Quitting your job can be uncomfortable. And the fact most employees hate their job indicates a resigning is a step most workers don’t take soon enough. Contrary to what most “career” writers say, staying in a job you hate is a huge mistake that can tank your income-earning prospects.
Spending time working a nowhere job for pay is a colossal waste of current potential earnings. And significantly reduces your future potential earnings. Meaning every hour you spend treading water at a dead-end job is costing you hugely!
Why Working a Bad job Actually Costs You Money
In economics, there is the concept of “opportunity cost,” which is a way of determining the most profitable choice in a given situation.
Essentially, to estimate how much a plan is worth, you add up all the profit you would make and subtract how much profit you would make if you did something else. For example, if you make $20/hr at one job but could make $25/hr at another, then the first job is -$5/hr given the opportunity cost.
Opportunity cost is a hugely important concept because it not only considers how much money you could make with a particular plan but how much value your time has.
Your most valuable resource is your time!
From Bill Gates to the guy standing on the corner asking for change, everyone has precisely the same amount of time in a day. The difference between the life of a millionaire and a bum is how they choose to spend those hours.
If your current job is compensating you to your maximum potential, you are paying to work there, considering opportunity cost.
What You Should Be Doing Instead to Live the Life of Your Dreams
What’s even more critical is how hours, minutes, and second spend working in the right direction compound.
As you are now, you probably are not experienced, knowledgeable enough, or motivated enough to earn your maximum potential income. This reflects the fact that almost everyone is on their way up, getting better and better every day.
If your current occupation is not actively increasing your income-earning ability daily, you are throwing money down the garbage.
All too often, I see people just working jobs for pay because they “have to.” Or because the daily grind has become a habit that is hard to break. Or because they are afraid.
I had a good friend I knew in the military who had ambitions to make money and travel the world. And while his time in the service had gotten him pretty far, he knew that his future growth potential was capped in his current role in terms of skills, freedom, and income.
However, his family and friends told him, “Don’t leave a safe job.” They convinced him, “It’s just ten more years until you can retire.” And so he stayed, not realizing that the so-called safe retirement probably actually cost him his dream. Because in 10 years, it may be too late for him to build up the experience and skills to live his dream life while getting paid to do it.
Why Quitting Your Job is Essential to Growth
In my own life, I have experienced the siren’s call of a consistent work environment. Where I knew I wasn’t getting ahead in life, but I was sure I could pay the rent and live “comfortably” in the manner I had become accustomed to. If felt safe.
But really, that feeling of safety is the feeling of laying down and letting your dreams die.
Life only gives us what we demand from it. No one is compelled to have grand, adventurous experiences. No one is forced to make life-long memories with their wife/husband and children. We have to train ourselves to expect a higher quality experience and not be happy with earning less.
I knew that if I was going to make a serious change in my life, I had to quit right away. Because every day, I let the habit grow and that feeling of safe numbness expand meant I was less likely to break free from the mirage.
Quitting my safe jobs was the best decision I ever made because it forced me to grow, learn, and expand my expectations beyond where they had been cemented over time.
Related Questions
Is there ever a good time to quit your job?
There is never a safe or comfortable time to quit your job. But, there is always a good time, and that time is now.
How do you know when it’s time to leave your job?
When you are no longer growing, learning, or excited by a position, then it is time for you to leave that job. Life is too short and human potential too valuable to waste it working a job that doesn’t challenge you and drive up your future income earning capabilities.