I want to confess right out of the blocks that I don’t have a great perspective on the subject of this Dave Rave, in part, because I’ve always loved what I do. I am one of the blessed ones who found, very early in life, his calling and has pursued it with singular focus.
I know that’s not always true and there are times when we wind up in work that not only is not fun, but not fulfilling. And rather than adding to our life, it detracts even more than we earn.
I read a startling statistic that said in the first six months of 2010 more people quit their jobs in America than lost their jobs. That tells me that there are a lot of unhappy people out there. So here five signs it’s time for you to resign and move on to something bigger, better, and bolder.
Sign #1: You dread Monday morning on Sunday afternoon. If on Sunday afternoon, as the weekend winds down, you’re dreading getting up and trudging off to the office in the morning, chronically over time – I’m not just talking about once or twice in a blue moon – but every week you begin to dread Monday morning, it’s a sure sign you need to find something else to do.
Sign #2: Your stress level goes up when you’re at work. I believe that some stress is good. As a matter of fact, the only thing that’s stress-free is something that’s dead. But I am talking about the kind of stress where you tense up in your shoulder, you grit your teeth, at the end of the day you are totally wiped out, and you have to come home and collapse in the easy chair. It’s not the physical stress that’s draining your energy. It’s the emotional and mental stress and strain of having to perform at something for which you have no passion.
Sign #3: You work around people for whom you have little respect. It’s one thing to get up and do your best at work you love. That’s hard enough. But to do it around people for whom you have no respect, either professionally or personally, becomes too high a price. If you work around people who are dishonest, lazy, who are demeaning, and non-learners, you need to get out sooner than later.
Sign #4: There is no foreseeable future in which the return on your personal investment is going to be worth it. We all go through seasons in our lives and careers: seasons of ups and downs, seasons where things go well, and other seasons where we work harder than any other time and have little return. If you’re in the kind of work in which you see no return or future turn-around, it’s time to get something with a bigger future.
Sign #5: You’re bored. If you don’t have to stretch and grow and learn in order to do a better job to increase your income and return on investment, it’s either time to work on you, or work on the work. Because passionate, exciting, thrilling work ought to overwhelm you just enough to cause you to continue to be a learner, to continue to have curiosity and want to know.
Here are five simple signs you should resign. I’m not saying if all five apply to you, you need to turn in your resignation tomorrow. But I am saying these are early warning symptoms that you need to get on with your life. As a renegade for God, my creed is: live free, have fun, and change the world while you’re doing it. Live free – that’s one thing. Have fun – that’s about work. That’s about life and relationships. That’s under your control and you can change it the minute you decide to.