Should I quit my job?

This thought crosses the mind of most of the people working in corporate sector. The frequency varies from person to person. You are super lucky if this never crossed your mind. But if it did and you are searching for some guidance - here’s a set of useful pointers that can help you make the decision. 


The most obvious question you should ask yourself first is “Why do you want to leave your current job?”. Some possible reasons below are: 



I’m not going to cover much in the “Other” category because there’s more influence from aspects that we could control less. But let’s look at the other 5 reasons up there. 


Time to move on


1 and 2 above interesting. If these are the ones that make you feel like quitting your job and if you have high chances of getting hired at other places, go do this. Get the ball rolling - apply elsewhere, tap into your network, figure it out and get an offer. Even if you LOVE the place where you work and LOVE the people around you - go do this. This puts you in a place where you can now negotiate from a position of strength. If you really LOVE your team, be candid with your boss and let them know that pay or the role is something that’s at the top of your mind and that you needed to take care of it. See what their reaction looks like. If they are all over you, will take care of the concern and want you to stay back - you have the option to consider it. But, if they shrug their shoulders, DEFINITELY move on. You now know why you were not in a good place. Don’t worry if you can survive out there at a new company - YOU WILL. You (and we all) are made to with stand pressure and take on more challenges. To expand your skills and your horizon. So don’t settle for less - not worth in this life - maybe you can settle down in the next one if there’s one. But in this life, be active and stay active - try for wins in a healthy way. 


May not be the time yet


3 is probably similar to 1 and 2; but you can probably try talking internally first before you make the move. Often times, you may have to move out anyway because say you stayed in the place for several years and everyone around you has a certain “perception” about you. It’s hard to change that often times, so it’s best to move on and create a brand new “perception” elsewhere. Maybe this is an opportunity to reset how you are too. Maybe you are a soft worker or a grumpy worker and everyone looks at you that way - and a new start will give you options to reset and start on a positive note elsewhere. Analyze yourself, spend time meditating, fix yourself if needed and then you can easily win the world over. 


Work upon yourself first


5 and 6 are on you. They are screaming that YOU need to change yourself. Change the way you think, change the way you prioritize and even change the way you operate. Know this - stress is generated internally. By your mind. Period. Be objective and candid about it. Analyze and figure out why your mind is generating stress. Is it that you don’t like someone or you don’t like the environment or don’t think you are getting paid, etc. If the ultimate reason boils down to 1-3 you know where to look for guidance. But if it’s not, then you need to dissect it further. 


Say, you are stressing out because there’s lots of work and you can’t handle the load - you need to be real and let others know that you are hitting your limits and have them not dump more on you. You’ll need to set realistic expectations and that’s perfectly OK. But say you are like me and want to figure out where your breaking point is, you’ll continually take on more, challenge yourself and never get stressed - because you know it’s your mind that’s generating the stress. Maybe you’ll be physically exhausted but never get mentally stressed out. Stress is not real - it’s made up, but has real impact - on your body, on your family, friends, etc. So regardless of the reason, figure out a way to step above the mind and operate from there. Meditate - this will give you immense clarity. Over a period of time, depending on the intensity of your meditation, you’ll start seeing it very clearly that it’s your mind that’s playing the tricks. And stress vanishes into the thin air - and you’ll have a powerful smile now on in every single interaction you’ll have. 


Say, you don’t like people around you (team mates, manager, etc.) - you need to really introspect to see why that’s the case. Is it them (which your mind tells you “YES”) or is it you (your mind) that’s putting yourself in that position. Often times, it’s you and not THEM. Be candid about it. At least you should be candid with yourself. If it’s clear it’s you, then work up on yourself. But if it’s truly truly truly them, because they have a perception of you, get out of that place. It’s hard to fix people’s perceptions - especially if they have gone from positive to negative. It’s not impossible, but it’s really hard. And if these people have material impact on your life, time for you to move on. 


Finally, think of the consequences and the risks leaving your current job brings. Not to deter you, but to have you prepared better for the worse. Measure twice, cut once. 


All the best in your journey. Don’t forget to let me know if this helped you!