Bypass Required Fields when creating content

I have a content type that has several required fields. In order for me to save a piece of content I have to fill-out all the required fields, which is how it's suppose to work. However, this particular content type, when creating content can span several days in terms of collecting all the required content for it. Is there a way to by-pass the required fields if I set it not to publish? Kind of like saving a draft. In other words, I only want the check for required fields to occur if I'm actually publishing the piece of content.