Have you ever been in a job where you felt that your energy was being drained? We have all had a job or two where we felt undervalued and overworked, but when do you know that your current career path is simply NOT the one you should be on? Maybe it is time to call it QUITS. Your life and your talents are too valuable to be wasted on doing something you are not passionate about.
If you are even slightly doubting your current job / career path, the signs below are worth considering seriously:
- Your passion is gone. Your friends and loved ones would be concerned for you if they saw you in this state. The fire in your eye, the spring in your step is gone as soon as you enter your workplace.
- Your work suffers. Your lack of passion has started to negatively affect your work and it shows. You find no value, have no interest, and certainly no desire in producing the work you have been hired to do. You spend hours looking at your to-do list and get nothing accomplished. Don’t mistake that for being lazy – you are unmotivated because you have stopped feeling inspired and passionate.
- You KNOW there is more out there. You are overwhelmed with the feeling that there is way more to life than this. You know your heart and your calling lies elsewhere, and can almost feel an invisible pull. You cannot bear spending another moment doing something you don’t love because you know WHERE you want to be. And it is not here.
- You stop socializing at work. Those coworkers you used to go for coffee runs with, those friends you used to go grab lunch with, you barely want to speak to them anymore. You just want to be done with your day so you don’t have to have anything to do with this part of your life anymore.
- You feel physically sick. The night before the start of another workweek is the worst. You physically dread going to bed, and waking up the next morning because you know what awaits. This is an important sign that it is time to quit. No job or amount of money is worth feeling physically and mentally sick for.
- There is no one at your workplace whose position you want to take over. A few years ago you would have gunned for his position at the company. You were the uber-ambitious newcomer looking to climb the ladders and move up the ranks. But now, you look at your senior executives at work and can hardly point out one person whose job you want to take over. You just know this company, this industry, is not one you want to be in. So why stay?
If you have identified with these signs, maybe it is time to take a step back and re-assess. Maybe it is time to take the big bad step and call it quits. Life is all too short to be spending doing something less than what you are passionate about.
But be careful. Although these signs can say a lot about the way you feel about your work, there are a LOT of other factors at play. It might be a tad bit fool-hardy to jump the gun before exploring the root of your issues. An in-depth consultation with a coach will be your best way of determining whether there are other factors in your life contributing to these feelings, and if they can be resolved first, before you pull the trigger and call it quits.
UNPSYCHOLOGY 