Stop Quitting Your Job For The Wrong Reasons

Fact: over 50% of the US workforce report not being engaged. When these disengaged workers leave, 89% of employers think they go for more money. However, only 12% leave for that reason.

Hitting the professional ceiling can be a consequence of the structure of modern corporate life. Between your early 20s and your mid-30s you are “in the race”; you start from the bottom of a well-defined ladder, and you climb step by step every 2–3 years. You get promotions and salary increases as part of a progression that you know you can achieve with dedication and patience.

But after a few years into a stable career, disengagement may surface. There is no predefined promotion ladder anymore, and goals are less noticeable. You made Managing Director already. Now what? Is it time for me to do something else? Maybe. There are different options you may want to consider.

How to Unleash Some Helpful Thinking

Professional change is uncomfortable. We may find ourselves chasing "shiny things" without a clear goal ("anything is better than what I already have"), or crushing under the weight of loss aversion ("changing jobs is tough and risky, and I cannot risk losing what I have").

In the face of change, speed may lead us to the wrong decision. Pausing, reflecting, and exploring the right questions instead of chasing quick answers may yield better results over time.

1. Assessing What You Want

• What is important to you, and why?
• How does your current situation feel?
• Imagine you had the power to force any change, without limitation. What would you change that could improve the situation?
• What is under your control right now, and what is not, in the face of what needs to happen?
• How would you feel if you found a way to start working right now on the change you need?
• If in 10 years you looked back, what would you be proud of?
• How does that "you" of the future feel?

2. Assessing Your Current Situation

• What questions are you asking yourself, in the face of this transition?
• What is working well in your current job? What is not?
• How important is maintaining your lifestyle? Would you be ready to earn much less for the same amount (or even more) hours of work?
• Are you still learning?
• Do you feel supported by your boss?
• Is there a career path in front of you? What would you need to remove for that path to become a possibility?
• What gives you positive energy? What drives you? What drains your energy instead?

3. Assessing Yourself

There are three critical pillars to unpack when working on a professional transition:

a) Gaining clarity about your "Why": values and purpose

You may think of this as understanding the values that influence your decision-making process (how do you determine what "feels" right or wrong for you?), determining the impact you want to have on yourself and others through your work, and noting the activities and responsibilities that energise you ("what makes a good day a good day and why?").

Your "compass" may be helping others develop, being part of a high-potential team accomplishing a challenging feat, disrupting a particular sector, or working on corporate deals that make the front page of the Financial Times. We all have something that makes us tick and pull us out of bed. It is critical that we align our job with those outcomes.

b) Understanding your strengths

What are you better at than 70% of people you know?

If you wake up every morning having to "defend" your weaknesses at work, it will destroy your motivation and your self-worth. The best people at anything focus on working through their strengths.

It may sound simplistic, but many people are stuck at jobs that do not allow them to shine. If you are a good salesperson but you don't have excellent attention to detail, being a financial controller may not be the best career option for you.

c) Reinvesting your career capital

For someone with a 5-year track record in investment banking, setting up a wellness centre may not allow him/her to "monetise" his or her network and expertise. Yes, it may align with what he/she wants to do, but much value will be left on the table, making the career shift more difficult. Not impossible, but tougher.

Yet, if that same investment banker decides to join a start-up as a CFO or COO, or maybe become a business consultant or an advisor (to name a few options), these paths allow him/her to reinvest relationships and expertise into that new job, instead of throwing it all down the sink.

Your Ideal Role Fits The Confluence of All 3 Aspects:

• generating outcomes that make you proud and fulfilled,
• by using your strengths while complementing your weaknesses, and
• reinvesting your expertise and your network from your previous professional life into your new professional stint

4. Wait! What if Staying is Your Best Option?

Sometimes we are bored at work and too busy (or lazy!) to explore the real reasons underpinning our desire for change. At the same time, there may be determining factors, like lifestyle or income considerations that we cannot easily dismiss when thinking about a career shift.

Despite our short-term impulses, leaving for the wrong reasons may not be aligned with your longer-term well-being. Our brains often confuse what we want today with what we need longer-term. Breaking out is an option, but it is not the only option.

At times we do like our job, and removing our boss from the equation or experiencing first hand the effect that our work has on others is all we need to get back on track.

What can we do in those situations?

Option 1: Crafting Your Job

Can you be proactive and discuss career paths with your manager?

You may be able to take a different role in a new team, find a mandate that better suits your strengths, or do something more aligned with the outcomes and activities you are craving. I know bankers that have moved to "coverage" or relationship management roles, leaving their previous industry-specific positions, as they grew more interested in business development vs more direct deal management.

• Are there alternatives within the company that would allow you to reboot your energy? 
• If learning and purpose are critical for engagement, are there ways to get on a learning path again?
• How can you see for yourself the impact that your work has on internal partners and external stakeholders?

Option 2: Crafting Your Life Around Work

You may solve your engagement issues by boosting your energy around (or outside) work. Maybe splitting your time between work (earning a living) and art (doing something you love), as this must-read article by Derek Sivers explores.

How about mentoring or coaching others, teaching at university or as part of your corporate training seminars, becoming an angel investor in your spare time, joining a board or getting involved in charitable causes? What can you do to bring positive energy to your life that balances things out?

Conclusion: Sometimes You Have to Slow Down to Speed up

It is not easy to craft a career that you genuinely enjoy. It takes time to build mastery, and mastery requires focus and experimenting through trial and error.

Sometimes we need to trade off something 100% aligned with a passion that does not fit a need the market can pay for. Instead, it may be worth pursuing something that fulfils you in other ways, like doing work we are good at so that you can become a top performer over time. We may be fine earning less but pursuing a career that pulls us out of bed every morning.

There is no ideal answer. However, when considering the next step, there are things that you can do to get "unstuck." You may start understanding the pros and cons of your current situation (all factors: purpose, work environment, financial and others), becoming aware of the things you can change and those you cannot change, and separating the things you need in the long run vs those you want on the short-term.

If you need answers, take time to ask yourself the right questions and give yourself permission to explore all options, even those that don't seem aligned with your immediate impulse. And in the end, if you decide to leave, then leave. But do so for the right reasons.