A question that’s been coming to mind recently is – when is the right time to go?
That is, to leave a company (not to visit the latrine).
For contractors it’s often around the 2 year mark when certain tax rules change if you stay in the same organisation or when the project is coming to an end and your services are no longer required. But for permanent staff this can be more of a dilemma. I know because I was a permanent employee for 10 years plus. 6 of them in the same place.
When I find myself regularly thinking about the things on the list below I start to ponder whether I should move on.
* I don’t like the people I work with – I find I’m getting regularly frustrated by people hiding information, communicating via email and not being open and honest.
* I don’t like what I’m becoming – there seem to be more days than not where I feel cynical, tired and unenthusiastic.
* I am bored, not stimulated – I may be busy, but there is no opportunity for growth. I’m stagnating among the dysfunctional quagmire of the organisation I work for. (I’m quite proud of that sentence!)
* I spend more time playing foosball, out to lunch or in the gym than I do at my desk.
* I regularly need to suppress the urge to stand up in the office and shout ‘Monkey cocks‘
This is the state of ‘lingering’, and it should be avoided at all costs. (hmmm, a missed opportunity for a fart joke? Nah – I’m sure I make enough of those)
We all may find ourselves here once in a while, but it’s important to spot it, and then do something about it before we start to loose our personal integrity.
If you are lingering and you think it’s easier to stay where you are and as you are then you are very wrong.
It will do nothing but drain you of energy, slow down your productivity, make you grumpy and then BANG, the worst possible fate has happened. You have become part of the dysfunctional corporate world we all hate. Ouch.
There’s a whole world waiting out there, and although the grass is often just as brown on the other side, there’s huge power and reward in taking control of your own destiny.
Personally I notice the most growth when I change jobs / switch companies. I start to re-engage my brain and kick start my motivation. I get to learn a lot in a short space of time.
So, if I know I am being lazy and a number of things in the list above start to resonate with me, then it’s time to get off my arse and do something to break out of it.
That may mean moving company, it may mean changing role or team internally, but I know I need to do something.
If you are happy in your job, then sorry but this week’s post is not aimed at you lucky buggers.
Or maybe it’s not luck at all. Maybe it’s because you noticed your own signs of lingering and did something about it. Nice one.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Final thoughts.
Wish me luck. I start a new job in 2 weeks…