Top 10 Reasons to Quit Your Soul Sucking Job

Top 10 Reasons to Quit Your Soul Sucking Job Its Monday morning and youve just woken up.   Youd love to bite on some tasty pancakes, but unfortunately your stomach is in a knot from all the stress you feel just thinking about going to work. As youre driving, your mind fills with all of the crap you have to deal with this week. You start to wonder, how many more times can you put up with your managers verbal abuse?   Or when will you reach the breaking point with stupid customers? Maybe you took this job because, at the time, that was all you needed.   Some way to pay the bills. But now, youve had enough.   You deserve better.   Theres something out there, waiting for you. Then around the same time youre thinking this, the little devil on your left shoulder starts whispering in your ear You cant quit, all jobs are like this. How do you know the next one wont be more of the same thing? So you bow your headsigh, and let life continue on. And before long, another year has passed and you realize once again, youre at the same job, with the same position, and the same grumpy manager. Well, today is the day you fight back.   No more excuses for letting life pass you by. If any number of the reasons below ring a bell in your head saying, Yep, thats me, then maybe its time to reconsider working there. 10. You Have No Work Life Balance Instead of coming home to enjoy being with your family and having some personal time, youre tied to a cell phone that pings every time you get an email from work.   Little 10 year old Tim needs help with his homework, but that presentation you have to finish wont take care of itself either. If you ignore your work, youre boss will most likely chide you and threaten your job.   If you ignore Billy, your wife might pick up the slack. (Which can cause other problemswell discuss later). The days just seem to run together and its only a matter of time before you burn out and become an unproductive, depressed, little work horse. Most of the time, this issue really is caused by your own habits, but if you notice Bob in accounting, Kathy in sales, and just about everyone else you work with is under this same kind of pressure, then lack of work life balance is probably part of the company culture. Sometimes it comes with the job, but if having no work life balance is tearing you down, then you might start looking for work elsewhere. 9.   Your Work Is No Longer a Challenge Youve mastered your work tasks and now they feel more like a chore than a challenge. When you look at the clock, its as if time is going backward.   Work used to be fun, but now its old. So, is lack of challenge a worthy enough reason to quit your job? Quite possibly. Motivation research has found Mastery to be one of the key motivators for work. So if youre in that position where you dont really see how you can grow much further working here, its time to move on. 8.   You Arent Valued For What You Do How many times have you given your all to a job, and never been rewarded in return? Youve worked at the company for 5 years and make a little more than you did when you started.   Or you constantly are passed up for promotions or transfers to a better job in the same company. To the business, you are just a cog that can be replaced.   And it shows by how they treat you. 7.   Your Coworkers Drain You Who you work with is important.   Often, theyll be more of a family to you then your own flesh and blood. Are you surrounded by sharks, looking to take advantage of any mistakes you might make?   Or is your office so full of gossip you wonder if you stepped back into high school? Theres hope for you if you have maybe one or two of these sour apples, but if your work just seems to attract this kind of an environment, look out! 6.   Your Values Are at Odds With the Company Culture Did you know that one-third of workers say their employers core values are not always consistent with their own? Shocking?   Probably not. Maybe youve felt this way?   It could be working on Sundays when you would rather spend that time at church or with family.   Or your manager might encourage you to stretch the truth, when talking to customers. Whatever it is, having to work outside your values is stressful.   Which leads to reason number five. 5.   Your Job Stresses You Out Lots of things lead to stress.   Lack of sleep, bad relationships, a cruddy economy. But jobs dont have to be this way. Sure theres going to be times when even the perfect job will stress you out, but it should never be a constant force. Long periods of stress are linked to hundreds of negative side effects. Youre only kidding yourself if you think you can put up with that kind of pressure without experiencing some kind of consequence. 4.   You Fear The Change of Job Switching Several people KNOW their job is not right for them, but stick it out anyways. And if you asked them why (if they were honest), Id bet theyd tell you they wont change because theyre afraid. At least you know the BAD stuff that happens where you work.   What if the next job has more of the same or is even worse? Maybe youre afraid you CANT get another job.   That the job skills you posses have locked you in a career you cant escape from. Ive been in sales for 10 years, if I want to do something else Ill have to start all over. Fear is your enemy.   Even if it does require starting over, its worth it. Sure the first year or so will probably stink as you get your feet dirty at the bottom of a new career path. But once youve demonstrated some results, that show you know your stuff, you can move up quicker than you might think. Plus some companies prefer to hire people with diverse experience backgrounds*cough*Google*cough* 3.   Your Boss Is A $@#*#()@ I left this one for you to fill in, but in case you are drawing a blank heres a link of some classic insulting names. The point is you have problems with your boss or they have problems with you. This is never good. Your boss NEEDS to be your strongest ally.   When the CEO upstairs says, Im sorry but we need to cut staff, they are going to go to your boss to hear who they would cut? Even if you were towing the line, you could have a stronger chance of staying over a person who had some All-star moments, but constantly butted heads with their manager. So if youre past the point of mending things back together, its probably safe to start looking elsewhere. 2.   Your Family Is Paying The Price For Your Job Are you so worn out by the beating your job gives you that it affects your home life? Do you feel so drained that youre not much help around the house once you are home?   Or do you often hear those close to you saying, All you care about is your job? Ouch! That hurts. Of course, we are assuming this is caused by the job and not by your personal choice to put family as a second priority. If thats the case, no job is worth that kind of sacrifice.   Im sure you dont need me to tell you. 1.   You Understand No Job Is Stable Anymore For some, you are the first generation to enter the job force where working for Company X all the way to retirement is a thing of the past. While youve grown the last 20 years, gigantic fiber optics have been laid across the ocean connecting the world in a way that didnt exist a generation ago. All of a sudden, information and work could be transmitted across the globe in less than a second. So now, in regards to that job you want, you arent just competing with Rick and Mary who also live in Arizona, youre competing with Naveen from India. And guess what?   Naveen didnt think school sucked or was lame.   No, Naveen didnt take it for granted like many of us did here in the states. You probably woke up to that realization quickly once you were in college and saw that all of these students who had Visas were pretty dang serious about getting As in Economics, Engineering, Quantum Physics, and Microbiology. Companies have woken up, and as much as they preach about keeping jobs in the U.S., whats stopping them from hiring Naveen if hes just as qualified or more, even if he does live in India? But competing with a bigger talent pool isnt the only stability Im talking about. It used to be you could work for a big company like IBM and theyd invest $10,000s into your professional development.   They did this because employees were loyal and would stay around for dozens of years, in which time the big company would get a nice return on their investment. Its rare to see that today.   Employees come and go much more often. Just as employees are competing with each other, businesses are competing for talent. Which is good for those of us who have sought after skills.   That means if Company A isnt treating you right, Company B is LOOKING for you. So in summary, if you think you can stick it out with a soul sucking job forever, dont be so sure.   Its far SAFER to take your CHANCES finding another place to work. And even if that new place isnt quite perfect just yet, whos to stop you from moving again in a year or two? What Are Your Reasons For Leaving a Soul Sucking Job? I wanted to know what you guys thought were the best reasons for leaving a soul sucking job. Heres what you said. My reason I left was because it never left me.  I tried my hardest to go home to my family and be away from my jobbut it stuck with me.  It made me unhappy in my personal life way too much. Its amazing what a great job will do for you in so many facets of your life.  I love my job now, and it shows (according to my wife). Patrick L. My boss was verbally abusive and I was working constantly. He didnt respect any of his employees and I realized that it wasnt a good fit for me in any way. Despite the toxic environment, it was still hard to make the decision to leave without knowing what was next. I realized that life is short and it isnt worth it to spend time in a miserable job.   Lindsay H. You give up a part of your dignity/humanity to preserve the sales, reputation, or image of your company (ie to make the shareholders or already rich bosses richer), and there is usually very little reward for yourself other than keeping your job. Jameson L. Feeling that whatever you do is never enough and goes under appreciated. Hector C. images courtesy of Aristocrats-hat Alan Vernon Maggi_94 HikingArtist.com thinkpublic Stefan The Doctr Kalexanderson