First: Here are 7 signs you need to be brave and quit your office job
1. You have trouble getting up in the morning
2. You dread “the negatives” of the office more than the potential joys of it: The gossip of the colleagues, looking at the screen 24/7. Not even home-office excites you. Every job has negatives. But these negatives seem unbearable to you.
3. You are reading this article at work!!!!!
4. There are only “ok days” and “draining days”. Having ups and downs is normal and if we had an “ok day” we wonder if it’s worth it to leave the job. However, at a job we like we also have bad days. But we also have REALLY good days that motivate us and keep us going. At a job we hate we have more of “This day was ok, but not brilliant” and then absolutely draining days. If the moods were represented in a diagram, the curve would range in a much lower spectrum.
5. You crave movement badly.
6. If you envision your future 5 years from now, it doesn‘t entail your current office job. You know swapping out one company for another, makes no difference. And you couldn‘t care less about educating yourself further in the field you‘re working in.
7. You already have a different vision in your head, but have no idea how to make it happen. Maybe because of financial reasons or because you fear failure or ridicule etc.
I was in this exact situation. Here is the original statement I wrote to myself:
OK, I want to quit!
But how do I make it happen?
7 Steps to Quit and Find Meaningful Work:
1. First of all: Make the internal decision to actually do it! Even if you fail, the feeling of standing up for yourself will be priceless and change your entire life for the better. Trust me, the last thought I had was „It’s easy, I could just quit“. I even started to develop a depression around it. When I finally did it (without having a Plan B by the way), a huge relief came. And that relief actually enabled me to proceed finding something I really wanted to do.
2.If you have children or pets to take care of, look for all the help you can get. Even the state offers help sometimes, this depends on the country you live in. Tell people you trust about your reasons for quitting your job, ask for help wherever you feel comfortable.
3.This also goes if you are only fending for yourself. Ask for help. If you have an issue with this, because it makes you feel weak, do some inner work on this topic. Question your beliefs. Especially re-think your belief around giving- most importantly if you came from a family where your parents only gave you something “with strings attached”, meaning they wanted something in return instead of giving it freely to you (even if that was something like affection). Here are some resources that might help you with this: How to Receive, How to Change a Belief
Concentrate on the doors that ARE open, even if they’re small!
4.Do my Shadow Work exercise and replace “the part of me who doesn’t want success” with “the part of me who can’t quit the job”. Implement the insights gained from this exercise into your life.
5.Play out the worst case scenario. E.g. if you’re afraid of ending up homeless, play out that worst-case-scenario through until the very end and then question its likelihood. You will find there are always „safety nets“ that are very likely to catch you before this worst-case-scenario happens. However, it is very important to play the scenario through until the very end, and ONLY THEN ask yourself how likely this would happen. This way your brain really understands there is not as much to worry about. If you are too stuck in a doom-mentality, have somebody else help you with this process.
6.Find out what it is that you DO want. For this purpose, take out a sheet of paper and write down everything you hate about your current job. Then next to it write all the opposites you would rather like.
Example: I hate sitting all day -> I would love a job where I can move around more.
I despise the toxic hierarchies in an office – I would love to work in an environment where I can work more autonomously.
My job seems pointless -> I want to do something that has a purpose and helps people.
Etc.
7.Then based on this list write down vocations that fulfill these descriptions, no matter if you have the qualifications for it or not.
For every one of them write a list of pros and cons. Could you do some of them with only minor job changes? Or do you need to start a new apprentice or study entirely? If yes, which jobs could you do on the side to pay your bills? Concentrate on the doors that ARE open instead of banging on the ones that are closed. If you struggle with this, you might consider doing step 3 and 4 to help you feel more empowered and hopeful.
My Message for You:
In the end, I can promise you: It WILL be worth it. You are not here to live a mediocre life. And if you don’t like what you do – change it! There will always be risk involved! And there will always be fear. Fear is part of the deal. So be brave anyway.
Feel free to message me here, if you need some advice or further resources. You got this! ♥
