Retire Often: How Mini Retirements can Transform Your Career with Jillian Johnsrud

Author Jillian Johnsrud explains how mini retirements help people retire often in this week’s episode of “Retire Today” with Jeremy Keil.

When most people think about retirement, they picture one big event—the day they finally walk away from their job and start living life on their own terms. But what if instead of waiting 30 or 40 years for that freedom, you could enjoy pieces of retirement throughout your career?

That’s exactly what my guest, Jillian Johnsrud, suggests in her book Retire Often. She joined me on the Retire Today podcast to explain how taking “mini retirements” can help you enjoy your life now, improve your career, and even make your eventual full retirement more fulfilling.

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What Is a Mini Retirement?

Jillian defines a mini retirement as taking a month or more off from your primary job to rest, recover, and focus on something that truly matters to you. It’s not about quitting your career—it’s about taking intentional breaks throughout your working years to rejuvenate and reconnect with what’s important.

She describes three key elements of a mini retirement:

1. It lasts at least a month. That’s long enough to break out of your normal routine and truly recharge.
2. You step away from your main career or 9-to-5 job.
3. You spend that time on something meaningful—travel, family, learning, or simply rest.

Jillian practices what she preaches–she’s taken more than a dozen mini retirements over 23 years, and she’s coached hundreds of people through the process. What she finds time and again is that mini retirements don’t just help you rest—they can actually make you better at your job when you return.

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The Benefits of Retiring Often

Jillian’s idea flips the traditional retirement model on its head. Instead of one long retirement at the end, she encourages people to “retire often” by sprinkling shorter breaks throughout their working years.

Why? Because for many people, the old model—work 40 years straight and then stop—isn’t working as well anymore. People live longer, work has become more demanding, and burnout is real.

Mini retirements help solve that problem by creating a rhythm between work and rest. You might work intensely for several years, then take a few months off to recharge, travel, or pursue a hobby. When you return, you’re refreshed, creative, and ready to take on new challenges.

As Jillian explained, “Mini retirements can actually help people’s careers more than is perhaps intuitive.”

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The Hidden Career and Financial Upside

At first, taking time off might sound like a financial setback—but Jillian has seen the opposite happen again and again.

For example, one of her friends took a year off, came back refreshed, and received a 50% pay increase. That raise more than made up for the time off. He might have been underpaid for years simply because he stayed in one place too long.

Mini retirements can also open doors for career pivots. Stepping back gives you perspective on what you truly want to do next—and sometimes that shift leads to more fulfilling, better-paying work.

And of course, these breaks can make your future retirement smoother. You don’t spend decades putting off all your dreams until your mid-60s. Instead, you enjoy meaningful experiences all along the way—traveling, spending time with loved ones, and pursuing passions.

As Jillian put it, “Instead of saving up all of these retirements till the very end, we can start to enjoy them now.”

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Overcoming Burnout

Burnout is one of the biggest challenges people face in midlife. After 15–20 years of hard work, many people find themselves drained of energy and creativity.

Jillian explained it perfectly: “I used to think middle-aged people were boring. Then I got to my 40s and realized—they’re just tired.”

Mini retirements are a powerful way to reverse that exhaustion. People who take them often rediscover their energy, optimism, and curiosity—what Jillian calls “rolling back the clock emotionally.”

By giving yourself permission to rest, you can actually become more productive and excited about life again.

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