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职业生涯中休长假的意外好处When Winston Chen told his friends that hehad quit his job as chief technology officer at a software company to move to asmall island in Arctic Norway with his family for a year, few people called himcrazy.Instead, most people simply replied: “I wish I hadthe guts to do that.”You have to create the urgency for livingthe life you want.While many people dream of taking time offmid-career, few actually do it. But the number of people taking lengthysabbaticals later in life is increasing, according to experts. That’s in partdue to companies becoming more open to the idea and the higher rate at whichpeople are changing jobs. And depending on how you play your cards, you canreturn with a better job than when you left.Time for a changeFor Chen, who had been with the samecompany for a decade when he quit in 2011, it was time for a change, he said.His original plan was to find a new job, but the idea of taking time off —inspired by a TED talk — got him seriously thinking about a sabbatical. At first, he said he was concerned that timeaway from the industry might hurt his career.“Thats the main reason that keeps people from doing this, and I wasno different,”he said in an email. “But you have to create the urgency for living the life you want.”After quitting, Chen did look for anotherjob — until a family friend mentioned that a small island in Arctic Norway waslooking for a teacher. Chen’s wife, who was born in Norway, wanted to go backto work after being at home with their kids for five years. “She calledand basically got the job,”said Chen. “So, very quickly, we decided that was it.”Increasingly popularPaul Payne, managing director of UK-basedrail and construction recruitment firm OneWay, is one of a growing number ofprofessionals in the recruiting field who have seen a number of clients optingfor a gap year or sabbatical midway through their careers.More and more [companies] are offeringsabbaticals as a retention tool.“It’s an interesting idea, particularly wh