By Jennifer Hakim, founder and director of Jennifer Hakim Communications, a marketing and PR agency for mindful businesses.
You don't care anymore
A couple years before I started my agency, I had a massive burnout. It paralysed me with fear and plagued me with the feeling I wasn’t good enough. I felt isolated and unappreciated at a high pressure job I had once loved. It was clear I couldn’t talk to my manager or colleagues about it, and was just gradually hating every second I spent at the office. The situation got so critical that all I could do at the time was quit my job - and it is to this day the best decision I have ever made. While I felt I had lost all sense of direction when I left, the big picture became instantly clear once I handed my notice: I wanted to do much greater things, work that had a meaning and a positive impact on the planet. I could finally see my next step: being my own boss. I became a freelancer for a few years then saw a new step: founding my agency. Had I remained at a job that was limiting my potential and breaking my confidence, it would have either slowed down the process or would have killed my big career dream. So if you are reading this and on the verge of breakdown, take this moment for yourself to truly assess the damage the wrong job can do to you. Here are 10 signs it may be time to quit your job and get a better one.
Dreading Mondays
This is the a very obvious sign you are not too happy with your job. Nobody likes getting up early on a Monday after enjoying those days of delicious freedom, but it’s a much, much different scenario when your mood starts to sink every Sunday afternoon. Ask yourself the right questions: What exactly is bringing you down? What would make you feel better? Can you do anything about it? One thing you can do for sure is start working on your CV. You may want to use it soon.
That Stomach Ache
Do not close your eyes on what your body is telling you. Your mind may be strong willed and insisting you stay at that job you hate, but that grip in your gut tells a different story. There’s no need to wait for a nervous breakdown. Give yourself the respect you deserve and hand out your resignation letter.
Panic Attacks
This often comes paired with sleepless nights (Especially Sundays), and it doesn’t amount to anything good. This is the biggest sign your body could ever give you (along with feeling actually sick as you come in to work), and it’s a serious one. Once the panic attacks start, you are at serious risk of burning yourself down. They will not disappear until something changes. And that something is that sucky job taking up all your time, energy and confidence.
Office Paranoia
Something’s not right when you constantly feel at risk of losing your job or be ridiculed when you suggest new ideas. You may even feel like colleagues stop talking when you enter the room. Who likes to have a target on their back? Embrace that freedom
Feeling Stuck (‘but I won’t find anything else’)
See it this way: what would you tell someone staying in a relationship with someone they don’t love only because they’re afraid they won’t find anybody else?Just leave them already. A job is no different. You may be feeling stuck now and think there are only problems with no solutions, but that is because you are too sucked into the self-sabotaging, soul-destroying hole that of the bad job. Get your head up and see the light. The world has countless opportunities waiting for you, but you need to be free to be able to seize them. Make the decision, build your plan, and go after it. No excuses.
Self Hatred / Doubting Your Talents
We can all fall into the trap of self-criticism without it being a sign of burnout. But becoming your own bully, inevitably means something has snapped and you are no longer aligned with what you do for a living. It may be that a manager expressed criticism that directly connected with your inner critic, and, at the wrong job, this can be blown out of proportion quickly. If you end up with feelings of self-hatred, start calling yourself an idiot with no chance of succeeding, and feel your talents were all a lie, that means your qualities are not appreciated (often the result of bad managers who only tell you what you do wrong), and it may time to take them elsewhere.
No Progression (and no sign of one)
This is a classic when it comes to sucky jobs: your boss turned down your raise or promotion because ‘you’re not good enough’ but still wants you to stay. In many cases you’ll end up sticking to it in the hopes your time to shine will come, and anxiously wait for your next review to get a positive answer (which, of course, won’t come). Your management is leading you on. If you really weren’t doing a good job, someone else would have filled your position long ago. Some people will see vulnerability in people and use it to avoid paying up. Take that setback as the perfect timing to go out there and find a killer job that is actually worthy of you.
Crying Before Work, At Work, After Work
I have been there, my friends have been there, even my clients have been there. When you hate your job and feel under-appreciated, you start physically rejecting it. This starts with feelings of stress, panic, muscle tension and of course, tears. Although crying doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing from one person to the next (as we all have different levels of stress tolerance and emotional expression), one thing is clear: if you cry at the thought of going to work, while going to work, before or after meetings, when you get home or even hide in the office restroom to have a good cry, your body is ringing the alarm. Talk to your manager, take a well-deserved break, or take a leap and hunt for a new job that will put a smile on your face every day (yes, these jobs exist).
Not Caring Anymore
The company just lost a client. Who cares? Not you. If you don’t feel involved anymore, it is your queue to leave. This is especially true and obvious for people who started off on a high note, going the extra mile to reach the quarter goals, doing everything they could to serve the company and please their boss, and getting increasingly disappointed as their own dreams get squashed. When managers don’t show you how much you mean to the company anymore, and your ideas are constantly shut down or ignore, you gradually stop caring. If you’ve stopped caring about what happens to the company, and don’t get excited when it gets new wins (or protective when it’s in trouble), that doesn’t mean you’re a bad employee. It just means you’ve fallen out of love. Leave as soon as you can so you don’t get stuck in a toxic relationship.
Your Dream Life Is Incompatible With Your Job
This is a big one. Be honest with yourself: what is your big dream? What is the highest version of yourself doing when you envision it? This image is your direction, guiding the future steps of your career. Sometimes a bad job can be a very useful step to reach your next position, and you may have to endure a rough patch to climb up that ladder. But if you know deep down this isn’t even leading you towards where you want to go (not even close), don’t waste an extra minute of your time and go hunt for a job that will honour your dreams and help you reach your end goal.
Does it sound at all like you? Have you recognised either, or several of these signs? Fear not, I have been in your shoes, and now I’m living my best life. A bad job can be the bridge that takes you to the job of your dreams. You just have to truly open your eyes to reality and cut your losses before it gets in the way of your ultimate career goal. You owe it to yourself to do what you love.