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In a weak economy the tendency is for workers to hold onto their jobs a bit longer than they would otherwise prefer. Is it possible that in a downturn the best thing to do is counterintuitive - quitting corporate America to freelance, start a business or return to college?Better now than never - even if you don’t succeed.

In her recent book, Escape from Corporate America, Pamela Skillings, a career coach and blogger, says that moving back and forth between solo ventures or startups and corporate jobs is “really the only way to develop, learn and grow.”

Why not take a break from corporate life? Skillings reasons: “So what if you fail? Or what if you discover that solopreneurship isn’t your calling after all? Sure, it would suck. But you can probably always get a job similar to the one you’re thinking about quitting.”

Besides, she says, corporate jobs often lead to burnout.  One reason is that two out of five workers spend more than 50 hours per week on the job.

And there’s little chance to recuperate. American workers are allotted significantly fewer vacation days on average (8 for the first three years; 10 thereafter) than their peers in France (25), Germany (30) and Japan (18).

Those are good reasons to seek better work/life balance. However, what if you are your own worst boss? Some people don’t give themselves a break!  (No, that doesn’t apply to me; I love a spontaneous break.) You know when you’re slacking off - but then again you also know how to make it up to yourself by taking a longer lunch or taking some time off when necessary.

Skillings profiles a number of “escape artists” who have wandered off the corporate reservation - many of these stories are brief but well reported. One theme is doing more with less; individualists who shine when they’re no longer under the iron thumb of corporate hierarchy.  For every success story there are untold numbers of workers who return to the corporate fold. But there is no shame in that and as Skillings argues, these former soloists may return to become even stronger corporate contributors.

Incidentally, while checking out Skillings’ book, I learned that there’s a blog by the same name, created by Laurel Delaney, who authored a 2003 report  for the Conference Board about the rising tide of female entrepreneurs. Her blog is also worth checking out.