There are millions of people, things, media, and social factors telling you that taking a career break is crazy.

• Why would you ever leave a perfectly good job or paycheck to travel for an extended period of time?
• Taking a break would be detrimental to your career; you may never to find another job again!

The mind is a powerful thing – especially when it comes to taking career breaks. But isn’t it funny how our mind can take a positive thing and twist it into a terrible outcome? And with naysayers questioning your intentions at every turn, you’ll need all the help you can get to actually make your career break dream a reality.

Escape 101: Sabbaticals Made Simple by Dan Clements and Tara Gignac, ND is a powerful weapon that can help you to get on the road to your career break. I recently listened to Dan’s book on my iPod and was enthralled form the moment it began. It was in complete alignment with my view on sabbaticals and career breaks. In fact, while listening, I felt as if I was reliving my career break decisions and struggles from four years ago. There are so many things that make you feel like your crazy if you take a career break, but Escape 101 makes you feel that you’re crazy if you DON’T take one; finally someone is on your side! (ahem – Briefcase to Backpack is on your side too!)

In addition, Clements has taken many career breaks himself. He has even planned career breaks with his whole family, including young kids. He obviously has lived through many of the topics he covers in the book, so it brings some great credibility to his advice.

Escape 101 is broken into three parts:

1. The 4 Secrets for Getting Away From It All (Desire, Belief, Vision, Commitment) which covers many of the mental hurdles that we give ourselves. This section really makes a point of examining our thought processes when making a big change; a change that goes against the societal norm. When we encounter the mental and societal hurdles, our mind will naturally complicate everything and project out to all of the negative things, such as why we can’t do it. By doing this, we’ll never make any change.

Instead, the authors give you suggestions on how ‘not to think’ about the hurdles and not let your mind race too far out in the future to all of the negative things that you can imagine (and will most likely never happen). It helps you keep focus on your goals and the positives. This section was my favorite as I found this to be the single most challenging thing to do when trying to break away from my career.

2. Planning It gives you tips on how to plan your great escape. It covers things like figuring out money, telling/asking your employer about your break, escaping with children, and various pitfalls. It even has an extensive section on how to escape if you own your own business; something that you might think would be impossible, but it isn’t. It really looks at your break as just that – a break. And it assumes that you’ll come back to your career, therefore focusing on how to take a break and not burn bridges.

3. Doing It is about how to get the most out of your escape and come out ahead. It even has a small section on re-entry and explores the benefits of taking your time. This section really applies to any kind of travel, even a two-week vacation!

The book is heavy on understanding and overcoming the mental struggles and anxieties associated with career breaks. But it doesn’t cover things about planning your travel, where to buy tickets, where to go, how to travel, etc. You can find that information here or other travel websites.

Overall the book provides you motivational tools through self-empowerment. I would’ve killed for a book like this four years ago while I was contemplating my career break. I had all of these competing thoughts and I desperately wanted someone to guide me through my doubts and fears; but there was no one or thing that could do that for me, so I trudged through it alone. This is one of the reasons why I wanted to start Briefcase to Backpack; to help other get over the hurdles of making a big change in their life.

If you are even considering a career break or sabbatical for any amount of time, I recommend you purchase the book.

Purchase the eBook – Just $9.95 Click here to view more details

Purchase the Audio Book – Just $14.95 Click here to view more details

It’ll be a great investment in your arsenal of career break weaponry! In addition, you should cruise around Briefcase to Backpack some more and learn how other people escaped!