Don’t quit your job before reading. I wish someone had told me this.
“Freedom consists not in doing what we like but in having the right to do what we ought.” Pope John Paul II
On January 2019, I was forced to quit my dream job. Or what I thought was my dream career. I quit after mentally and physically struggling for 6 months.
Without going into the details, it was soul-crushing.
Looking back, I now think it was one of the best events in my life. Despite that, I wish someone has shared with me what I will write in the following few lines.
If you are reading this article, I consider you lucky. You will be in a better place than me, you won’t struggle with what I have experienced.
There is a difference between doing the right thing and doing more of the wrong thing.
Don’t get me wrong; nothing is right or wrong, haha!
But!
There is always a more intelligent move that feels right, a strategic step that will save you a couple of years and open up the door for more opportunities.
I was working on the trading floor in a hedge fund. It was like a dream come true.
3 years into the job, I started recognizing that there was something more to do with my life. My health started deteriorating, and the work environment became toxic. However, I wasn’t ready to quit yet.
As Sherre Hirsch puts it: “We plan, God Laughs.” I guess life had other plans for me.
First and foremost, If you’re experiencing any forms of harassment at work or if your work situation is affecting your mental or physical health, you shouldn’t stay and wait for the right moment.
Find people who can give your professional and legal advice and jump out of the boat before it sinks. Prioritize your health.
Do something about it!
I made the mistake of waiting. I denied the signals coming from my body-mind. I ignored the red flags and assumed things would be better one day.
Letting things drag eventually led me to quit abruptly. It wasn’t a choice; I didn’t strategize my move.
I don’t want you to experience the same situation. It wasn’t easy!
In the 4 years following quitting my job, I have been an unemployed, full-time entrepreneur, and a full-time employee and part-time business owner, and here are what I wish someone had told me the first time I had the idea of quitting my 9-to 5.
1. It Will Take More Time, Money & Energy.
“Most people overestimate what they can do in a year and they underestimate what they can do in two or three decades.”- Tony Robins
I don’t know where millennials and the young generation got the idea that replacing their work income could happen overnight.
Sorry, I’m lying!
I know, social media!
Not all of it, though.
Please don’t buy the marking tricks used by people without integrity who are running ads presuming they can teach you how to become a millionaire in 6 months or 6 steps to quit your job and build your business in 6 weeks.
Influencers posing with a laptop by the pool on a sunny day somewhere in Mexico with the caption buy my program for financial freedom through investing in crypto, isn’t reality.
How do I know?
I live in Mexico, next to the beach, and I go to the pool to get some sun and enjoy the view. But never to do work by the pool!
On a sunny day, you can’t even see your laptop screen, focus on creating meaningful work, and risk ruining your laptop with water.
It’s an old marketing trick. They want to sell you a lifestyle you desire and hope to collect the next month’s rent through your ignorance.
Think about it!
You study for 15 to 20 years and work for 3 to 5 years to earn a good income. But do you think you can create financial freedom through entrepreneurship in 6 weeks?
It will take more time, money, and energy.
It takes an average of three years for a startup to become profitable. It took amazon 10 years to start making money, and most new businesses fail in the first 5 years.
Let that sink in!
2. Rethink Your Living Standards
“A budget is telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.”– Dave Ramsey
When I used to work on the trading floor, I heard of people who make 2 to 3 million a year but finish the year broke!
When you start making more money, you slowly form new spending habits. I don’t see it as a problem as long as you know it and keep earning more each year.
The problem is habit persistence.
You continue living with the same consumption habits even when you make less to no money.
Countless economics studies show that past consumption habits affect current preferences and the difficulty of changing these habits even after the reduction of income.
It takes time to form new spending habits and more time re-adjust, especially when you think of it as a downgrade of the living conditions.
The best way to avoid continuing to follow your good day spending habits while you’re not making the same income is to cut your expenses while you are still at work.
Before you quit your job, do an inventory of your spending habits.
Is what you are spending a necessity or a luxury?
Are there subscriptions and monthly fees you can live without?
What are the habits you picked after an increase in your income?
Experiment with your spending and cut it down progressively.
whether your plan to pursue entrepreneurship or to find a new job, it will almost always take longer than you think
You can do this task best accompanied by someone else.
People have mixed emotions about money and their spending habits. Be open to hearing a second opinion.
You won’t die, spending 30% less. It will buy you more time to create what you desire.
3. Heal
“Nothing comes from without all things come from within.” -Neville Goddard
Strange, right?
We are talking business and the corporate world here. What’s this guy talking about? Healing?
I used to think the same way. I’m a scientist and business-minded; I’m not interested in hearing about spiritual “wouwou stuff” or even meditation!
This step is the most important one; your future depends on it!
Nothing comes from without. All things come from within, even your current and future job situation.
Quantum physics proves it as well.
I believe it, and I lived again and again!
You will keep living in similar situations and meeting people with the same traits until the day you learn the lesson and heal from it.
The experiences you have in the outside physical world are a mirror reflection of your state of consciousness.
I kept creating and attracting events in my life that mirrored my relationship with my dad, including my dream job.
Only after a couple of months of quitting did I realize what was happening. I asked myself what’s in me contributing to creating these situations.
Heal your money blocks, communication blocks, and relationships blocks..
It’s a journey, but the more you address and purify, the faster you’ll get what’s good for you in life.
Have you ever had a friend dating the same type of people with different faces and names?
She tells you that she finally met someone not similar to the previous ones. But, a couple of months in, you can see the same behavioral patterns repeating. It’s almost nothing has changed.
Jumping from one job to another without spending time in self-reflection and addressing what didn’t work will yield similar conditions in a new work environment.
Do your healing work!
Once I addressed and healed my relationship with my dad. I’ve never experienced people with these patterns; I have more peace of mind because I’m aware of it, and my following job environment is the opposite.
4. Find People On The Same Path
Successful people don’t do it alone.”- Malcome Gladwell
Whenever you encounter a person bragging about his self-made achievement, you’re most likely talking to an ungrateful person.
Don’t do it alone!
The difference between the student and the master is that the master is always open to learning.
You’ll be jumping in a new ocean. Your old circle will neither fully understand what you are doing nor support you.
They are busy with their lives; they have other interests. They like the conventional path or working a simple job and fear change.
I was expecting that my friends would support me. They didn’t! it’s normal
You are different! Not necessarily better. You’re just different
Find people who are walking on the same path and walk together. Your efforts will compound, you will exchange resources and knowledge, and you will support each other.
Connect to people ahead of you in the process and be open to learning from their mistakes and their “savoir-faire.”
Put your ego aside, mister, know it all!
I often take calls from people willing to investigate their lives path and ready to make a career change. I point to where they could be going wrong and see their resistance to being open to help.
Find your tribe! you don’t know what you don’t know
5. Quit with a Plan
“The early bird gets the first worm, but the wisest bird gets the fastest one.”
― Matshona Dhliwayo
Don’t quit your job to figure out what you should do next. Quit your job because you’ve already figured out what you will do.
Put your emotion aside, and use some rational thinking.
Follow your heart but don’t leave your mind completely out of the picture.
Part of connecting to your heart’s desire is using your mental capacities to your favor.
Working a full-time job doesn’t stop from allocating a couple of hours each day to investigate and work on an exit plan.
I now ask people to follow the 8–8–8 formula.
If you are working 8 hours and sleeping 8 hours. What the heck are you doing in the remaining 8 hours?
If you jump the guns early and leave your job prematurely. You’ll find yourself spending your days aimlessly, and you will have a lot of time on your hand, with nothing much to do.
You won’t have income-generating activities to do.
Time equals money. If you are not making money, you are spending it.
It’s recommended to quit only after developing a proof of concept of what you will do with your time later.
If your plan to change jobs quit after securing a couple of interviews or better offers.
If your plan to work for yourself, following your heart’s genuine desire, quit when you know that working full time on your new venture will increase productivity and results.
It means you have created some results while working on it part-time, see results and potential, and judge it’s the time to go full in.
I personally like to quit a job only when I replace my income after tax for 6 consistent months. It’s the best spot to make such a decision.