# 1169: Tapping into the Transformative Power of Sabbaticals with DJ DiDonna Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/how-to-be-awesome-at-your-job-956232/1169-tapping-into-the-transformative-power-of-sabbaticals-with-dj-didonna Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/how-to-be-awesome-at-your-job-956232/1169-tapping-into-the-transformative-power-of-sabbaticals-with-dj-didonna.md Podcast: [How to Be Awesome at Your Job](https://stenobird.com/podcast/how-to-be-awesome-at-your-job-956232) Published: 2026-07-23T06:30:00+00:00 Episode link: https://pdst.fm/e/prefix.up.audio/s/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/mgln.ai/e/211/pscrb.fm/rss/p/rss.art19.com/episodes/0eb8f752-7dda-4f12-8b1a-52cb0c8fcf50.mp3?rss_browser=BAhJIg90cmFuc2NyaWJyBjoGRVQ%3D--952c5701c84ad333c69d5faa668f8177091704f0 Audio file: https://pdst.fm/e/prefix.up.audio/s/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/mgln.ai/e/211/pscrb.fm/rss/p/rss.art19.com/episodes/0eb8f752-7dda-4f12-8b1a-52cb0c8fcf50.mp3?rss_browser=BAhJIg90cmFuc2NyaWJyBjoGRVQ%3D--952c5701c84ad333c69d5faa668f8177091704f0 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/how-to-be-awesome-at-your-job-956232/episodes/1169-tapping-into-the-transformative-power-of-sabbaticals-with-dj-didonna Duration seconds: 2094 ## Resource DJ DiDonna makes the case for why taking more extended time off helps professionals get further in their careers–and shares tricks for actually snagging that time.  — YOU’LL LEARN —  1) How to convince your boss to let you take a sabbatical  2) How sabbaticals act as “regret insurance” 3) How to plan a truly fulfilling sabbatical Subscribe or visit   AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep1169  for clickable versions of the links below.  — ABOUT DJ —  DJ DiDonna is a senior lecturer of business administration at Harvard Business School, where he teaches MBA courses on entrepreneurship and building meaningful professional and personal lives. He has spent his career translating social science research into real-world tools for positive change. In 2019, DiDonna founded The Sabbatical Project to define, explore, and research the role of sabbaticals in modern life. He has helped organizations around the world—from nonprofits to Fortune 50 companies—design and implement sabbatical policies. His work has been featured in The Atlantic, Harvard Business Review, Time, Fast Company, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. Previously, DiDonna cofounded EFL Global, a fintech company that enabled more than $2 billion in capital to underbanked businesses and individuals across twenty countries before its acquisition in 2018. DiDonna earned his MBA from Harvard Business School. On his sabbatical, DiDonna walked nine hundred miles on pilgrimage in Shikoku, Japan, helped lead the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities at his undergraduate alma mater, Notre Dame, and unskillfully remodeled his kitchen. Outside work, you can find him plotting how to be in the Big Outdoors. • Book:  Big Time Off: The Transformative Power of Sabbaticals and How to Tak… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/how-to-be-awesome-at-your-job-956232/episodes/1169-tapping-into-the-transformative-power-of-sabbaticals-with-dj-didonna/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/how-to-be-awesome-at-your-job-956232/1169-tapping-into-the-transformative-power-of-sabbaticals-with-dj-didonna.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.