How to Know When to Quit
How do you know when it’s time to quit? How do you make that decision?
A friend of mine phoned me today quite distraught. She had made a major life decision to return to her home country, giving up her profession, friends and community to return ‘home’. It has not worked for her. And now what? Returning? Admitting that she had made a mistake with such a big life decision?
Our biggest enemy in these circumstances is our own minds. Our minds are designed to protect us from painful situations. Hence we will continue in the ‘familiar’ or what ‘the world’ says what we should or should not do.
It is time to check in with your SELF.
“The most practical thing we can achieve in any kind of work is insight into what is happening inside us as we do it. The more familiar we are with our inner terrain, the more surefooted our living—becomes.” - Parker Palmer
The easy answers to know when it is time to quit are on the spectrum of the work you are doing is not what you were hired to do and it is not something you want to do; the compensation that you were promised is not what you are receiving; the environment is suppressive full of back-biting and undermining conversations – get out of there!
The next level of consideration for knowing when it is time to quit is your own development. We all grow at different rates. You may have out grown your current occupation recognizing that your vocation is inconsistent with the current work that you are doing. Recognizing that if you continue that there is a definite split between your dreams and goals and your current work.
The most important is assessing your values next to the values of your current employer. We must avoid being like the man, to quote Dryden, who “trudged along unknowing what he sought, And whistled as he went for want of thought.” Values - a person’s principles or standards of behavior; one’s judgment of what is important in life. Does what is important in your life, your principles resonate with where you are working?
I listened to my friend on the phone today. She knew what she ‘had’ to do.
Do you?
Written by: Bix Bickson, Director of Mojofication