At some point in your professional or career journey, you are going to come across the need to move on to a new job or a new setting.
This is normal and healthy. However, when this feeling comes, you must be clear and honest with yourself as to what brought about this need for change.
It is important to know the origins so that you can identify whether they are worthy or not. There are specific reasons that you should never base your decision to leave a job on.
The first is fear. As a rule of thumb, fear is never a healthy, standard footing to base a decision on. This is because fear overrides reason, causes tunnel vision and amplifies the pain of losses far more than the possibility of potential gains.
The second reason is offence. While feeling disrespected, unappreciated or offended is completely valid, making a major career decision in a state of anger or hurt is often ill-advised. This is because leaving after being offended means that you have handed the keys of your journey to someone else.
Being offended often stems from the actions, inactions, words or opinions of another party. Even if that person is powerful, you must try to keep the keys of your career in your own hands.
The last criterion is not a “what”, but a “when”. Even if your decision to leave is valid, do not fully leave mentally before you have left physically.
This is for your own sake because it immediately turns time into an unbearable enemy. Every day that passes becomes intolerable and every unsuccessful job attempt feels like an excruciating disaster.
This negative state further hinders your performance, reputation and options towards a better opportunity. The point of leaving is not to prove to others how many gaps cannot be filled. It is about leaving footprints that are worth to be followed.
