Strong Female Leaders

By Nan Nan Liu-Maffetone | Strong Female Leaders | Reading Time: Five Minutes
Falling out of love with a job is like falling out of love with a person. You are no longer excited to spend time there. Instead you feel bored, disengaged and have a burning desire to seek something different. You are not quite sure of the root cause yet, but you know that the relationship has grown stagnant at the best, and lopsided and abusive at the worst. Change is inevitable and it is decision time. All you need to do right now is to find the right reason to validate your choice with.

Signs That You Should Leave Your Job Now

1. You have no future there.

Having a deadend job is worse than having no job. Instead of gaining marketable skills, you are wasting the best years of your life in a deprecating position. If you cannot leave immediately, then double-down and learn something new in your spare time and work a side gig to gain valuable experience. If your job becomes obsolete someday, you will be one step ahead in finding new opportunities.

2. You can no longer grow.

Doing something repeatedly and continuously stunts growth. If the job that you used to get excited about now feels like groundhog day, then you should look elsewhere to stimulate your intellect. A different set of challenges in a new environment brings excitement and an opportunity to build confidence. Your current job may provide security, but the complacency will eventually lessen its meaning. Leaving it, on the other hand, will give you the mental space to learn, grow and thrive.

3. You work in a toxic environment.

Do your colleagues, organizational superiors or clients insult and point their fingers at you? Do you often work overtime and are constantly exhausted? Do you feel bullied at work and have no one to turn to? They are sure signs that you should leave your job. A harsh environment causes physical exhaustion, mental breakdown and emotional trauma. No matter how much the job pays, nothing is worth more than a person's well-being. For your health, get out of there.

4. You procrastinate.

If you find yourself procrastinating with doing everything under the sun except your job, you should let it go. Perhaps you need a break? Perhaps you need a new work place? Perhaps you need to go back to school and learn a new skill? If you avoid it so much, then you should not be doing it. Maybe someday you will come back to it and fall in love again. But for right now, you have fallen out of love and need to take a break. Instead of holding on to the past, try discovering a new path forward.

5. You behave against your personal values.

Your core values define who you are, guide the choices that you make, and influence how you treat others and yourself. You join a work place not only because of the job that you do and the things that you produce, but also because its company values align with your own. When your job no longer shares the same values as you, or worse, if it makes you behave in ways that oppose your values and cripple your character, then you should walk away. No job, even if it comes with an impressive title and attractive compensation, should change who you are.

6. You fail to create a new purpose.

You have worked hard, earned a senior position and have turned a little job into a grand career. If leaving sounds too drastic of a measure, then try your best to construct a new purpose. But if you can't or fail to do so, then perhaps you shouldn't be there anymore. You have done great things but the ship has sailed. It is time to move on.

Parting Thoughts

Letting go is hard to do. It takes strength and audacity, and doesn't always work out as expected. But letting go is also a part of being alive. It gives you a fresh start, a new beginning and a different perspective. The world is full of opportunities that can be discovered only when you let go of the past. Like breaking up with someone whom you have fallen out of love with, hanging on will only cause more pain. It is best, therefore, to leave it behind. So good luck finding a new job or career path and a brighter future.