Quit everything and make the jump

The other day I stumbled upon an article that talked about a very common feeling among the workforce.  She described a sort-of corporate malaise that people feel.  They feel bored at work, unsatisfied and are fed up doing something that they don’t want to do.

Her message was simple.  Stop doing it.  Stop doing anything that isn’t perfectly aligned with your passion.  Doing anything else is giving in and you will never truly break away to be happy.

I cringe when I read that.  It might be good advice for some, but I always feel like they promote the response of running from challenges to find happiness.  Personally, I think we have to work through challenges if we want to do work that make us happy.  I don’t’ think it is as simple as “quit everything and make the jump” to something that excites you.  In fact I feel there is more value in finding something you like in what you are doing rather than focusing on everything you dislike. 

Now I’m certainly not saying we should spend our life doing unfulfilling work just to pay the bills.  But I think that jumping from one extreme to the other extreme sounds much better than it really is.

Nobody talks about another option though.  They either say to stick with the horrible situation or stop completely.  It is as if there really isn’t anything in between.

I believed that when I was younger.  Instead of going on to graduate school after college, I started a business.  I jumped right in.  But even in that moment, it took years and a lot to learn. 

Therefore, I always promote the concept of making progress towards that dream career not expecting it to come to you because you quit.  Many times you can learn valuable lessons in your current situation that can help you.  And, you probably have a ways to go before you should quit what you are currently doing.

It might sound like procrastination but it doesn’t have to be.  You can start to take specific steps to slowly position yourself in a way that gives you an advantage and helps you slowly acquire the skills and knowledge that you will need.

So if you have done this for years and are now just letting fear stop you from making the final jump, then yes, quit everything and make the jump.  But if you just had a rough day at work and your boss pissed you off, don’t assume quitting on the spot is the answer. 

Instead, start to explore what it is you want to do.  Then start to take action towards that goal.  There are plenty of things that can be done to slowly prepare you for your upcoming journey and help position you for success.  Quitting isn’t the only thing you can do. 

So learn to stick with challenges and work through them.  Learn to start to build up the right skills and attitude to be successful doing what you are passion about.  Because when you do make the jump, you will find that there are challenges there as well, and you can’t just go around quitting all the time.