Should You Quit Your Job? When To Leave And When To Stick
It Out
Sometimes it’s really time to move on, but other times, you’ll be better
off sticking it out. Here’s how to know which situation you are in.
Sometimes it’s clear when you need to quit
your job: if you have a toxic work culture, or you are never going to get a promotion.
But there are other times when the answer to
“should I quit my job?” is a lot less clear. After all, work isn’t fun 100% of
the time. Even those of us lucky to have our dream jobs probably have tasks and
responsibilities that we’d really rather not do. And growing in our career
sometimes involves weathering through some challenging times.
So next time you find yourself unsure if it’s
worth sticking around, consider these factors.
REASON TO QUIT: YOU’RE BORED
You go to work, you know your routine, and
you repeat this five days a week–like clockwork. There’s nothing new or
unfamiliar, and your brain operates on autopilot 99% of the time. You
impatiently wait until it’s an acceptable time to leave the office, where
you’ll probably go to happy hour and complain about your job to your friends.
Weekends never seem to come fast enough, and they’re always
too short.
When you should quit: Sounds like an obvious reason to quit, right? Not so fast.
If you feel like you’ve done everything you can to grow and learn from
your role and your company, then yes, it’s definitely time to look elsewhere.
As writer and editor Jennifer Romolini writes in her book, Weird In A World That’s Not, “Complacency is the death of a
fulfilling career.”
When you shouldn’t quit: First, it’s probably important to ask yourself if you’ve made
enough of an effort to make this as fulfilling for you as possible, and if
you’re overlooking opportunities that are sitting literally next door. For
example, if you hate your job but love the company you’re working for, you
might be able to switch departments or start volunteering for projects outside
of your job description. Aaron Michel, CEO and founder of career solution app
Path Source, previously wrote for Fast
Company, “Remember that job descriptions don’t need
to be rigid. Of course you’ll still need to fulfill your responsibilities, but
you don’t necessarily need to feel limited by them. It’s up to you, though, to
take the initiative and expand them.”
Alternatively, it’s worth considering asking
for a promotion–if you haven’t already. “Sometimes to get what you want,
all you have to do is ask. That tends to hold true for career advancement,”
Michel wrote. Of course, gaining a promotion requires
you to be good at your job and have decent relationships with your manager
and coworkers, so if you’ve been slacking off lately, you
might want to dial it up a notch before making the big ask.
REASON TWO: YOUR JOB
DOESN’T ALIGN WITH YOUR LIFE’S PRIORITIES AND VALUES
No matter how hard you try, it’s
seems really difficult to make your job work for
you. You might want to work remotely from time to time, but your boss
is hell-bent on making you be physically present in the office. Or you might
prefer to stay put in one location, but your job demands you travel constantly,
and you’re sick of it.
When you should quit: When you’ve exhausted every possible option
to align the company’s priorities with yours but it’s just not working
out and when you know exactly what you’re looking for–and
those jobs and places actually exist.
When you shouldn’t quit: When your priorities and values change from day to day and if
you’re not actually sure that there are companies and jobs out there
that can provide a working environment that’s in line with what you want.
As psychologist Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic previously wrote for Fast
Company, “It’s easy to pin down your wants for the
next three minutes, three days, or three weeks, but it’s much harder to
establish what you want to accomplish and experience within the span of your
lifetime, let alone within the next decade.”
Chamorro-Premuzic went on to say, “People
change, but when you passionately dislike something, it’s unlikely that a
change of circumstances will help you better adapt to it if that feature is
still there in your next position.”
REASON THREE: YOUR JOB IS
THE BIGGEST SOURCE OF STRESS AND ANXIETY
When Sunday comes around, the blues are bad. The
thought of going to the office fills you with dread. You feel like you can’t do
anything right anymore, despite your best efforts. You’re overcome with mental
exhaustion, and at least one day a week, you come home extremely angry
or crying.
When you should quit: When the toll that it’s taken on your mental
health is simply too much, and you can’t remember the last time you were happy
at work. Or when the source of stress goes beyond ” ‘my boss doesn’t like
me,’ ‘I work too hard,’ ‘I hate my commute’ cry-me-a river problems,” as
Romolini stated in her book. Examples include: inappropriate treatment and
harassment.
When you shouldn’t quit: When you have no other source of finances and
you need to stick it out to pay the bills (until you find another job, that is).
Or, if you think that there is a chance talking to someone at your
company (whether it be your manager or HR) will help solve the issue.
One way to gauge this is to look at the
behaviors of top leadership–what do and don’t they
tolerate in the workplace? As Elizabeth Segran previously reported for Fast
Company, culture starts at the top–HR is ultimately
“subordinate to the company’s leadership” and will only act in accordance with
the tone set by the company’s leaders.
REASON FOUR: YOU’RE
ITCHING TO DO SOMETHING ELSE
You don’t think your line of work is right
for you. You get envious of your friends who are in different careers or are
just sick of having people to answer to. You feel like your skills or strengths
aren’t suited to this job, or that you’re simply too good for it. You just want
to do something else completely.
When you should quit: When you’ve thought about what it is exactly you want to do, and you
have a clear why for moving into a different career. Having a plan is even
better, though job-quitters seem to be divided on whether it’s sensible to quit a job without
something else lined up.
When you shouldn’t quit: When you don’t really know why you want to change careers, or why doing
something else will make you happy. For example, plenty of people dream of
being their own boss, but not all think about the implications and stress that
comes with being an entrepreneur.
One way to test out your new planned path is
to find a way to treat it as a side hustle. This way, you’ll be able to see whether your expectations match the
reality before you commit to it being the activity that pays your bills.
REASON FIVE: YOU HATE YOUR BOSS
You just can’t seem to click with your boss.
You value having a great deal of autonomy in your job but your boss is a
controlling micromanager. Or despite your stellar performance, they never
seem to show their appreciation for a job well done but will never hesitate to
point out when you’ve made a mistake. Or that ego–is it even possible for
it to be so big?
When you shouldn’t quit: When you know, deep down inside, that you’re learning
and getting better. As Judith Humphrey previously wrote for Fast
Company, “The nicest bosses aren’t necessarily the
ones who teach you the most. Some bosses–the more difficult ones–will intentionally
turn up the pressure in order to get you to think harder, perform better, or
change your work habits. You won’t exactly welcome all of that with open
arms, but it can train you in the art of taking negative feedback or input you disagree with–a valuable skill in any workplace.”
When you should quit: When you’ve tried every tactic to “manage up” but nothing has worked, and when you don’t feel like staying at
your job or your company will do your career any favors. Oh, and when you’re 100%
sure that it’s not you that’s the problem and you’ve
tried everything you can to make your relationship better.
BY ANISA PURBASARI HORTON
https://www.fastcompany.com/40436142/how-to-know-when-to-quit-your-job-and-when-to-stick-it-out?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=fcdaily-top&position=5&partner=newsletter&campaign_date=07072017
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