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A sabbatical should be long enough and contain the right components in the right order: setting, ingredients, and order are the three guiding principles.

DJ DiDonna introduces three guiding principles for a sabbatical: sufficient duration with disconnection, embodiment and play, and the right order of activities. ✦ AI generated

DJ DiDonna · Lenny's Newsletter · 2026-07-21 · original ↗

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Your sabbatical should be long enough, it must contain the right components, and these pieces must be in the right order. These are the three guiding principles—setting, ingredients, and order. This is a scaffolding to frame the journey in front of you, not be a 'do this, don't do that' checklist.

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▤ Big Time Off ◉ DJ DiDonna

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Extends · 1

Significant time away from your day-to-day is necessary for the mental, physical, or emotional shift that will reveal what's next.Lenny · Lenny's Newsletter · conf 70%

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extends → The sweet spot for sabbaticals is between six and twelve months, and anything under two months is too short to achieve transformation.DJ DiDonna · Lenny's Newsletter provides context → Body-worn camera analytics can track officer-public interaction behavior and flag burnout, enabling well checks and sabbaticals at career milestones to protect officer mental health and job performance.Colonel Glover · a16z Podcast