Too often, nonprofit leaders find themselves sprinting from one deliverable to the next, stuck in reactive mode with little time to assess, realign, or plan for sustainable growth. While passion fuels the mission, it is strategy that sustains it. Passion without pause leads to burnout. Taking time to reflect is not a setback, it’s a strategic necessity.

A strategic pause allows leaders to evaluate their current direction, listen deeply to their teams, and reconnect with long-term goals. It helps identify what’s working, what needs to shift, and how to align day-to-day actions with the broader mission. When you're always in execution mode, you miss opportunities for innovation and alignment.

I’ve lived this lesson firsthand.

A few years ago, I approached my board with a proposal to take a sabbatical not because I was burned out (yet), but because I knew that if I didn’t step back, I’d eventually lose sight of the very vision I had been called to lead. What made that sabbatical powerful wasn’t just the rest I received, but the planning process we went through as a leadership team. We co-designed the leave in a way that empowered the board and staff to make decisions, problem-solve, and build confidence in their own leadership without relying on me as the default answer-holder.

In my absence, the organization didn’t pause, it grew. That’s when I realized: a well-planned sabbatical isn’t just self-care. It’s succession planning. It’s leadership development. It’s systems thinking in practice.

Since then, I’ve built smaller pauses into my rhythm like Friday sabbaths, when I intentionally disconnect from email and meetings to reflect, write, think, and simply be. Those quiet spaces have become some of the most generative moments in my work.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed or disconnected from the bigger picture, take it as a sign, not of failure, but of readiness for recalibration. Investing in space to think strategically can breathe new life into your leadership and your organization. And if you're in a position to model that for your team or board, you just might open the door for a healthier, more sustainable culture across your entire organization.