Your Job - Quit or Stay?
Posted on September 29, 2022 by Richie Kyriacou, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.
If you’re currently battling with this question, this blog post will provoke you to think deeper about what lies ahead
Whether you have financial commitments or not, quitting a job can be a huge decision. It’s easy to say ‘Just do it’ when you don’t have responsibilities relying upon your monthly pay cheque. But it is possible to quit a job no matter the personal situation. Each person’s situation will just require a different plan.
Do you know what you want to do if you quit?
If yes, great! Visualise the what and the why of the journey you want to embark on. You don’t need to have a 37-step plan in place to start. Focus more on what’s in your control right now that’s conducive to your vision. Surround yourself with people that are supporting you. Implement healthy habits to feel energised. Be aware of the spirit snipers out to burst your vision. Eliminate/ Reduce the unhealthy habits allowing you to feel sluggish, unmotivated and low. Challenge your limiting beliefs (too old, too young, too unqualified etc.). Embellish your strengths and own your weaknesses. Once ready to launch a business or change employers, what else do you need to hand in a resignation? Do you really need it? Most often the things we think we need aren’t needed at all. We often hold ourselves back with a fear of failure or success. Be honest calling it out. If you don’t know what to do if you quit, that’s great too. This can mean you haven’t found it yet and it awaits you one day. Be patient, reflect and work on yourself in the meantime. Accelerate your self-awareness journey to uncover what is a meaningful future and take action to develop more clarity. Identify one step to take and if it’s off-putting because of its discomfort, break it up into 2 steps.
If you’re frustrated with your current employer and it’s not damaging to your health, turn it into a game with your thoughts and emotions. Individual perception can have a strong influence on your attitude towards work. Why is it that an event can be interpreted in completely different ways by people? The answer lies in each individual’s frame of reference, culture, beliefs, environment, experiences and internal make-up. These all influence our thoughts and emotions about situations. We produce upwards of 60,000 thoughts per day and 70% – 80% of those are negative. Our thoughts trigger our emotional reactions. That’s a lot of unwanted emotions! That is energy that could be chosen to be spent elsewhere. Literally, chosen. We have the ability to catch ourselves in these states and choose a more helpful response. Yes, it takes a lot of practice. What would be the reward if it was too easy? Try it, next time you feel a rush of resentment, anger or frustration towards something or someone, notice it, take a deep breath, let it go and choose another response for a better long-term result.
One final note on staying in a role, it’s important to not get caught up in waiting for that perfect fit. Often today, individuals jump ship too frequently to fix a lack of fulfilment. It can take time to feel fulfilled in a chosen field. Focus your effort on building a valuable skillset. The rewarding times often appear once that skillset is producing unique value for others. Focus on your craft giving value to the world as opposed to what the world can give you. When I was 16 trying to choose what university degree to pursue, my school’s career guidance counsellor asked me whether I saw myself working in a suit or dirty clothes. I immediately chose a suit as I related it to money and importance. He heard enough and filled out my choice form with business-related courses. In hindsight, that was a terrible method for determining a boy’s future but my point is, it’s rare to be born knowing your purpose in this world. We need to get our hands dirty with experiences, build a valuable skillset and live each day in line with our values being OK with whatever the future may hold.