Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies
Danielle Cobo: Are you feeling stuck in your career and considering a break? Taking a career break can actually be beneficial, allowing you to step back and refocus your energy on advancing your professional prospects. Today we're discussing how to plan for one successfully. Whether you're feeling overwhelmed at work or actively planning for an upcoming hiatus, this podcast episode is sure to provide you valuable insights and strategies for maximizing the potential of a career break.
Danielle Cobo: Today's guest is Katrina McGee, a career break and sabbatical expert, a certified live couch with an MBA whose signature best break ever course helps mid-career per professionals create happier. More fulfilling lives by designing bold and transformative life breaks. Thanks for joining us today, Katrina.
Katrina McGhee: Thanks for having me, Danielle. I'm so excited to be here.
Danielle Cobo: Well, you and I, before jumping on, were able to share this incredible story of how you've made several pivots within your career and ultimately how you took a very long extended career break, but also how that has helped you succeed in your own career.
Danielle Cobo: Can you share with our listeners your
Katrina McGhee: story? Absolutely. Um, you know, I think it's a story that many people can relate to. I started out in a, in a first career that was a really great career. I was really excited, I was really motivated. Um, I moved down to Atlanta and started work as an actuary for in, within the healthcare industry.
Katrina McGhee: And, you know, I got a lot of great experience there, but, Ultimately for me, that wasn't really the most aligned, aligned career that I could have. And I really love people. And so I was seeing sort of a limit to how much engagement I had and how much joy I was finding in my job. So I decided to go back and get my MBA to make a pivot and change into a second career.
Katrina McGhee: So I went back full-time, two years, had an amazing experience, came out of that into my second career in market research, um, and went out to work for a big company in Min, Minneapolis, Minnesota. And I really liked some aspects of that job, but it became clear to me in that moment that I was feeling really burned out and I wasn't feeling at home in the corporate space at that time.
Katrina McGhee: So I decided to hire a life coach and figure out what wasn't working and what was, because I really was tired of making these big life changes and feeling like it wasn't quite right. So through that experience with her, I had this realization that I wanted to take a career break. And so in 2013, After saving $40,000 in 18 months to plan and save for the break, I took off on a 20 month break.
Katrina McGhee: And for me, what was so transformational about that break beyond the experience itself was coming back after 20 months away from the working world and landing five job offers in just five weeks, and seeing that. Not only was my break, this thing that I did that was nurturing to my spirit and to my soul and restorative, but it actually, when positioned correctly and when designed well, could be this gateway that led me to Uplevel or this catalyst leading me to Uplevel in my career, you know, of those five opportunities.
Katrina McGhee: One of them was a promotion and a 30% pay raise. One of them was a complete change in career. One of them was a dream job, which is the one that I ended up taking. But I think what I, what I really realized and what became Crystal clear to me is that breaks can actually be beneficial. And instead of being, as people think of them, you know, career regression and sort of taking a step back, they can actually help you bust through the plateau that you might be at in your life and or in your career to create even more success on the other.
Danielle Cobo: That is a powerful story because a lot of times we hear this fear around taking a break and also the perception that if we have any resume gaps, any gaps within our resume, that it might hinder the progression within our career. But that's what you found quite the opposite. In fact, you took a break and a pretty long extended break and then came back to five job offers.
Danielle Cobo: So what would you advise to somebody who might be considering a career break, or how do they even know that they're ready for.
Katrina McGhee: Yeah. So I just wanna, you know, and I wanna acknowledge what you just shared. You know, career gaps get a lot of bad press, but you know, what's been shown and what they've done research on is that through this, pandemic gaps have become almost insignificant to people searching for job.
Katrina McGhee: So, you know, LinkedIn now talks about career breaks. They give you a tool and a filter to let you have this conversation. So, Just even understanding contextually that taking a break is not nearly the, um, the mis, the misunderstood or the sort of elusive thing. Like more people are talking about it, it's becoming more and more relevant every day.
Katrina McGhee: And as far as thinking about on an individual level, you know, might this be something that I need, might I be ready for this? Might this be something I should be considering? I wanna say, first of all, the metric is not, do, does this feel good? Does it feel safe? Does it feel not scary? Because honestly, it will always feel uncertain.
Katrina McGhee: You're leaping into, you know, the unknown and you're doing something different. So instead, it's really thinking about. What is it that I am craving right now in my life that I, that I'm not getting? And for some people it's feeling so burned out that you're just reactive. You don't have the space that you dream of and that you crave to proactively plan your life or to proactively lead your team or to proactively design your day.
Katrina McGhee: It's like you're always putting out fires and you just feel like, oh, I just need to like pause time and suspend time for a bit so I can catch up and catch my breath. Um, you know, for some people, That they feel like they've been stuck at that same level for years, or maybe they've lost their spark. And it's like, I just need some, I need my spark back.
Katrina McGhee: I need to sort of like figure out a way to break through to this next level that I can't seem to get. Everything is feeling really flat right now and I don't remember what makes me special or what makes me, you know, really unique and really awesome. So getting back in touch with that. And then I would say also sometimes people just know that they want one.
Katrina McGhee: There are experiences that they wanna have. They feel this sense of. Precious, maybe they have a family that they want to travel around the world with. I have clients that have done that. Sometimes it's, you know, the solo travel, but there might be, or writing a book. So there might be this sort of bucket list item that you're tired of putting off and you have this awakening sense that time is finite.
Katrina McGhee: And it's like, I really feel like if I put this off any longer, it's never gonna happen. And so I just wanna hit pause and take some time for me to live the fullest, richest life I.
Danielle Cobo: You're speaking to my heart because I started working when I was 14. Started working full time when I was 16, while going to high school, working two jobs through college, and I had never taken a. I never had a break in between my jobs. I worked at one company for for five and a half years, then went straight to the next company, then went straight to the next company, and I never had taken a career break.
Danielle Cobo: And it wasn't until through the pandemic when I took a step and I left corporate and I actually allowed myself a couple months to. Enjoy the holidays to grieve the loss of my mom at the same time to create a space where my husband had returned back from a deployment and to reintegrate. And it was through that experience that I got crystal clear on what I wanted in my life and not only what I wanted the person that I wanted to be.
Danielle Cobo: And how I wanted to show up in the world and the impact that I wanted to make, and it was completely unexpected. It wasn't necessarily my intent, but I can relate a lot to what you're saying, where sometimes those breaks can be the biggest breakthrough in what we want in this next phase in our career and in our life.
Katrina McGhee: Absolutely. And Danielle, you're not the only one that benefit benefited from that, right? Like your family benefited from that, but also the people that you're here to serve. You're serving them in a different way and in a bigger way and in a more aligned way because of that break.
Danielle Cobo: Exactly, exactly. True.
Danielle Cobo: Yeah, it was, I ended up going, I personally didn't go back to corporate, but I, through this, I've been able to start a podcast, write a book, I do speaking engagement. So it was able look, it was looking back and saying, well, really, what impact do I wanna make? What legacy do I wanna have on others? And you're right, it's about showing up as the best version of yourself because you're truly happy from the inside.
Danielle Cobo: So you've had a, a client too, who's had a lot, I mean, you work with a lot of people because this is, uh, how you support people as being a. A career strategist for people to take breaks. Tell us a little bit about some of the clients that you've worked with and the guidance that you've given to them as, as they've taken on this
Katrina McGhee: journey.
Katrina McGhee: Yeah. You know, I counted it up a few weeks ago, maybe about a month ago, and I have personally supported over 54 breaks. And counting on top of, you know, many other clients doing other things. But this is my, this is my passion and I have a million, you know, examples of people that have overcome limiting beliefs or reasons they thought a break couldn't be for them.
Katrina McGhee: And they've gone all along the career spectrum. But one of my most recent clients that has returned from his break was a VP at a Fortune 100 company. He worked so hard, right? He had been working so hard. Similar story, you know, he had a family, he had, I think it was two kids', wife, like he was really responsible for a lot of humans and he'd never really stopped to take a break thinking that makes you soft, right?
Katrina McGhee: Or thinking that'll get you resty. Like no one needs to take a break. Like he just gotta keep going, looking for the next opportunity. And he had been really successful and he was an awesome human, that loved leadership and really made a difference in people's lives. But, Saw this opportunity to take two months off.
Katrina McGhee: And even though it was scary, even though it felt like, I'm not sure how I'm gonna fill this time, am I gonna be bored? Am I gonna regret it? You know, he hired me before leading up to it to prepare for it. And then we worked together during his break and he, um, you know, he had a job that he had planned to move into at the end of his break.
Katrina McGhee: So he became the CEO of a digital company, which is where he's at now. And for him it was. He would tell you in his words, this break allowed him to prepare for that role in a way that just deciding mentally and doing all the reading and all the research and, you know, maybe the, the informational interviews, like he never would've been prepared to be the ceo.
Katrina McGhee: The way that he was with this break. And he said for him, everything just clicked. And so many things solidified in this time off. Like you said, things become clear, you start to connect to yourself in a different way. And the same was absolutely true for him. And I remember this pivotal moment that we had during one of our calls where he talked about maybe shortening his eight week break because there were financial, um, benefits to staying, I think an extra two weeks.
Katrina McGhee: And he talked about, I don't wanna leave these incentives on the table, of course I'm not gonna leave them on the table. And I asked him, What do you think that you're exchanging for taking this, right? Because when you say leave it on the table, what you're really taking back is your time and your time is valuable.
Katrina McGhee: So when you think about the default, I can't leave the money on the table. I want you to think about what you're sacrificing for that. And he ended up deciding to actually leave those incentives on the table. And he will tell you, we've talked about this many times. It was the most impactful moment of.
Katrina McGhee: Entire break experience because it showed him and allowed him to see the value of his time, and he has become a better leader to his people and a better CEO because he understands this whole other side of himself and of life that he didn't before. And he was like, I want to become a person that can help other people take this.
Katrina McGhee: Break. Take a break like I did to have this time to reset and restore. And he said his only regret is that it took him 40 plus years to finally realize that he deserved a break and that he could benefit from a break. But other than that, He sings its praises. He is so glad that he took one. And like I said, he says that it makes him an incredibly, um, motivated, inspired, and restored ceo and that he couldn't perform at the level that he needs to perform at if he hadn't had this, this period and this gap between these two roles.
Danielle Cobo: There was a report that recently came out from HubSpot and it talked about consumer trends and the top five reasons why people are leaving organizations. And the number two reason is burnout. It's absolutely burnout. And so I would imagine by him experiencing and understanding the value of a break and how it can actually help somebody show up as a better version of themselves, I would imagine he's probably very inspirational and encouraging his team to take wellness breaks so that they can prevent the burnout.
Katrina McGhee: Yeah, he's, he's in full support of them and I think living it and seeing, you know, not like we talked about, not just the impact on him, but the impact on his family and the impact on the people that he works with. Your benefit, the benefit of your break will trickle down to the people in your sphere and in your circle in ways you can't even imagine.
Katrina McGhee: And him being in such a high position and modeling, putting himself first and taking care of himself so that he can be the best him when he comes to work. You know, that's an inspirational story, an experience that will hopefully motivate people that he works with when they get to know him and they get to know this story to be like, wow, maybe I could do something like that too.
Okay,
Danielle Cobo: so let's talk about the people that maybe are going, uh, I don't know if I'm ready for a break, but here's another stat that I wanna share with our listeners. I was reading some research recently and it stated that 52% of Americans do not utilize their paid time off. So these are individuals who.
Danielle Cobo: Have a, the company is going to pay for one week, two weeks off, but they don't do it. And I have to admit, uh, I was one of those people, I worked in an organization for five and a half years in my, earlier in my career. And when I ended up leaving that organization, I had 32 days of unused PTO time. And you know, I look back and reflect back and go, I wonder why.
Danielle Cobo: Every, I was in sales and every third quarter I would break out in hives all over my chest from the stress. That's probably an indication that I should have been utilizing my pto. But again, it's, it's because we get so focused on doing our job, and sometimes we have the story that we tell ourselves in our head is, if I take time off, even though it's paid, will I be, will that affect like people's perception of my work ethic?
Danielle Cobo: So let's dig into this one a little.
Katrina McGhee: Yeah, I mean, you're absolutely right and I think that is so true when it comes to taking vacation. When you come to thinking about taking a break, like we have this concept or this idea that we are only as valuable as what we are doing. We are not necessarily as valuable as what we are being.
Katrina McGhee: And like you talked about, having this time to consciously decide. How you want to be the kind of person you wanna be. So much of that is how do I receive the daily, you know, the daily flu of life? How do I show up for the people I care about? How do I show up for myself? How do I lead others? How am I a person that can find joy and gratitude, you know, even on the hard days, and just feel better about my life?
Katrina McGhee: And I think that. We have to walk away from the concept that we are only as worthy as what we produce. Like what do I have in my hands? This is my value to like, who am I being and how, like holistically, like what am I producing, but also who am I being and how am I being and how am I impacting others? Um, I think that's a really important reframe because if we're not paying close attention, we can start to think that I always need to be doing, I always need to be produc.
Katrina McGhee: And also like you talked about, perception I think is another big one where it's like, how will people view me? And I wanna tell you what I know from not just my own experience, but from coaching dozens and dozens of people on taking some time off. You are the most magnetic, you are the most inspired, you are the most energized and the most creative version of yourself when you take care of yourself.
Katrina McGhee: And it's not about how. Hours, did I work this week? How many reports did I do? How many presentations did I get? It's really about what impact did I make and how did I show up and inspire other people? And am I driving these things for, am I being efficient with the time I have? And so I wanna break. I want us to break away from the idea that we just have to keep grinding it out.
Katrina McGhee: Sometimes taking a pause is the most productive and the most effective thing that we can do. When you think about athletes, professional athletes, They have to have days where they, where they stop, where they're off because your body has to rebuild. They are not the best athlete when they just run every single day, seven days a week, Monday through Friday.
Katrina McGhee: Like, you need time to build up and you need time to come down. That's repair and restoration and that's critical for us in our spirits as human beings that are doing all of this work.
Danielle Cobo: I also wanna add too, cuz you're, we've talked a little bit about why it's so important for us and to add another layer of leader.
Danielle Cobo: And it's, it's so important as a leader. I was, I was leading a leadership program the other day and we were talking about the importance of burnout and burnout prevention, and not only the burnout prevention for us, but taking the time to be in tune and ask the questions of our team and identify the times what maybe we observe that our team is going through burnouts and, and opening up that dialogue and giving them, and supporting the permission to say, look, I, it, it sounds like your burnout.
Danielle Cobo: And I want you to know that I care about you, I value you and the contributions to make it to this organization. And why don't you take the time off? Why don't you, you have PTO time. Take some time off. Go relax, go enjoy time with your family. You will come back more recharged, and I encourage you to do that.
Danielle Cobo: I know. The company that I worked, for example, we didn't have set PTO days. We ended up going to a flexible pto, which I often found that people took less pto. Yeah, it's counterintuitive. Yes. I feel like that's harder counterintuitive. Yeah. But there were times where I saw that some of my team members, we were in sales and it was at the end of the quarter and they'd been grinding really hard, and it's saying, you know what?
Danielle Cobo: You hit your number. Or even if you didn't hit your number, I know that you tried. Go take the day off, go relax, go recharge. Because if we continue to go, that's when we burn ourselves out. And that's, and that has a ripple effect, not only on ourselves, but the people around us and the culture within the
Katrina McGhee: organization.
Katrina McGhee: Absolutely. And you know, I think it's just the way our human brains work, but it's so easy when we're in it to not see it. But the second that we take a step back, we're like, how on earth did I even last that long? Right? You just get so used to being on and go, go, go, that you can't necessarily see how much it's taking from you, but.
Katrina McGhee: Really deciding that your life is more than this one bucket called career and devoting your time and energy into filling up the cups that are around you, your health, your connections to others, your relationships. It can be so amazing and sometimes you don't even know how amazing until you've actually stepped away.
Katrina McGhee: Yeah.
Danielle Cobo: And we have a responsibility as leaders, as well as peers and colleagues to ensure that we're supporting our, our team, and our colleagues when we see burnout, like you said. Yeah. Sometimes we don't see the burnout within ourselves cause we're so focused on the go and that's when we really rely on the others to say, Hey, I just wanna bring to your attention, it looks like you're burnt out.
Danielle Cobo: And I say that because I care about you and I want what's best for you. And encourage them to take that time off. Absolut. Thank you so much for joining. What are maybe some three words of wisdoms that you wanna leave with our listeners today? If they're thinking about, am I ready for a career break and how to do
Katrina McGhee: it?
Katrina McGhee: Yeah. So you know, first word of wisdom is, It's never too soon to start planning. So if you are thinking, well, for me a break would be two years out, or I would have a lot of things to do, you can start to think about your why, right? Like what would this time need to be for me to be successful? And maybe when would be a good time to go, right?
Katrina McGhee: Like you can be proactive about it. So absolutely the worst thing that happens is you have this clarity about what's missing in your life, or what you want to create space for, and what you would do with some time off, and maybe you're saving towards that goal. You're becoming self-aware in the process and the worst thing that happens is you get to that point and you're like, you know what?
Katrina McGhee: Being this aware of what I needed and giving it to myself all along the way, I don't feel like I need a break, which is, which is awesome too. Um, I would say the second thing is really be. Fond with yourself about what you feel like your next level would look like and think outside of just your career.
Katrina McGhee: So when you think about, this is where I'm at, but what is the picture I wanna paint of life, sort of this next level up, is it that you have more time with your loved ones? Is it that you've lived some adventures? Is it that you've become a better leader? And just, I encourage you to just think about how taking time off to, you know, Live your, live your wildest adventures, scratch off some bucket list items, maybe get a certification that you've been wanting to get, or do some research into something that is fascinating to you and that you're so geeked up about, but it doesn't necessarily translate into your business goals for the year.
Katrina McGhee: So it always gets pushed to the side. Really indulge in all the possibilities of what you could do if you reclaimed a little bit of time for yourself and really think. How expansive that could be to not just you today, but like you in the future and future you, you know? And the last thing I would say is knowing, especially you know that a lot of your listeners are leaders, It matters how you show up and the the break experience or taking time off, whether it's those vacation days, what have you.
Katrina McGhee: It goes so much beyond just you. Modeling for people how to prioritize self is how we all have enough to give to other people and to give our best. Right? Living our best life is really about. Pouring into ourselves. So we have more to give and we can contribute to the others who need it or the others around us, or the others on our team.
Katrina McGhee: And so I encourage you, especially if you're a leader, you know when you're thinking about I'm scared to step away, or it feels bad to step away, or I feel guilty, like my people need me, I think more than they need you to just do the doing. They need you to model how to have balance. They need you to model how to prioritize.
Katrina McGhee: Wellbeing and you know, like personal responsibilities along with the professional ones. So just think big on that and know that you reclaiming your time is so powerful. Not just to you, not just to your loved ones, but also to the people that that look up to you and that, you know, might view you as a model for what's possible.
Danielle Cobo: Modeling that behavior so that we are setting the intention and giving and showing that we value it. And I wanna add something else to what you said, cuz this really resonated. There was a time when I was a manager and I took 14 weeks maternity leave when I had my twins. And what I found when I came back was my team was actually stronger, and the reason being is because each of them stepped into leadership roles to support each other in ways that they hadn't done before.
Danielle Cobo: They were so used to coming to me. Which was great. They obviously found value in our conversations, but then they started to become a little bit more self-reliant. They started to stretch themselves in new ways. So a lot of times we think, oh, I, if I, if I take a break, if I go on vacation, then I'm almost abandoning my team.
Danielle Cobo: My team needs me. But in those moments, when you give them opportunity to step up and take leadership, that's when they grow and they develop.
Katrina McGhee: That is such a beautiful reminder. I'm so glad you said that. And you know, I have a recent client who took a sabbatical and it was the same thing. It was like, oh my God, my team is gonna, I'm the one person that does my thing and I don't know what's gonna happen when I leave.
Katrina McGhee: And so we talked about instead of. Doing all the fishing for them, really being thoughtful about how she thinks, how she would handle problems, and teaching them how to fish. And she was out for four months and is coming back and the team is in a better place because they've created efficiencies that she couldn't see because she was doing the doing.
Katrina McGhee: And so there was no need to think how to do this more efficiently, you know, so that we don't need somebody doing all, spending all this time on it. And so to your point, the team is in a better place. People have thrown and stepped up into the void and it's.
Danielle Cobo: Well, thank you for joining and for those of you that are listening, if you know somebody who is burnt out, who may need a little encouragement to take that vacation time, to possibly take that break, or maybe they've lost their job recently and it's showing them the value of taking time before going into that next job, I invite you to share this episode with them.
Danielle Cobo: Dream Job with Danielle Cobo. Really appreciate it, and if you enjoy today's episode, Write a review. We love hearing what people enjoy about each episode, and thanks for tuning in and create an intentional day.