, 2024

When I started my sabbatical, I was burnt out, with no desire to return to the tech industry. Like many of us when we’re in despair, I had alternate dreams of opening up a cafe and buying a place in Tasmania to pursue the “simpler” life. Of course, I know that a simpler life isn’t always feasible, or… simple, even.

So-done GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY — Me on my way out of tech to some faraway place.

The thought of doing one thing for the rest of my life scared me. But what else would I do? My sabbatical was the best way to test some of those curiosities that lingered in the back of my mind. There were 3 potential career pathways I tested:

Teaching. Being a tutor at UNSW was one of the most fulfilling jobs I’ve ever had. Could I do this as a career?
Games. Chasing a childhood dream of mine — I wanted to see what it was like to make a game and change industries.
Building my own product. I mean, it sounds great to drive your own product and have true creative freedom, right?

Not much of a career breakthrough

10 months later, I am happy to say that I did try each of those things — albeit to differing degrees of effort and energy. The conclusion I reached from each stint was that:

I love working with young people and driving change, but it can get monotonous and admin-heavy. A great role when I’m semi-retired but not something I’d want to commit to, for now.
Working in the game industry is STILL a dream of mine. If I ever get the chance to do game design or product management in a game studio, I’d do it! It just has to be the right game and right role.
Building stuff alone sucks. I realised how much I valued being in a team, building a product. What attracted me to building my own product is the flexibility and autonomy — something I realised I could get at the right company.

Surprisingly, these experiences made me appreciate tech a lot more. And although I wish I could tell you all that I’ve become a character designer for Genshin, that’s clearly not what happened.

My sabbatical led me back all the way where I started — back in product management.

The good news is that I know exactly why I am back in tech and this role. It’s what I am good at, how I add value to the world, a great source of income (that allows me to live my life) and with the right people, structure and product, the work can be super fun. The bad news is that it’s not as exciting of a story to tell.

Change in perspective

While there was no career change breakthrough, the biggest change was around my perspective on work. I realised that some parts of work can be a problem, but most of it was how I viewed work.

Work-life ✨ harmony ✨

Forget about “work-life balance.” When I strive for balance, it feels like a constant juggling act. I don’t want to balance life and work; I want to enjoy every moment of my life.

My sabbatical gifted me something invaluable — a toolkit that I can use for the rest of my life. It provided the time to reflect on my perspectives about work, money, hobbies, and relationships, and how they interconnect, hopefully in harmony.

The key point above is around discovering how the key things in your life drive each other. Unsurprisingly, it’s a whole ecosystem.

During my sabbatical, I took the opportunity to reflect, experiment with experiences, and draw different conclusions about this ecosystem:

Work is not only the main way to make money, but also a place where I met some of my bestest friends. It also provides fulfilment in the form of growth, satisfying curiosities and contribution to be a bigger mission.
Money helps me support my family whenever they need help, funds my hobbies (badminton ain’t free) and travel. It’s important for me to not stress about money, but it doesn’t drive any further direct fulfilment.
Money also funds the stuff I need to be healthy, which is important to me if I care about work, want to be my best self for my family and friends — who all contribute greatly to my sense of fulfilment.

One might ask — do you really need to take a sabbatical to reach your own conclusions? My response is that it would be immensely challenging without one. By taking two things that typically dominates my life (money and work), I was able to understand what role it played in my life holistically.

Acting on feelings 💓

The downside (or upside, depending on how you look at it) of product management is how it turned me into a rational person. So much so, that I noticed I tend to suppress my true feelings through rationalisation. And the reality is — I’m a pretty emotional gal. I ended up being pretty good at acting on my “shoulds”, but not so much on my “wants”.

Although it’s not a terrible thing — this misalignment between how I feel and what I do can cause some stress and anxiety. And according to Ghandi, this misalignment is perhaps why I am unhappy.

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. — Ghandi

So, I made a conscious decision to build that muscle — the muscle of:

Recognising and embracing my feelings: regardless of how "silly" a feeling might seem, I strive not to dismiss it immediately. Even if it's uncomfortable, I make an effort to stay with it and acknowledge it.
Making a conscious decision on what to do with those feelings: should I take the “should” pathway or the “want” pathway today? Instead of always defaulting to the “should”, I started to train myself to sometimes go down the “want” pathway (crazy, I know).
Making it happen: putting laziness aside and actually making those “wants” possible. There’s always so many reasons why you shouldn’t do it — it’s too far, it’ll cost money, I have other things to do.

Of course, let’s not discount the fact that a lot of our “wants” may be unhealthy and detrimental. In that case, the should pathway will always lead to longer term happiness. But as someone that over rationalises most things, going down the “want” path sometimes has helped me live a more fulfilling life.

Welcoming 2024 with open arms

Yes, I’m working full-time again. And although I’m not stoked about working again, I’m amazed at how optimistic I am about this year. Rather than thinking that this is “the end of my sabbatical”, my mindset is more about — how do I keep amplifying the things I loved about my sabbatical into a world where I do need to work? Perhaps a bit cheesy, but it feels like my sabbatical kickstarted a whole new era of adventure for me, and I can’t wait to embark on it. 💜

This year, I’m excited to focus on these 3 areas:

Novelty & adventure ⛰️

It’s no surprise that I loved the travel portion of my sabbatical. Equally, I loved all of the seemingly small things I did every day to make it a little more joyful (such as eating lunch by the water or trying a new cafe).

Obviously, I won’t be able to travel as much, but I’d love to continue this part of my life by embracing a sense of adventure, and add novelty in my daily life. I have a big bucket list to get through! A couple of these items include going on an overnight hike and doing a short solo trip overseas.

Inspire & create 🎨

During my sabbatical, I picked up drawing, writing and photography again. Seeing some of the projects I’ve done in the past year has been amazing.

This year, I want to make a real dent in my creative pursuits, with a focus on simply starting and doing. No goals linked to it, other than picking one project per month (no matter how small). For January, I’m picking a few old clothes and up-cycling them!

Protect time & energy ⏱️

To avoid burn out, I’ll be creating systems to protect my time and energy and prioritise the above two focus areas. This might including mapping out my schedule to have more breaks, more social time or changing up locations when I am working.

Ready for 2024

Let’s get ready for 2024 together! I’d love to know about what your resolutions are for this year. 😊

What are your resolutions and why?
How do you keep track of your resolutions?

Jenny's Career Break(through)

Discussion about this post

Ready for more?