Career Change: Is this the right time to quit your job?
Are you daydreaming about quitting your job, leaving your boss behind and gaining a new sense of freedom?
I know that’s a recurring thought of those who feel trapped in a meaningless job.
But figuring out if this is the right time to do it or not, it’s trickier than it seems.
In this blog series, you’ll find some ideas to help you make a wise decision.
All jobs are NOT the same.
First let me say that I don’t know your specific situation.
And Hey!, if you’re truly suffering some kind of abuse at work, then the only way out might be to leave as fast as possible. When you’re bleeding, metaphorically speaking, you need to get away of the knife first before any healing can start taking place.
So we agree that if you’re in a toxic job like that, you can’t focus on your dreams.
But for most of us, the situation isn’t so dramatic. We make it so with our inner dialogue by saying things like:
“I can’t stand my boss any longer”
“This is like hell”
“I can’t make myself to go to work”
“ I can’t be creative”
“I’m wasting my life in this job”
As if you needed to push yourself harder to motivate you to leave (or as if you needed a good enough excuse in order to do so).
You don’t need to add more suffering to your pain
If you’re stuck in a loop of negative self talk like that, listen. You’ve probably never been told this before but here it goes:
“You don’t need to make your situation worse in order to leave your career.
You have permission to change just because you want to.”
Amazing, right?
Wanting to do something different in order to feel better and enjoy your work and your life more, it’s totally fine. You don’t need to create a horror career story to get the permission to change careers. You don’t have to justify anything to anyone.
What you want to do first is to get your significant other, if you have one, on your side as much as possible, and second, make your career transition in the smoothest, safest and most peaceful way as possible.
But, of course, that might take a bit of planning, and a bit of waiting in your current job.
I know first hand that quitting cold turkey when you still don’t know what it is you would love to be doing instead, quitting without having a financial cushion to pay the bills until something else takes off, or even leaving without testing if your business idea will be able to sustain you financially, are all ways of creating a lot of unnecessary pain and suffering in your life.
If I could make my own career transition again, I would run some side project outside of work before leaving my job, I would learn more interpersonal skills like keeping healthy boundaries at work to help me feel better while still there, and I would create a peaceful transition plan.
But instead, what I did is I waited until I felt so ill I could barely stand up still, I developed panic attacks and anxiety till finally my poor health forced me to say “I quit”.
I don’t recommend you that.
Charo’s Career Change Coaching Tip
So, what things can you do right now to move forward with your career transition?
- You can create a savings account.
- Reframe your current job. In order to feel better about your current job while you’re still there, you can change your mindset about it. Think of it as a way to fund your career transition, knowing that staying there for just a little longer
- You can start a side project, either to test your business idea, or to try your new career and see if you like it in reality.
- And if you can’t answer these questions because you don’t know what you want, then your next step is to grab a deck of my career clarity cards. They’ll help you find clarity about what you love to do, so you can get started doing it before quitting your job.
Make sure you grab your FREE copy by visiting:
http://www.tappingyourpurpose.com/freestuff/careerclaritycards
