Is quitting your job motivating? Or terrifying???
I have a client that keeps toying with the idea of quitting her job. Maybe you think about quitting your job too.
She believes it may be the only way to get her unstuck from her job that’s just a little too comfortable.
She knows she’s got potential, and she knows she’s meant for more than doing what she’s doing now.
But the paycheck is good, the commute is decent, and the people she works with are nice.
And when she looks around at the world there are so many people out there struggling. She has no desire to be one of them. Frankly, neither do I.
So what’s it going to take, she wonders, to ply her from her tad-too-pretty office and into the unknown to do something that makes her feel alive?
The only thing she can think of is hurtling herself, like a skydiver from 12,000 feet, out of her job and into the great blue unknown. . .
But is quitting your job the right motivation to make you take the next step? Or is it like jumping without a parachute?
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The truth is you’ll have to answer that question for yourself, but here’s my take on it:
Quitting Your Job As Motivation
Quitting your job might be thrilling, for about a minute.
Then reality sets in.
You realize that not only do you have to motivate yourself to do whatever you were trying to motivate yourself to do before (find an amazing career – or take the steps you need to take toward securing one), but you need to do it while you don’t have a steady income.
Now if that sounds ok to you, you might be a candidate for taking that jump.
But it probably sounds like another layer of complexity and fear.
Now you might be thinking you’ll have more time to take on the tasks you felt so unmotivated to tackle before. But ask yourself, is time really the problem right now?
You’re still finding time to watch Homeland. (OMG!)
You’re still finding time to hang out on Facebook.
You’re still finding time to chat with the girls. . .
So it’s really not time that’s holding you back. So what is it???
Fear
You guessed it!
Fear.
It might look different for different people, but you might recognize yourself:
- a fear of missing out or choosing the wrong career
- a fear of making a mistake
- a fear of upsetting other people
- a fear of making less money
- a fear of change or the unknown
These are just a few of the things that you might be afraid of, and the logic is that quitting your job will make you face the fear because you’ll just have no choice.
You don’t have to back yourself into a corner like that. Don’t tie your hands and don’t limit your options.
Quit your job if your job is really, truly horrible, but not as a way to jump-start yourself into action.
I’m well aware that these are my opinions about what YOU should and shouldn’t do. So what’s really important here is what you think. . .
Your Thoughts On Making Your Career Change
What do you think?
Is it a good idea?
Are there other reasons to quit besides freeing up extra time or jumping into a situation where you MUST do something?
What’s the other side of the story?
Or do you agree?
Please let me know what you think in the comments!! 🙂