Reflections: 13 Reasons to Appreciate Why you Quit your Job

This article was written while I was in nature and the content flowed into me.  It is a perspective piece that directly speaks to people who left their jobs months ago to pursue the world of self-employment.  There are messages within the content that are widely applicable to people in all career situations.  Enjoy!

(1) You are not getting any younger.

Whether you are 22 or 42, you are not getting any younger.  The longer you would have stayed in an unfulfilling job, the more the habit would have solidified and the more detoxification  you would have had to look forward to.  Furthermore this type of lack of action would have spilled over into other parts of your life.

(2) You can now appreciate your new freedoms.

Do you have to ask the boss permission to take a vacation?  If you are inspired to write in nature is that option available to you?  When you first quit your job, your personal freedoms may have seemed new and exciting , but now you may have come to take them for granted.  Don’t!

(3) You invited new connections into your life.

Just about everyone who I have spoken with who took the plunge revealed that once they took this important step, people from the free world were more drawn to them.  For myself, I noticed that my connection deepened with people that were already in my life who were in alignment with my new path.  These people simply were not as interested in me while I was a cubicle slave.

(4) There was never gonna be the “perfect time”.

In hindsight, it is really easy to see actions that you could have taken to better prepare yourself to take the plunge.  But that would have been true even if you had taken those imagined steps!  It is the nature of us to not be satisfied with what we have achieved.  This can be a great motivator to keep us working harder to better ourselves as we look forward, but we should not use our new found wisdom to beat ourselves over the head!   Instead, I have chosen to focus on the important steps I took that helped me prepare and I used my knowledge of both the good, bad, and ugly to help others who are considering quitting their jobs.

(5) You broke out of the environment that was reinforcing the status quo.

Sometimes people who quit their jobs look back at where they were through the lenses of financial fears and a scarcity mentality.  From that perspective, the regular paycheck and benefits are granted inflated importance.  Through these disempowering lenses it is easy to make false conclusions based on distorting all the factors.  The fact that you wanted to break away from the frustrating and ever repeating patterns that you could not change is crowded out by rationalizations that you could have made it work.  You believe you could have started your business on the side while keeping your job.  Do you know that is exactly how abusive relationships work?  In fact the number one reason that couples stay together when they should split is due to finances!

(6) You chose to take the direct path to what you want.

Removing from your life what you don’t want allows you to take the most direct path to what you do want.  Pretty simple huh?  If you are in Wisconsin and you really want to be  in Tennessee, it makes sense to lay out a course that gets you to Tennessee doesn’t it?   Your plan includes an action step for you to leave Wisconsin because you cannot be in Wisconsin and Tennessee at the same time!  Even if your path is not perfect–for example you somehow include California on your path from Wisconsin to Tennessee, it is still a more direct path to leave Wisconsin head way west to California and then track back east and go south to Tennessee.  It may seem like an illogical detour but at least you realized that you needed to leave Wisconsin to get to Tennessee!

I used to delude myself into believing that I could continue to learn and grow in my job and that I could thus still be moving along the path that got me closer to what I wanted.  I rationalized that I could continue to contribute in my job and work on some of my weak areas so I would have the ability to hit the ground running when I did quit my job.  Once again, this was an illusion.  There would have always been something else to work on before it was time to quit the job.  Why not mold your personal development around the life you truly want?

(7)  You gave yourself the gift of self-respect.

Chances are when you made the decision to quit your job, you were aware of the consequences of doing so.  You may not have anticipated every little detail of what you are now experiencing, but you probably realized that there would be challenges.  So when you hit a rough patch or catch yourself thinking negatively, afford yourself the courtesy of respecting your original decision.   You went through a lot to get to where you are and you deserve your respect for it.

(8) Life is fluid: you still have options!

We should not be so afraid to make decisions and take risks because doing so often means we are playing the odds correctly.   Furthermore, we are not locked into anything.  If it has been a while since you quit your job, chances are good that your current path and vision do not match up to the path and vision you had when you first quit your job.    That is okay!  That is expected!  There probably have been good and bad surprises along the way.  You still have progressed along the path of finding out who you are and you are free to make adjustments.  After all you did leave Wisconsin.   You may need to take action to adjust to your current set of circumstances.  For example if your financial resources are getting tight, you may need to take a side job.  But that is not the same as remaining in the status quo.  You have still left Wisconsin and you might not get to Tennessee as fast, but you are still on the path.  You may have also found that some aspect of the business you chose for yourself is not completely right.  You are free to change your path!  Once you leave Wisconsin, it is easier to change your destination if you learn new information that makes you want to adjust your course.  You may find that there is a particular part of Tennessee that appeals to you more or you may decide to head to Texas.  Either way you knew that Wisconsin was not for you!

(9) There were bad times.

There were bad times at your previous career whether or not you currently remember them.  Sure you may in concept remember that you had bad times but do you allow yourself to really REMEMBER them?  Chances are like 100 percent that you not only had a dream that was pulling you away from your old job, but that there were many things that you did not like that were pushing you out the door!  Was it your working environment?  Were there certain people you did not get along with?  Did you often do work that you hated?  Were there recurring issues that kept you drained because you did not have the authority to resolve them?

(10) You have since accomplished important work!

What is it that you have accomplished on your new path since you took the plunge?  Don’t say “nothing” because I know that is not true!  It is extremely common for people who are first entering the world of self-employment to fail to accomplish exactly what it is they envisioned for themselves.  A few months in, they may have fewer clients than they anticipated or less content on their website or simply not have yet developed a work flow that is as comfortable or productive as they would have wanted. Nevertheless, chances are very good that you produced value for you customer that you would not have been able to offer in your previous career.  Chances are also very good that the type of value that you produced is more in alignment with who you really are.  Who have you helped in your new path?  What have you produced?

(11) You served as a good role model to others.

This became very clear to me even before I physically left my job.   Once my coworkers learned of my impending departure, I received several visits from people wanting to know how I got to the point of having the courage to leave my job.  Reactions ranged from horror to admiration to inspiration.  Regardless of the nature of the reaction, there was a reaction and thus a seed was planted.  Recently a friend let me know that she quit her job and that I had inspired her to do so.  Chances are good that your display of courage has helped others see the possibilities for themselves regardless of whether or not they have acted on it at this point.

(12) “Jack be Nimble…”

Now that you have quit your job, you are a more nimble person.  You are not one to be stuck in a set of circumstances that are not right for you.  Chances are good that you have cleared other things off your plate that should not be there since you removed the job.  Did you leave a bad relationship?  Did you give up responsibility for an organization that you were no longer aligned with?  Did you get rid of toxic friends?  The truth is that you are more nimble and flexible now.  You have the ability to act fast and disconnect from what you do not want and connect to what you want.  Really think about this point–there is an aspect of it that may not be obvious to you until you dig a little deeper.  Being out on your own has presented you with many situations in which you make decisions fast and you learn the consequences and adjust quickly.  The lifecycle of implementing a change is far shorter than it was under the world of work.  Consider the relative permanence of technology and personnel choices in the workplace and compare that to how you currently relate to the tools of your trade and to business partners.  You have more control and you make changes more rapidly.  You are nimble!

(13) Your future self is grateful!

I know this is true for me!  I stay in close contact with my past and future selves because I find that these perspectives  add depth and meaning to my current situation.  Chances are good that a couple years from now when you reflect upon the action you took you are not going to regret your decision!  There is hard data out there that shows that even for people who really faced tremendous challenges with being their own boss, few regretted giving up the old way.  So don’t forget that your future self is available anytime to lend you support if you are doubting the decision that your past self made.  Make it a point to create harmony amongst all your selves and this journey will flow much easier and with more joy!