The good news: My department chair really likes the project I’ve proposed for my sabbatical leave.
The bad news: The smart money says that my leave won’t be approved unless I cut down the amount I say I’ll accomplish during the year off.
That’s right. If you have a lot you want to get accomplished, you can’t have time off to accomplish it, whereas if you have only a wee bit to do, you are most welcome to a leave.
Cue the dinosaur with the voice of Rob Knop to remind me to stop expecting things in academia to make sense. Meanwhile, I have some cuts to make.
Could it be that your department chair wants you to have an actual break?
How much trouble will you get into if you accomplish more than you promise?
They don’t want you to get too much done; it will make the rest of them look bad.