Quit my job with no plan – now what?

Millions of people across the globe wake up in the morning with the general sensation of not wanting to go to work — that is a reality. They have frequent conversations with their close friends or family members, saying: ‘I’m thinking about quitting my job.’ Quite obviously, this is not a situation that inspires nor uplifts us on our quest to live a more meaningful life.

The fact is that nobody wakes up in the morning and says, I really want to waste my day, by being bored and I want to indulge in negativity today. NO! People may do so because of their circumstances, for example, due to a lack of opportunity or because they feel stagnant in a particular area in their life. But this is very different.

Our Natural Inclinations

The nature of human beings urges us to live up to our true potential. We want to be proud of ourselves. We want to contribute to the world, knowing that we live by a bigger purpose that goes beyond just ourselves. Interesting is that intrinsically, people know what their benchmark for ‘GOOD’ is. They know when they procrastinate; when they have treated someone unfairly or when they let fear get in the way of their progression in life.

You can observe such results all over the world. You can see people being disappointed, dissatisfied and seemingly trapped, without options to create a better existence. And, the only way somebody could ever have such emotional response, is by being aware of one’s own potential — their benchmark for what ‘GOOD’ in comparison to ‘MEDIOCRITY’ looks like.

HOW Is the Question

So, the question that we should ask ourselves is not WHY we should be creating a more meaningful life. No…, people already know that. The question is HOW we should start and go about it!

I hear people all the time saying: ‘I’m bored with my job and need a change.’ But how? The fact remains that we all have to make a living somehow, and it is a question of options and opportunities, isn’t? I remember myself years ago, as the only options that I used to see were options that I didn’t enjoy — if I saw options at all. For example, years ago I struggled financially, unable to pay at times the supermarket bills, as I was standing in front of the cashier, seeing my credit card being rejected yet again. I didn’t see other options and I felt trapped in the land of mediocrity.

If I had work during these days, I was unhappy in my job, and I couldn’t see a way out. I simply wanted to quit my job, but I asked myself…, then what? I wanted to pursue my vision as an entrepreneur, but even though it felt immensely congruent with how I saw my life progress, which unfortunately didn’t make the money required to pay the bills. So, what is the best way to find meaningful work?

What Is The Definition Of Work

To answer this question, we first must understand what work is in the first place. Work is not the corporate role that you potentially fell into at some stage in your life or a part-time job that you do not enjoy. Work should be a natural fit — a natural extension of yourself, something that you enjoy doing tremendously and it should highlight your natural skills and inclinations. The problem is that most people never made time to truly contemplate on what they really want in life, and hence they dangle around like an old and faded piece of string in the wind.

Work is part of life and hence should be treated with care and respect. How good would it feel if you could make the work you do part of your natural inclination for what you enjoy most? Would that not be worth getting up for? Sadly, in today’s society where the quest for money supersedes by far any sense of passion or creativity, and a job that you like seems hard to come by.

Here are my favourite ACTION STEPS that you can use to follow a path of passion and excitement for the work you do:

STEP 1 – Acknowledge that you are FULLY (100%) responsible for being in this situation, and only you can change it, by making more empowering decisions moving forward. This way you are incapable of blaming anyone else. People in the world that don’t blame others, will find solutions to an existing problem.

STEP 2 – Become really clear about what you actually want. Is it that you want to remain in the corporate world, or have you been thinking about becoming a consultant that teaches on subjects of your passion? Regardless, you MUST become clear about it. Write down the pros and cons of both options and weigh them up.

STEP 3 – Once you understand what you want to create moving forward — create it! Create options, create opportunities, move closer towards your desired end step. How do you create options you might ask? Well, since you now know what you want, start to investigate certain industries, companies, job positions that excite you. Another very good angle to take is to start contemplating what you are truly passionate about in life and let those investigation trigger ideas. Be open, be curious. You might want to volunteer in an area of your interest, or you contemplate on starting your own consulting business besides your full/part-time commitment. Either way, going beyond just the work you do to pay your bills and to instead look for ways to inspire yourself again, are incredible steps forward.

I quit my job, now what!

If you quit your job, without having created options in your life, as explained above, your first step should be to again find work. I know that you may not want to hear that, but it is the best path forward. There is nothing more uninspiring than being pressured to turn your business or your volunteering efforts into money — don’t do that. Instead, alleviate your pain points and buy yourself time to be able to transition out of your current role with a clear action plan forward.

I had situations in my life, where I could not bring myself any longer to work for this particular company, and I decided to quit my job with no plan. I followed my gut and wanted to experience happiness, and my past work was simply not part of that equation. I tell you right now that if you are in a similar situation, and should take full ownership of your actions that led you into this situation, and to create opportunities before you quit your job with no plan. I have done it, and it is not worth it.