What if the best thing you could do for your business… was to step away from it?

In this special episode of the Creative Genius Podcast, Erin Weir sits down with Pearl Collective co-founder Gail Doby to explore the empowering experience of taking a sabbatical. Gail has taken multiple sabbaticals over the past five years, and in this episode, she shares why this practice is essential for visionary leaders—and how it became one of the most strategic decisions she made as a business owner.

Gail defines a sabbatical as “an extended period of time intentionally spent on something that’s not your routine job,” and breaks down the origins and misconceptions of the practice. For her, sabbaticals have ranged from deep reading and writing to moving homes and diving back into hands-on interior design. While each one looked different, every sabbatical provided a much-needed reset that sparked creativity, shifted her mindset, and empowered her team.

In this episode, you’ll learn how Gail prepared for her first sabbatical nearly a year in advance, setting up systems and handing over responsibilities to her team. She reflects on how her absence pushed the leadership team to grow: “I wanted you all to step up and show me what you have.” The experience helped her realize how critical it is to let go of control in order to grow both leaders and the business itself.

This episode also highlights:

Gail encourages all leaders—especially those in the interior design industry—to find ways to recharge creatively, whether through a long weekend away, a solo retreat, or a multi-week break. As she puts it, “Your time is now. Go do it.”

If you’re listening on your favorite podcast platform, view the full shownotes here: https://thepearlcollective.com/s13e7-shownotes

Note: Transcript is created automatically and may contain errors.

Well, Gail, it is great to finally get to podcast together again. It’s been a minute for our listeners since we’ve been on together.

Well, we both had a lot of things going on in 24 and now it’s 25 and it’s a new year and a new face. You’re leading the podcast this year, which is great. So it’s fun to be a guest for a change.

All right, well, I love it. And we’ve got you all set up in your new office setting. And so I’m loving your background. I’m still sticking to my very plain vanilla background for the moment, but you are inspiring me to switch up my background.

just a paint can. Oh, thank you. Yeah, they’re

I will buy you a can of

I love it. love it. Okay, so let’s, I want to talk today on the topic of sabbaticals. The idea of sabbaticals, how you know when it’s time, what it does for you as the business owner. I just think it’s such an interesting topic to uncover. And since you have done sabbaticals for a couple of years now, you’re the perfect person to talk to about this.

Yeah, it’s an annual event now and it’s actually gonna be twice this year and maybe.

From now on, you never know.

my gosh, well, I can’t wait.

you

You’re just ready for me to go away.

no, I didn’t say that out loud. No, just kidding. Okay, so let’s start off with what inspired you to take a sabbatical and how did you really know it was the right time?

Well, let me start with what a definition of sabbatical is. I think that is useful because a lot of people don’t know what it really is. And most of the time people think of it when it’s related to somebody who’s a college professor. And the word is it means it’s actually from Hebrew sabbat, which means arrest or break from work. And so in the in the arena of education.

A lot of universities at five or seven years will give a professor a year off so that they can do research and they can do study and they can work on writing papers and things like that that are necessary, doing research, traveling, going somewhere. So there are many reasons that people do sabbatical. And I was looking at some of the different definitions this morning, just getting ready for this and.

Here’s one that says an extended period of time intentionally spent on something that’s not your routine job. And so when you all as a team, when I was talking to you about sabbaticals, said I wanted to go on my first one, I know you all thought I was crazy because I said, well, I have some projects I want to work on. But that’s exactly what you get to do is choose what is the reason for having a sabbatical. And I’ve had four.

and I’m preparing for my fifth one. So I am starting to think about what that’s going to entail. And each one has been completely different. So to go back to your first question, which is, how did I know that it was time to do a sabbatical is because I was starting to think about preparing succession for the business, preparing the leadership team to be able to take on the business and run it while I was gone.

I knew and I felt it in my bones it was really essential for you all to have a break from me for a while and to have to take on the responsibility that I carried that was unseen. So a lot of us as CEOs of the business, we’re doing so many things behind the scenes that you all don’t know. You have no clue what we’re working on day to day. And the only way you’re going to ever feel that is for us to be away.

And so instead of taking a break that was maybe unplanned, like being sick or having an illness in the family or something like that, I decided that it was time for me to start bringing that into the company so that I was preparing you all for your future leadership roles.

Well, and I love that. And I, I do think that maybe the sabbatical could have even been the ticket to keep away the illness, right? Like, had you not taken breaks, then that could have been a thing that then you would have had to have been out of the business. I’m not saying that you’ve had any health issues. haven’t, but like, you know, that’s always something like, you know, the hit by the bus theory rate that we talk about in our planning. But what I do love about those, those definitions that you shared of sabbatical,

The two words that really ring true to me are intentional and rest. So even though you are working on projects, you have a different rhythm to what you’re doing during that time. So I really can appreciate that. So how far in advance? know you have been, you were talking, we really did think you were crazy at first when you wanted to do your first sabbatical. Now we’re like.

when she going on our next one, right? We’re ready. We’re ready. And we also love the product that comes from the sabbaticals, both in how you are able to come back rested and creative and really excited to for the next part of the journey. So how far in advance did you actually start planning those sabbaticals or your first one?

Okay, so the first one I thought about it for about two years, but a year out is when I came to you all and said, okay, I want to do a sabbatical and it’s going to happen. And it was literally a year. And so I gave you that heads up in that notice because I knew that I also had to prepare myself and I had to prepare the business and I had to prepare you for what was going to happen. And you know me, I’m a big planner and I don’t…

I work on things way ahead of time. So in my case, I knew that I had to prepare a lot of work that needed to be done so that I wasn’t not working or not getting the things done that I would have gotten done had I been working. So it took a lot of intentional work to get all of the things prepared so that podcasts were done, articles were written.

planning was done, a lot of things were in place so that I had that freedom to actually take the break that I needed to have. the first sabbatical, I actually read the most and I read 20, I think it was 21 books that sabbatical and I was off five weeks. And so for me, five weeks is enough. I’m not taking a year like a college professor would do. And so

For me to take five weeks off, I’ve never done that in my entire life. And usually if I took a vacation, the longest I would take is two weeks. So two weeks barely gives you enough time to come down off of the high of work and then get calm enough that you can have a different mindset during that sabbatical period of time. So for me, five weeks was pretty interesting. So I took a week of vacation first.

And I don’t remember where I went on the first one, but anyway, I took a week of vacation. And then after that week of vacation, I came back and just started working on projects and I started reading. So every single bit of the reading that I did was pivotal for the next year. And so for me, and we’ve talked about this a lot. I know you and I’ve chatted about it and Kristen has about the fact that where I get my ideas is from reading and from classes.

And so when I have the opportunity to read and think and just go into my little shell, because I like my little bubble, I like to be able to sit at my computer and I literally will sit down with an open document and just start writing and I’ll start thinking about things. And so for me, I guess I’m a little bit of an introvert in that way. I like to have that quiet time and that thinking time. And I like really long blocks of time because I can work in long blocks of

you know, six to eight hours where I can get a lot of reading done or I can be writing all day and write articles all day long. And so for me, I like to have those big chunks so that I can get deep into whatever I’m doing and I’m not getting distracted. And then it takes me another several days to get back to it. If you can do sequential work like this, it is incredible how much you can get done. So anyway, that first sabbatical was

A lot of reading, a lot of thinking, a lot of planning. And I know when I came back, I drove you all crazy.

We’ll get to that.

Yep.

Okay, so I do want to make a note to all the listeners that reading really is fuel for you. Yes. That’s not for everybody, right? Like we all have to read and be informed and continue our education. But as a GLW and the core of who you are, reading really does fuel you. And so that was a natural first step for you in that first sabbatical. Yeah.

So let’s get back to preparing the team. Cause we really, we really were like, guys, she’s not going to do this. Like, come on. And that was what year was that? was 2022?

Well, it’s been five years, so it’s 2020.

Oh dear, gosh, well that went by quickly. We were like, okay, she’s saying she’s gonna do this, but she’s probably not gonna do it. as we were six months out, you’re like, guys, I’m taking the sabbatical at the end of the year. And then we were 90 days out, we’re like, she’s really gonna do this. And you’re like, I really am doing this. And then we’re like, oh shit, this is really happening. So I think that…

Yep. There you go.

It was such an opportunity for our team to step up and for you to empower us in that way. But what are some of the things that you really needed to make sure that year that our team was prepared for you to be gone?

Well, this is a big one. And this is kind of the beginning of that transition plan and that succession plan before I had officially announced the succession plan. Right. So this is me saying, OK, you are responsible for making sure the bills are paid, that we have income coming in, that we have contracts signed, that the sales are happening without me. And it was a time when

I was out of that picture and it was on all of you to be able to do the things that I used to be doing, which was driving the sales, driving a lot of the things that were part of just operating the business. then also it’s just making sure that there was coverage and that the clients were okay and that they knew what was going on and that they were informed. And I was letting them all know, hey,

you know, this next, this at the end of the year, I will be off. So we will work around that. But I just want you to know that we’re not leaving you in the dark. So all of you had to be there to take care of the year end completion things. How do you complete the year? How do you make sure all of the, you know, the final planning is done, that next year’s planning is done. All these things had to be in place before I could feel really comfortable taking that time off.

And I will admit readily that I was still lurking and stalking you all on slow.

my gosh. I need to just make a note of this team. She is actually admitting to that.

yeah, I was watching Slack. was watching what was going on. Every once in a while, I couldn’t help myself. I would have to say something. And I remember getting chastised many times by you and Kristen and everybody saying, you’re off. You’re off. You’re not supposed to be here. Just go away. We got this under control. And it was kind of funny, though. But when I got back, I certainly got an earful about how hard it was.

I heard how stressed you all were with me being off because I think what happened and you tell me if I’m wrong here, but I think for the first time you all realize that I trusted you enough first of all, that I could take that time off and that you really had to step up and make the decisions without me because this was me saying, okay, I want to see how much you all can take charge of this.

without me being here to tell you what to do or to make those decisions, I wanted you all to step up and show me what you-

we were making decisions, we just weren’t making all the decisions. And I do think that it was the beginning of many lessons for me and moments and I still I still kind of every month or two have this happen where as I continue to grow in my role in the business, where I’m like, oh my god, like this is this is why Gail used to

to do this, this way. I’d be the recipient of that decision or that idea. And then I’d have to go figure out how to do it. And I’m like, my gosh, this is why she was thinking that way. Or like, my gosh, now I know why I always wanted everything to be like, it’s either A, B, or C, right?

And you were always like, well, what about like triple X over here? That could be a possibility. You know, and I’m like, where did that come from? And now that I am more in the shoes that you were in, in those moments of the business, I’m like, absolutely understanding that. Cause I’m like, well, guess it’s going to look a little bit different. You know, it’s not quite all black and white in the perfectly a tight box, know, perfect bows on the boxes that I, in the world that I used to live in. So.

so, you know, that was absolutely kind of the catalyst of the beginning of that journey of, guess, for me, better understanding you not only as a person, but as the visionary and the owner of the business. so, that was like, it was a gift, but it didn’t, it didn’t necessarily feel like a gift at the time because I was like, gee, pulling my hair out a couple of times, you know, and then, we obviously always want to make sure they.

that you are.

What’s the word proud of the team and that we’re accomplishing we’re continuing to accomplish and move toward the goals for the business and the overall vision of the company.

Well, think too, I would add to that that it was important for me to see a shift to an owner’s mindset because you and I are coming up on 20 years of working together too, which is massive. is usually a very unusual situation. And so for 20 years of working together,

You’ve grown from being an intern for me in my design business to now co-founder and VP of sales marketing. And so that’s a very big step in your growth. And now you understand because you’re every day responsible for making sure that we have a pipeline and that we have the business that we are trying to build. And so it’s a completely different mindset.

than just being there to show up for work every day, then do a job. Not that you’ve ever been completely that way. But what I’m saying is it shifts because then you start thinking about what I’m thinking about. And you’re thinking about cash flow and you’re thinking about all those things that become the daily mindset for the owner of the business because we are responsible for a team. We understand that we’re responsible for the happiness of our team and for the culture of our business.

And we have so many pressures on us as owners and the good and the bad is as you step up as a leader, you now get to share in that with me.

Yes, yes. you know, and I mean, you’re all what you don’t just you’re I think some people are born just natural born leaders, right? But then to get to grow in your role and have the opportunity and you know, the sabbatical was just such a is almost like on a shoots and ladders when you can like go up the shoot, right? Like you can completely skip a couple levels and just go up the shoot. Those are those are the shoots that you’ve like put on the game board to allow for like expedited growth.

And not just for me, but for our, you know, for sure for our leadership team and our other team members. So thank you for that.

Well, it’s been fun watching you all grow because it has been and it’s been about a year since we since I announced that you and Kristen were my successors. And so with that being the case, I gave you a lot more responsibility. You have access to the P &L and the balance sheet. You know what’s going on financially in the business. You’re I’m not the one developing the budget anymore. And I was the one doing that for many years. And so

I have offloaded, not given up, but I have offloaded and I’m supervising what’s happening, but I am not the doer of the tasks that I used to be.

Exactly. Exactly. Well, let’s get back to communication. So, you you referenced that it was really important prior to the sabbatical that our clients were well communicated what they’re hearing from you. And I was almost thinking it’s almost it’s almost like parallel to the story of like an interior design business owner having those, you know, that stud senior designer or those stud team members that are going to take

really take the project and I’m letting people know like you’re in good hands. These are my people. I’m in communication with them. We’re going to make sure that your project or your coaching in our case is continuing and that you have access to all the tools and all of the guidance for your business while I’m away. And here is the way that they can get a hold of me. So it wasn’t, it wasn’t just like, Gil’s gone. Like she’s on, she’s on the desert Island and she’s gone for five weeks.

There was a lot of communication, I think, with our team too, of just making sure that everybody, like all bases were covered. But did you, like, let’s talk about communication with the team during the sabbaticals, because you referenced how that was tricky for you, and it was tricky for us too.

Well, and I admit it was a little hard because I didn’t, I was also not wanting to leave you all high and dry. So there was a part of me that was just being the business mom. And, and I admit that I do that. I’m a little bit of a mommer and I can’t help it because I don’t want you all to fail. And it’s not that I think I have to be involved, but I don’t want to not be there if you need me. Right. So.

I just felt like I needed to be there a little bit. part of it was just because I’d never had that experience of taking that complete break. we’ll talk about my latest one in a few minutes. But I would suggest to you that this is a journey because you have to learn how to let go as a leader. And I think I’m pretty decent at delegating.

And I try really hard to just let go and not micromanage because I did that my other business and I promised I would never do it again because it’s just not healthy. And so if you can learn to let go and let people have responsibility and allow them to fail because I, if you’ve got good people on your team, they’re not going to fail. They may not do it the way you would do it. You have to be okay with that. And so,

just understand that this may be a process. And that’s why I think it’s so important for me to continue to take sabbaticals, because each sabbatical is going to help you all feel more confident with me not being there day to day.

Yeah. what I’m hearing you say too, is it really is based on trust, right? Team. and you know, even zooming back to 2020, wasn’t until just this last year in 2024 that I took over the revenue department. So like you were taking a sabbatical when we didn’t have quite as strong of a lead, if you will, in that role. I’m not trying to give myself kudos, but like it has made a really big difference in the last.

Are you interested in your

two years of me taking over and having that really be a focus of my day to day. And so that was big. That was ballsy.

I’m impressed. Okay. So as far as other business owners that are listening, I’m sure they’re just like, my gosh, like, let’s book this about a call right away. Right. They’re probably like, how can I get this plan into my, my calendar right away? Cause it sounds incredible. But what would you, what advice would you give them? I mean, we, touched on the communication piece about stepping away from those client relationships for a period of time.

Well, your clients don’t want to feel that they’re being neglected and that’s really important. having, making sure that you check in with them before you go and making sure that you have touch base with them through the month or six weeks prior to you taking the break and saying, hey, just remember, I’m going to be gone for this period of time. If it’s really urgent, my team can get in touch with me. However, I will be gone during this period of time. And so for me is the,

I leave at five o’clock Friday before Thanksgiving and I come back on the second of January. And so during that period of time, which is about five weeks, I won’t be in touch day to day, but I still want you to do your weekly reports. And I want you to them. I do read them. And for me, it’s just more of if there’s something

reading them.

Good.

I hopped on a few phone calls over sabbatical because there were a couple of very urgent things that came up. I did that and I probably still always do that because I don’t ever want to leave clients in the lurch feel like they don’t have access to me if it’s something that they really need my opinion on. And that there are some really urgent things that come up.

Well, and I think that I look at the communication with a team, I guess since it’s been five years of sabbaticals, I’m still a little blown away that it’s that. I look at it kind of as a dance, right? Like the first time you said that you were in sac-a-lot, we’re like, what are you doing in here? Let’s kick her out. Let’s get her out. You’re supposed to be on break. And we were trying to make it very black and white. And it was almost kind of like that first dance of kind of stepping on each other’s toes a little bit because we’re

We’re all there trying to do it, but we didn’t quite know how to do that dance. And I feel like every year that you’ve taken a sabbatical, that dance has gotten a little bit easier, a little bit more of a flow. And you kind of know what part of the dance floor you’re on and we know what part of the dance floor you’re on. And occasionally one of us goes in the middle and tries to do a little break dance and one of us might react to that. But I think that it has taken time just like in any relationship.

of something new to see it evolve over time. So evolve in the types of projects that you’re working on, evolve in the communication and the prep of the team and what the team is bringing to the table while you’re gone as well. So I know we’ve referenced a lot about the first sabbatical, but it certainly has gotten easier and I guess more interesting as they continue.

And interesting in a good way, like interesting in the kind of problems that we’re solving, making sure that we’re meeting the goals by year end, especially since you’re usually gone by year end of the company and that we’re prepped for when you walk in the door in January to make sure that we’re ready to talk about and make sure that the goals for the new year are ready to go, which it has moved up our planning time a lot, right? So we’re always planning our year.

an entire year in advance. And we usually start that in the first quarter and just starting to look at those dates and all of that. then by, usually it’s by summer when the kids are out for school. It’s usually when we have a pretty dialed in of this is for the most part where we’re going. These are the trips that are taking. Here’s when Gail’s going to be on vacation. Here’s when she’s going to be on sabbatical. And then, and then from there we can back up to all of our different boardroom events and, and

the weekly rhythm and all of that. And so I think that it has it has moved up those decisions a little bit because we also know that going into it’s no longer going into December trying to put together a plan for the next year for our business. We’re usually really proactively having a conversation in third quarter and and in October, November, just for our annual planning session. We set that time aside. So that’s been

That has been interesting and a little hard some years, I think, to move it up so early. But I think overall, it’s been very beneficial to just continuously trying to look further ahead into our business.

Yeah, and I think that’s one of the things that’s the hardest for people who are in more of a task management role versus a vision role. think a year to five years ahead and for all of you, the rest of the team, and it’s not a negative, this is what you have to do just to operate in your daily work, but you’re looking at more of that anywhere from now to maybe.

three to six months and usually not a year or so. And so this is pushing you all to start to see a bigger picture and see a broader framework that’s necessary because we don’t move things on a dime. Some projects take a year, some projects take a year and a half. Some projects are done that have started four years ago. So when we look at how long it takes to get big movements made in the business,

It means that you have to plan farther back so that you get the result when you want it. Right. So that’s what’s so critical about the thinking process that changes for all of you who are on the leadership team during these sabbaticals is you’re starting to understand that I’ve definitely put a lot of thought way in advance so that I’m not ever leaving the business waiting for me to make a decision. I’ve really been doing that prep work ahead of time for you all.

So let’s talk about what you’re doing during the sabbatical. So you mentioned the first year you read the 21 books, it felt like 56. I think I saw 56 in my brain, but it felt like 56. But you read 21 books, you went on some vacation. And so just talk to us a little bit about how you decide and how you go about balancing rest, which tends to be kind of hard for the mold that we all come out of, especially.

interior design business owners, right? Like we are all just wired to like, just keep hitting the pavement and getting it done. but how did you balance rest and personal growth and also your professional development during that time? And it doesn’t necessarily have to be just based on your one, but in the different sabbaticals that you’ve had.

Sure. Well, and I also was writing during that when I was working on my first book. And so I was doing writing and I was doing reading. And then I took naps. I just rested and had a lot of great dinners out and I had time with my husband. And so we had time because he was he’s retired. And so at that point, he’d been retired a couple of years and he keeps asking me when I’m going to retire. He quit asking that actually about two years.

And I said, I don’t know, I just don’t have an answer for that. And you all asked me that too, and I don’t have an answer for it yet. So what I would tell you is that for me, rest is thinking, rest is learning, rest is engaging my brain. I am not a sit around and do nothing kind of person. And I’m always thinking and maybe that’s, I need to do a little less of that occasionally.

You

I really enjoy, I think it’s just the mental challenge of growth because to me growth is an opportunity for me to not, you know, not be just stagnant because being stagnant would be boring to me. I’m thinking about all sorts of things like we’ve started this year talking about AI and, and really starting to implement that in our business.

So.

We need to always be thinking ahead because our job is to be the leaders in the industry. That’s our job. My goal is for us to be thought leaders and also be thinking about what’s next so that we can help our clients succeed and be ahead of the curve too. And so to me, it’s all about if I keep learning and bringing my best effort toward learning, I’m enjoying it. It’s fun for me.

I like to learn. It’s just me.

So did you have any surprising insights or revelations that you’ve gained during your sabbaticals, whether it was about yourself or your business or your life?

would say that it’s not so much a new insight is more as a confirmation that a lot of the things that were in my way were things that were within me. I needed to have some I needed the breaks I needed that I needed to quit that production because you know me I just I’m a machine when it comes to work.

And it’s hard for me to shut it off. And what I realized is I needed a little bit more space because here’s what happens, especially for somebody like me. I’m like wired as an entrepreneur, but I need that creative spark to be there. And the only way for creative spark to be there is for me to break my patterns of constantly being in a thinking problem solving mode. So in order to be

exceptionally creative and be prepared for pivots, which happen every two to three years in your business, you have to be flexible and you have to be ready to come up with new and fresh ideas. You need to look outside the industry and say, what is somebody else doing in farming that could be applied to our business? You know, it’s really looking at what else is working elsewhere.

that we could be applying to our business. And sometimes you just need to take that break so that you can pull back from the business long enough to see a different view, right?

Yeah, and I love the reference of sparking the creativity and really being able to show up and really as a creative to hear you talk about taking a break from problem solving because we, know, a lot of times we have to use our creativity inside of the problem solving and we are working that muscle every single day. So I guess just a little off topic here, but drafting off of that, what, for someone that

is just listening to this and is like, my God, a sabbatical, that sounds amazing. And I have no idea when I can do it. And I’m completely overwhelmed in thinking about it. So what suggestions would you have for our interior design business owners today that they could find those small little breaks of problem solving to smaller moments of sparks of creativity, that they’re not quite there or have a sabbatical on the calendar?

Well, and I’ve encouraged a lot of my clients, my coaching clients to do this is just walk out a weekend where you’re checking into a hotel, you’re going to a spa, you’re doing some things for you physically and spiritually and emotionally that support who you are. Take a break from your family, from your business, from everything. Just go away. Just find a long weekend.

So it’s not like, I’m just shutting down the laptop for the weekend and then I’m still at the soccer game and I’m going to the birthday parties and I’m still making all the dinners. It’s like really just finding a spot for yourself to go and have that moment for a few days.

I have one of my clients that she did that last year and I told her, said, this is an order. This is, this is a, I am telling you, you have to do this. You have to take a long weekend. And I said, go find a spot, go find a place, a hotel that’s beautiful. And so she found one that was close by and she went for the weekend. She said, I could have done that for many more days. And she got massages and she did yoga and she rested and she read a

book and she just relaxed and totally turned her brain off from the day to day of the work. Then I’m sure a little bit of that crept in. always does. But start there. That’s probably the best advice I could give you. And then the second thing I would tell you is I’m huge on time blocking, as you know, and we as a company start with whatever my personal time off is. So when I have sabbatical, when I’m going to take vacation, when I have a fifth week that

That’s a whole other story. when I’m going to take those times off, those are put on the calendar before we even put together our company calendar, which takes us months to work on. And we do it at least six months before the year starts. So we already have the next year is already blocked out by the middle of the year. Yeah. And we already know what’s coming. So.

you

just pick your time, just decide when are you gonna do this and start small, start with a long weekend and then maybe go from there up to two weeks and that two weeks could be with family but if you’re gonna do that, just find a way to make sure that you’re totally resting on this trip and then find a time somewhere down the road and if you’ve been in your business say 10 years or more, your time is now, go do it.

and put it at the end of the year because it’s a natural break for most people to close for about two weeks for Christmas or a week and a half. Just tack on some days there and then you’ve got some time off for Thanksgiving. That’s why I do it right before Thanksgiving till January 2nd because there are enough holidays in there that I’m just gluing some extra days in between that. a lot of our clients are so busy right then, they don’t have a lot of time to do

anything else that I might want them to do. So they’re just trying to close out the year and get ready to take their breaks. So that’s the perfect time to take it and maybe take four weeks the first time.

Yeah, and what I’m hearing you say is even for those small moments to regain the creativity, is finding ways to plan. It goes back to just the basics of like filling your cup first, right? Like you can’t, you can’t give your creativity, your gifts to the world if you’re running on an empty tank. And a lot of moms talk about that when it comes to their kids, you know, whether you are

Yep.

following the miracle morning and you’ve really dialed in what your morning looks like before everyone wakes up and you kind of have had that time to get in the physical exercise, the spiritual piece of it, maybe some reading and some education, maybe some meditation. So those are all things that are small moments within our 24 hour day, but that we can have almost like the idea of like, okay, this is

maybe we have to label it like this is my mini sabbatical, which is an hour and a half for myself every morning. Okay, and then I’m also planning out a three day weekend. mean, even just in this conversation, I’m like, I need to find a, I need to find a three day weekend for myself, I think that I can just get away and kind of regain my creativity for the business. So, okay, well, go ahead.

I was just going to say, we have what we call decision fatigue, and we all have it. And we have the capacity to make X number of decisions a day. Each person is different. And you’re going to lose that capacity by midday. So to me, I’m a morning person anyway. And I wake up early before I don’t use an alarm. just wake up. And so for me, I start my day with with

meditation and then exercise. So I go do Pilates. So for me, I go do that. And I do not look at my emails and my Slack until later in the morning because I want peace of mind and I want quiet and I want my own reflection time. And if I don’t have that time, I can feel it during the day because you need to be ready to start your day and have the capacity to make decisions. But if you’re already getting hit with people,

telling you, I need this or I needed that or this is a problem. First thing of the day, then all of a sudden you’re on edge because everything is, it’s a fire and you’re here.

It makes you reactive, right? As soon as you tune in to the Slack and the email, that’s your first opportunity to be reactive. And then that starts the fire drills and then that starts the overwhelm and it’s just a catalyst. And I think some of us are addicted to it, right? I think that some of us are just so used to it that it’s almost like we crave it when it’s not there, but there’s so much freedom that you can find when you actually are.

exam.

setting some time aside in the morning. And I know like your morning and the amount of time that you can have before like 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. looks very different than the mornings that like I have my kids. So I might be able to get in like an hour to myself before I’m getting people out of bed and making sandwiches and making sure that you know everybody’s where they need to be. But then I also have mornings that I you know I can get a little more rest or get some exercise in before I start my day.

And so that’s been hard for me because it changes. It’s not always like just a set in stone thing, but that’s also just probably a personality flaw for myself. It is a decision.

decision. It’s a decision. Right? it’s really not, we get to choose how we spend our time. And so when we make the decision that we are going to either rest or be productive, that’s a choice, we get to make that choice.

Yeah, I love that. OK, so back to after the sabbatical, Kenaz, we wrap up here. I do want to ask, what changes did you notice in your mindset or your leadership style after you returned from sabbatical?

Well, just, you finally let go and you just say, okay, they’ve been doing it without me for four or five weeks and I think they’re just fine doing it. every single time, and you know this about me anyway, I’ve been doing it for 20 years, but every year I’m giving more responsibility to the members of the team every year. And so each person is going to get more things that they’re going to take on. Like you’re taking on podcasting now.

And it’s not that you weren’t doing it, but I pitched in last year and did it because you were taking on a new role. So I wanted to help. So this year I said, okay, it’s back to you. so and you’re doing it. And the thing is, is that’s what gives you that confidence in knowing that you’re capable of doing anything. So to me, my whole role and as I am

We’re doing

continuing to develop in my role as a leader is my job is to mentor. My job is to teach the team and to provide the opportunities for growth for the team. And I can’t do that if I keep holding on tight. So I have to let go. And every time I come back from Spatical, I’m letting go a little bit more. So every year there’s a new change that comes in the new year because I have taken that break.

I want to talk for a minute about this last sabbatical because it was pretty different than the rest of them. And it was last summer, my husband and I went on vacation and I came back and said to him a couple of days later, I have 10 reasons we should be moving. And poor guy. And he said, okay, what are those? And I gave them to him and he said, you’re absolutely right. Let’s, let’s look for a house. And three days later, we had a contract.

Yes.

So we built a new house last year. Nothing fancy. It’s just a typical ranch house and we built a full basement. And I just told him, I said, you know, we’re at that point in our lives. I really want this to be a house that we enjoy and that is not just plain vanilla. Cause we never painted any of the rooms at all. It all stayed the same builder beige color, which was terrible. Never liked the color.

And I said, I’m not going to do it this time. We’re going to we are going to do this and enjoy this house. So by the time we’ve gotten through the selections and the builders building and all that stuff, I kind of waited until sabbatical to start doing the interior design work. And so I got so immersed in that it was like a full time job just planning out everything so that I had everything scheduled. had the move was in two phases and I had

boxes moved in and then we’d unpack those and then we moved the furniture in and we’re waiting for furniture and now the contractors down the basement building out our basement and we’re getting ready to landscape. So we’ve got all these things. I had to plan all that and I did it in five weeks basically and then I had to get ready to move. during that five week period it was probably the most detached I’ve ever been from the business and I got a creative break in such a way that I got to

struggle with paint colors for my house and rethink it about 10 times and make decisions on furniture and rugs and all those things and really get completely immersed back in that end of the business. And I had no time to do any work. I didn’t do any work for Pearl at all. I just took a complete break from it and worked on the house. And I went into that break knowing that that was going to be essential to do.

And I didn’t even remember how hard that job was.

Yeah, know it’s good. You’re like right back into the coaching with people that are you’ve been on the ground floor with them now again, and I’m sure that was a good muscle to bring back out. So were there some unexpected benefits to our company that resulted from your time away and your sabbaticals?

I think that that’s a good question and I would turn that back to you. What were the benefits to you of me taking that break?

I mean, definitely there was a lot of professional and personal growth, I think, for our team during that time, specifically for me. And I think that Kristen would attest to that as well. I think we’ve also continued to, you always want to have the visionary of your company truly in the visionary role. And if you’re in other roles, that isn’t happening. So it’s allowed us to find creative ways

For lack of a, I mean, it’s not that we don’t want you in things and doing things, but it’s helped us be more resourceful and creative in figuring out solutions that don’t include you. Cause there was a time and a place in our business that if there was a problem or there was an issue, it wasn’t Gail necessarily bringing the answer. was Gail was the answer. Well, we’ll offer Gail’s time. We’ll offer.

Gail to fix this, we’ll offer Gail to look at this PNL. And I think that we’ve really gotten, or we’ll offer an extra call with Gail or whatever. And I think that we really used the muscle more recently on just having other pockets of resources that we’ve developed that it’s not reliant on you.

Well, and the fun part for me is I see the creativity that’s coming. I just had a meeting right before this with talking about our boardroom retreat and I’m not planning that boardroom retreat. I was there to be a part of it just for the content, but it was really great that it was the whole thing has been planned very well by Kimmy and Kristen and Patty and I have, I am there to do my role.

but I’m really getting to play the role of the CEO and owner of the business, which is ideal and fun for me.

Love that. Okay, well, Gail, this has been incredible. I can’t wait for more topics between the two of us, because I know you and I can rip off of just pretty much anything. But what are three action items that you’d like to leave with our listeners today in regards to a sabbatical?

Well, first of all, believe that you can take a break, believe that you need a break and plan the break. And those are the three things, those three things, just get it on your calendar and just do it because you will be so thankful that you took the break. Whatever length of time you take, start small, get bigger and your business will benefit as a result of it.

And it goes back to, this day one or is this one day? Right? So love that. Well, thank you so much for your time.

Well, thank you for having me.

Okay.