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You Hate Your Job But You're Scared To Quit

This article is more than 9 years old.

You wake every morning miserable because you can’t stand the thought of going to the office to do a job you hate. You moan and groan so much about the job you hate that not only are you miserable, but everyone around you is as well. You get through each day of misery only to go home to bed so you can revisit it all over again tomorrow. If you hate your job so much, then why stay? The answer is simple - change is scary. You hate your job but you’re scared to quit.

You have to ask yourself what is more frightening – the thought of being miserable day after day at a job you hate, or the thought of a job unknown?

People tell themselves that “the devil they know is better than the devil they don’t know.” Sure, they may be miserable and unhappy now, but what if a new job makes them even more miserable and unhappy? And yes, their boss may be a jerk, but at least they know the extent of the current boss’s jerkiness. And at least they know they aren’t getting fired from their current job and who knows if a new company would actually fire them, leaving them with no job at all. They have successfully convinced themselves that the unknown is far worse than their current situation.

Now stop and consider the alternative view. What if a new job with another company turns out to be awesome? What if your new boss actually cares about helping you succeed? What if the new company values your skills and talents, and even rewards you for them? What if this new job led you to wake up happy and excited to go do a job you love every day? What if that is the description of the unknown?

The fact is that you will never know which is better until you decide to make a choice. As I see it there are only two options: You can either change your circumstance by finding a new job, or you can change your attitude about your current job.

“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” – Maya Angelou

If you determine that you want to seek out a new job here are a five recommendations to consider:

1. It’s easier to get hired by a new company while you are still employed by your current one. New employers like the fact that you are currently employed because it says that another company values you enough to keep you on board. It also lets the new employer feel they are winning a competition between themselves and your current employer by hiring you away. So, try to find a new job before you quit the current one.

2. Make a list of the things in your current job that influence your feelings of misery. Is it the duties you perform, or the people you work with, or the industry you’re in? Figure out what you disliked so you can seek out companies that differ in those key areas.

3. Make a list of the people you know who might have leads about new jobs. Networking will almost always be your best option for finding a new job. Often times you may even work with a vendor or a customer who might make an excellent new employer for you, so consider every avenue.

4. Money should not be your primary driver as you consider new jobs. Taking a job for less money, that allows you to be happier, may be worth doing. In my experience, the happier you are the better you do and the more you end up being rewarded for that down the road. So don’t let a starting salary stop you from taking a position you love if there is room for that position to grow.

5. Once your decision to find new employment is made you will find yourself noticing opportunities all around you. You will find yourself looking for potential leads from every conversation you hold. You will begin to attend events that you previously found boring because these events now represent the possibility of finding something new. Simply making the decision to find a new job opens your mind up to the field of potential and you will quickly find your energy returning and your happiness level going up. All that from simply making the decision itself.

Don’t allow your fear of the unknown to stop you from doing what you really want to do in life. Sure you know exactly what you have today, but recognize that what lies in the unknown may very well be everything you ever hoped for. There is only one way to find out.

~Amy Rees Anderson (follow my daily blogs here)