The PositiveSharing blog has an interesting post on knowing when to quit your job.
Actually, this has a much wider applicability; you can use these principles to decide when it’s high time to quit just about any situation that you find yourself in at least partly voluntarily, even unemployment.
The ultimate question is: how is that working for you?
Here’s a snippet from the article:
…when in doubt, most of us stay on in bad jobs. Perhaps longer than is good for us.
We’ve been told that quitting your job is bad because:
- It makes you look less dependable to your next employer.
- It costs you money.
- It reduces your status.
- Quitting means giving up – and that’s bad. You should stay and slog it out.
And this may all be true or not, but here’s a question you must also ask yourself: What will staying in a bad job cost you? Because make no mistake: A bad work situation can cost you your energy, motivation, self-worth and even your health. Worst case, it can kill you.
Worst of all, staying in a bad job where you repeatedly feel demeaned or useless robs you of precisely those things you need to move on and find a new job. To actually get up and go out and find new work or finding the courage to quit without having the next job lined up takes energy, motivation, passion and confidence.
Indeed. If you’re already past that point, it’ll take you that much more effort to pick up and move on, but you have to find it in yourself somehow. I recommend clicking over and reading the entire piece, but here are his final tips:
- Give up the idea that you can know for sure whether or not it’s time to quit. It’s always going to be a leap.
- Listen to your intuition. Your gut may know before your mind.
- Remember what quitting can cost you – but also remember what staying in a bad job can cost you!
- Remember that the longer you stay in a bad job, the harder it gets to leave.
- Most people stay too long in bad jobs – mostly because they fear the uncertainty that comes with quitting.
- Most people, once they’ve quit, find that their situation improves. Maybe not immediately, but certainly after a few months.
And as I said, this goes for any situation, not just employment. Relationships, unemployment, bad habits, inappropriate schooling (especially trying to live out your parent’s dreams for them), there are any number of life choices this sensible advice can be applied to. What would change in your life if you knew how to quit a bad situation easier and faster?
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brightfeather
June 6, 2007
I’m inclined to cut and paste the final 6 tips and print them out for a friend who has difficulty going when to cut her losses and run.
Her fear of rejection and abandonment is so great that she can seem to stop, take stock and move on when that’s indicated. Her father took a walk and never came back and thereafter mother taught her never to be a quitter.
Examples: It also took her a year to give her landlord notice and move out of a suite that she hated because he kept telling her how lucky he was to have her as a tenant. Currently, she’s unwilling to quit her job even though she is taken for granted and verbally abused by a boss that never grew up to become a man. And she’s hanging on to a lack luster love deficient relationship that has no future.
Perhaps she’s unable to let go and move on because she values being needed more than she values being fulfilled. What do you figure?
raincoaster
June 6, 2007
Can’t say. There are many reasons for preferring stasis to change. Heck, even I have a huge problem with this. I take such pride in my coping skills that I fail to put enough effort into making changes so that I won’t have to cope with as much bad stuff. I have to concentrate on driving my own life, and that’s a big change of attitude, a big responsibility. There’s an old Cathy comic where she’s invited to a party, pulls out all her clothes and makeup, has an existential crisis over what to wear, and ends up on the sofa watching tv and saying, “there’s no promise of joy in the future that can compare to the guaranteed benefits of staying home on a Friday night.” Um, yeah. That’s the kind of thing we have to grow beyond. I mean, know when to take a time out, and the sofa is there for a reason, but know when to take a time IN, too.
It is always easier to implement change in one area at a time, though. Baby steps preceed giant leaps, always.
Metro
June 7, 2007
Thanks for this, especially the clip tips. I needed the refresher course.
Years ago my mum gave me some valuable advice. It began with “If it’s that hard to get up and go to your job in the morning, you need a new job.”
Then followed a discussion of what we most want from our jobs. “Respect,” I feel strongly, has to top the list. If my organization doesn’t respect me, the feeling will become reciprocal, to the benefit of no-one. That attitude will worm its way into my heart and thence infect the organization with apathy and nastiness.
A friend recently left the café where she was working. I asked her why.
“After all, the place is growing, you’re making well over minimum,” I said “They’re a great little place, just busy enough to keep busy without going nuts, they’ve got class entertainment, and (Boss) is going to start serving food …”
“I know,” she replied “That’s why I left. I signed up to pour coffee. Not sling hash. If he respected me, he wouldn’t ask me to.”
How could I argue with that?
raincoaster
June 7, 2007
Yep, working is a reciprocal relationship, and once you realize the worth of your contribution you’re in a much stronger position, both in terms of self-respect and self-determination. You do not actually have to go to work every day. If you know you are mindfully choosing it over the alternatives, you can begin to look at it in terms of return on investment. You’re investing your time, your energy, your intellect, and sometimes quite a bit of your heart. If it’s worth it to you, that is a great feeling; knowing you are doing just what you’re meant to be doing at that moment.
It’s quite a different feeling to realize that no, it’s not worth it.
In studies of embezzlers, the number one reason they gave for deciding to turn to crime was “the company didn’t treat me with respect.” With the recent CIBC class action lawsuit for forced unpaid overtime, we can begin to see what they’re talking about.
“Empowerment to the proletariat!”
Okay, it’s not the Internationale, but it’ll do for now.