Ask HN: What to do on a year long sabbatical?
I did a two month sabbatical once back in 2003. What I ended up doing was spending a good 5 or so hours in the library.<p>I would get there, and I wanted to start nice and relaxed, so I found a nice quiet corner and read a book for awhile (I chose a couple of Chinese classics during that period, since I was always curious about them and they were really long: Journey to the West and Romance of the Three Kingdoms).<p>Once I felt I had read enough for the day, usually after about an hour, I&#x27;d head to a the ultra quiet area (this was a university library) that had private wooden study cubicles, set up my laptop, and just played around with things.<p>One important thing I did was I used a laptop where the internet didn&#x27;t work on it (the wifi card was fried or something). Now it&#x27;s not too uncommon for a programmer to &#x27;need&#x27; to use the internet for something, but you should fight that urge. The way I was able to get around it was because I was really familiar with the software I was using at that point, and it didn&#x27;t really have a lot of dependencies or moving parts (it was Adobe Flash, I was making Flash games, it&#x27;s very self-contained), and the rare times I wasn&#x27;t sure about something, I just made a note of it to look it up when I got home and worked on something else. I downloaded some documentation also that helped me in the moment a few times as well. (I also don&#x27;t usually waste as much time on my phone as other people, so there have been a few times since where I will look up something I desperately need to know on my phone while keeping my computer disconnected. If the phone will suck you in to other things, though, don&#x27;t do this).<p>I also had a playlist of songs on my computer that I played on shuffle, but it was the same 100 or so songs each day, so it was almost like a ritual. I&#x27;d heard all of those songs a bunch of times before so they weren&#x27;t distracting. Most didn&#x27;t have much in the way of lyrics.<p>As for what I worked on, I mostly had something in mind already. I had a game that I wanted to rewrite the engine of because it was clunky and acted weird in spots, and I decided to port a game I played a lot in high school on my calculator, so I didn&#x27;t really have to experiment with the design, I already knew how it worked. Those games became:<p>* Clock Legends (the rewrite): <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.newgrounds.com&#x2F;portal&#x2F;view&#x2F;116067" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.newgrounds.com&#x2F;portal&#x2F;view&#x2F;116067</a><p>* Squarez (the port): <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.newgrounds.com&#x2F;portal&#x2F;view&#x2F;91933" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.newgrounds.com&#x2F;portal&#x2F;view&#x2F;91933</a><p>I&#x27;d stay there until I was satisfied, probably about 3 or 4 hours, then call it a day, and go for a walk and get something to eat. If possible, I would try to do something with friends later that day. This was in my early twenties, so I had several friends who were available and liked to do things even on weeknights.<p>I&#x27;ve almost never been so productive in any job or time period since, and I credit that sabbatical for a lot of growth in my skills, abilities, and confidence. I&#x27;d love to recreate that but it almost doesn&#x27;t seem possible anymore. Also I have gone through a couple of involuntary sabbaticals since (I was laid off, took 2-3 months to find the next job), but those didn&#x27;t work anywhere near as well, as I had the growing financial insecurity and constant pressure to find a new job hanging over me.<p>So for me, the main takeaways are:<p>1. Put yourself in an environment that relaxes you but can be conducive to being productive.<p>2. Come up with a routine and a ritual<p>3. Even though you have a routine, don&#x27;t force things. Work when you feel ready, and hopefully you&#x27;ll want to get started because you&#x27;re working on something fun.<p>4. Don&#x27;t let yourself stress about other things in life, especially money. Work on something that excites you and don&#x27;t make decisions about what to work on only because you think it&#x27;ll make money.<p>5. Set up your system so you can disconnect from the internet the entire time. The internet will happily take your whole sabbatical away from you if you let it.<p>6. Don&#x27;t try to work on things for a full 8 hours. Put enough time in that you accomplished something for the day, and when you start to feel a bit tired mentally, stop for the day.<p>7. Walks, especially around or in nature, are incredibly useful to help recharge. Try to get at least a 30 minute walk into your daily routine.<p>8. Experiment. Do something different with your life than you normally do. You need to knock your brain off the well-worn groove and it won&#x27;t do that if you&#x27;re doing the same thing you&#x27;ve always done, just without the job.<p>Good luck! I really wish I could take a full year off myself. I&#x27;m pretty sick of my current job and I&#x27;ve got a bunch of half-finished projects I&#x27;d love to polish up. Unfortunately I can&#x27;t afford to do that. Maybe I can go on another month or two sometime soon, though.