Time Is Up: Knowing When to Leave a Job
We’ve all had our bad days at work. And sometimes, they’re so frustrating that we leave the office in a huff, swearing that we’ll type up our resignation letter the minute we reach our house.
However, something happens on the drive home; we start to replay the day’s events in our head and realize that maybe we should have approached things differently. Maybe we got too defensive when the boss pointed out our mistake or that overtime isn’t such a bad thing since you’re planning to use that extra income to buy those shoes you’ve been eying.
You wake up the following day feeling refreshed and decide to give your job another chance.
But what happens when you wake up in the morning after a particularly rough day at work and still feel as lousy as you did the day before? What if you’re running out of reasons to validate why you should stay at your job? What if all the signs that you should quit are already presenting themselves to you and you just haven’t recognized them yet?
Here are signs that prove that time is up and it’s time for you to render your resignation:
You’ve stopped growing
Growth doesn’t necessarily have to mean a promotion or a raise. It involves continuous learning and feeling valued for your expanding skill set. However, some jobs simply cannot teach you anymore than it can. And you find yourself doing the same thing day in and day out.
You no longer feel challenged
When you’ve memorized and mastered every aspect of your job, you can start to feel like a robot who can literally get the work done with their eyes closed. When you feel automated, you don’t feel stimulated anymore. And we all need to feel that rush of being pushed in order to achieve amazing things.
The passion is gone
A lot can change over time and a job that you once loved can lose its luster in your eyes. While there are ways to rekindle how you feel about your job, it’s possible to be so far gone that you can’t even recall why you were so passionate about the work in the first place.
No more grace
Do the people at work stress you out or frustrate you? Not everyone is fortunate enough to work with people that they consider friends outside of work. Unfortunately, you cannot choose your colleagues. And you definitely cannot pick your boss.
You feel displaced
If your job has you feeling lost or lonely, it can be a terrible place to be. This can happen when your superior doesn’t exhibit true leader quality and leaves their people to manage themselves, never providing coaching or any feedback on your performance. You can start to feel undervalued, leaving you to feel empty and detached.
Feeling any of these things are obvious signs that it’s time for you to leave your job. Your work should fulfill you and make you look forward to your future with the company. Time spent at the office shouldn’t exhaust you emotionally, and it certainly shouldn’t make you feel worthless.
Dr. Yashima White Azilove
I am an international speaker, certified coach and skilled consultant with over 20 years of corporate brand communications executive experience in the media, entertainment, healthcare and financial service industries. I now use my expertise in brand communications to ELEVATE audiences, corporations, celebrity/talent and faith organizations.