Ever dream of leaving your corporate gig to pursue something creative? To follow your passion? Maybe you’re between jobs and keep telling yourself you’ll finally give that creative project some love (yet spend days scrolling LinkedIn instead).
Leaving the 9-to-5 grind can feel like the only way to have the time to be an artist, writer, or creative. It seems like having unlimited time would be a luxurious solution that would solve all problems. But would it?
Chie Tamada’s Story
Earlier this year, I interviewed Chie Tamada who did just that—gave herself a year-long sabbatical from corporate life.
Chie is an illustrator and lettering designer based in Southern California, who also works as a full-time Senior Program Manager. She has built an inspirational social media presence with almost 20,000 followers on Instagram documenting her creative journey.
Find Chie on IG @chietamada
Though Chie started her career as a program manager solving operational problems with technical teams, she always enjoyed art and design. She began to reconnect to that interest with a lettering design challenge, posting her calligraphy on a private Instagram account for her eyes only. This challenge allowed her to consistently create work and document it, just for her own benefit.
As she gained confidence, she expanded beyond the initial challenge and started sharing more broadly with friends and family. Eventually, she took on lettering jobs and discovered she loved using her talent to create special moments for others.
Chie's creativity isn't confined to digital screens or sketchbooks. She has painted murals, created t-shirts, cards, stationery, and stickers. She even designed a custom jean jacket for her wedding. Throughout this journey, she continued documenting her process, challenges, and learnings on Instagram under a false name.
Her devotion meant coming home from a demanding full-time job at 6 PM only to jump into her “second full-time job” working until 11 PM. When she was younger, she had more energy for this dual life. As her professional responsibilities increased, however, she began to explore if she could take time off.
After years of developing her calligraphy, lettering and illustration work, Chie imagined what she might accomplish if she took a year off to focus solely on her creative life. She decided to give herself a year-long creative sabbatical - a time-boxed commitment to fully explore and expand her artistic work.
Rather than treat it like.a complete career pivot, I decided to treat it like a creative sabbatical. That helped alleviate the pressure. I gave myself one year to give it my all, pursue all the different types of projects that I had been interested in.
In 2022, she left her job. She managed her time tightly with goals and sprints, leveraging the skills from her professional past. She created more products and attended trade shows, she hosted gatherings of like-minded artists, and created community both in person and through Instagram. She even gave a TEDx talk about her experience.
At first, the time flew by. Working on her own gave her the time she wanted to focus on her projects. However, she ran into the challenges of working alone - requiring self-motivation, making decisions solo, and spending large chunks of time not doing the creative work she loved. Her new life also included handling all the production tasks: client communications, sales, accounting, social media and more. She was working hard from 9 to 5, and in her off hours continued to think about her business strategy. It felt overwhelming at times.
As her sabbatical year approached its end, Chie asked herself if she was truly enjoying this lifestyle and wanted to continue down this path. The answer was "no."
She missed the teamwork that comes with a corporate job. She enjoyed her work in program management and decided to return to the workforce full-time as a Senior Program Manager.
However, her work as an artist and creator hasn't stopped. She continues to evolve how she explores and shares her design and illustration.
Chie looks back with pride at the amount of work she produced during her year away. By setting up work sprints with clear goals, she stayed on track, allocating her time effectively and sticking to her priorities. She was able to devote more time to learning in a way that wouldn’t be possible with a full-time job. However, she also discovered that the day to day was different than expected.
Coach's Corner
In reflecting on Chie’s story, I see several things that really helped her experience:
Commitment to practice - Long before her sabbatical, she was consistently devoting time to her projects. Sometimes we’re pretty sure we just need “more time” when in fact with need more commitment.
Consistency within a framework - Chie used a 30-day challenge to get back into calligraphy, then recorded her work by photographing and posting it daily. The structure of the challenge drove accountability and a deadline,
Confidentiality and space to explore - She didn’t expose her early work to the public at large but protected her creative space and shared with select people as she became ready. In our early enthusiasm, we may want to share our work with the world as soon as possible, but it was wise for Chie to be able to make work and make decisions out of the spotlight.
Generosity at each step - Chie developed community around her interests and gave back by speaking, working, and continuing to share her experience openly on social media.
Is It Time for Your Creative Sabbatical?
If you’re considering taking time away to devote to a passion project, here are some things to consider:
- Have a specific project or outcomes in mind before you begin
- Make a firm commitment to yourself with clear parameters about how you’ll use the time
- Be explicit about what you want to achieve during this time
- Give yourself a deadline for re-evaluation
- Create space for learning and exploring that’s just for you
- Find or create community (or grab a buddy) to keep you motivated and focused
- Remember that most decisions are reversible—you can go back to corporate life
Whether you take a full sabbatical like Chie or carve out consistent time while maintaining your day job, the key is intentionality. Can you give yourself the time and space required to explore your project. A creative life doesn't necessarily mean abandoning your career—it means finding the right balance that allows your creativity to flourish while meeting your other needs. Being clear about what you intend to explore can help you feel more accomplished when you look back.
As Chie says, “Most decisions are reversible.” Sometimes we hesitate too long when we’d be better off setting up an experiment for ourselves. We only live once and we can create a plan for creative retreat or exploration.
