Before You Quit Your Job
At one point in my career, I was both in the best place in my life personally and the worst place in my life professionally. I didn’t know it yet. I was in uncharted territory. If you had asked me then, I thought I was one turn away from living my BEST life all around. I was working at a company that everyone dreams about, I had a salary that afforded me an extremely comfortable life and I had found what Oprah refers to as “The Flow”. I just wanted to live that moment forever. I had the awesome opportunity to create a professional development program for young adults ages 18 to 24 years old experiencing homelessness. It wasn’t your average resume building and dress-to-success seminars; It was truly an all-encompassing experience for young people to learn and apply principles of career success in an environment that could change their lives economically.
What does flow feel like?
Until that point, I was the person who came to work to do my job and go home. Nothing more, nothing less. I hadn’t taken the time to figure out what I was actually good at since college and because of that I went to work unhappy and left word drained and defeated. Fast forward to three years in my job, about 30 graduates of my program, and a few tough conversations with my mentor, I thought maybe I was on to something. I worked harder than ever to make the program better, not to mention how exhilarating it was to create the program and launch it in the first place. I had finally found something else I was good at. I was able to hear firsthand about the lessons each program participant got from their experience and their mentors and I was able to see how some of their behaviors changed, in addition to the way they showed up every week. I felt like I was making a difference in the world and getting paid for it!
So, how was this the worst time of your life, you ask?
I failed to mention that my job at the time had nothing to do with community engagement, professional development, or life transformations. My job was to conduct data analysis among other projects for my company’s multimillion-dollar product portfolio. That company objective was the furthest thing from my mind. I worked my hardest to grow the program to two new cities with my leadership’s guidance and I did what I needed to do to keep my job afloat until I couldn’t manage the two anymore.
I hated feeling stuck.
I was ready to quit immediately. I almost did, many times, which we can discuss another time. When I finally did quit, I had done so much thinking and reconsidering and recalculating that I knew I had to pull the trigger. I walked into my boss’s office and told him the bad news. To my surprise, he was supportive of my decision. Though he was visibly disappointed, he understood, based on my explanation, why I had to do it. Whew, that felt good… but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t terrified.
Embarking on a new journey
If I can pinpoint the moment I started to develop the courage and the confidence to make this huge transition, I would say it was two years before I ever pulled the trigger. First I started working on a mindset shift, I began to shape my reality around who I wanted to be and where I wanted to go. In every area of my life, I began to reconsider my health, my finances, my relationships, my time, and what I fed myself mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. Before I knew I wanted to quit my job, I was building a new version of myself while moving forward through turbulence and uncertainty. It clearly didn’t happen overnight. Just ask a person who had a goal to lose 100lbs and actually did it. Before you saw the sexy photos on social media, there were many nights of near relapse and shaky confidence. Of intentional backsliding and negative self-talk.
Making a smooth landing
After a journey of my own, I am back in a state of flow; creating programs to facilitate life transformations and learning how to help people get to a place in their careers and lives where they are fulfilled. For me to get here, I needed to go through a transformation of my own. My transformation took nearly four years and I am still growing. Your transformation will happen in its own time. What’s most important is that you start working on your future self today. The sooner you get started, the sooner you will actualize your vision.
How you actually make the transition in your career
If you have thought about quitting your job, trust me, it’s not as simple as quitting today and becoming the entrepreneur of your dreams or falling into your next dream job. There are habits that you must adopt and implement consistently to ascend to your next level of greatness. I’d like to offer FIVE tips to help you get unstuck, quit your job (or not), and move forward with confidence.
1. Read a chapter of a good book for 10–20 minutes every morning. I don’t mean to read any book that finds itself on someone’s top 10 lists. Find books that help you think differently. If you like reading romance novels, keep reading that but include something that will allow you to learn new habits or build discipline in areas that you’re already working on. “The Slight Edge” by Jeff Olson is a good book to get started. (thank me later)
2. Talk to people. If nothing else, the book “Never Eat Alone” by Keith Ferrazzi tells us how important it is to reach out to people and form relationships. If you don’t know what you’ll do next, you can talk about how someone you admire does their job (this is called an informational interview). Connecting with other people and hearing their stories can also give you perspective about what you’re experiencing in your job. Nothing is all bad or all good. Speaking to people will help you see past your situation and find ways to move forward.
3. Create a daily routine that enriches your spirituality and your physical wellbeing. Simply put, you can work out 30 minutes a day and meditate 15 minutes a day. Going to church or your place of worship once a week will reinforce your actions during the week. Church alone is not enough to maintain the level of faith you need to bet on YOU but you can supplement your time by reviewing what you learned in church every morning when you pray.
4. Set yourself up financially. Whether you decide to quit your job or not, you’ll need to manage your money with a keen eye. If you do quit your job, you’ll be even more prepared to weather the storm of paying your bills as you move into the next chapter of your life. If you’re not already contributing to your 401k, start now and contribute up to or more than your company is willing to match. You also want to start a new savings account. This isn’t to replace your existing emergency account. This account is to fund your dreams.
5. Make a decision and stick to it. If you’ve given it enough thought and you realize quitting your job is what will bring you happiness and freedom to explore something else or relief from stress, then you must make a decision and a plan. and move forward. No half steps. When you go tandem skydiving, the person on your back is there to make sure you don’t do anything out of fear like grab onto the outside of the plane or panic before you jump. Needless to say, that could end badly for the both of you so take a page out of Nike’s book and Just Do It. This example also speaks to the importance of having an accountability buddy. Everyone may not support your decision. Therefore, you should be selective about the people that you choose to tell your plans to. Your accountability buddy’s only job is to make sure you don’t hesitate when you decide your next step. They are there to support you through it and help you remember why you made the decision in the first place.
Only you know when it’s time to move on. No one else can know that for you. My advice is that you do your due diligence to reflect and speak to someone you trust to think through your next steps. No one path is the same as another person’s journey. I now find joy in helping others thinks through their options and possibilities to make a choice they are most excited about. If my story resonates with you and if these tips helped drop a line to tell me how it's going!
