Is it time to quit?

Get the Tip of the Day by Email

"A winner never quits and a quitter never wins" -Your football coach, dad, mom, a poster at your high school, oh and Vince Lombardi

A friend of mine quit her job recently. Like many of us, this Lombardi quote was beaten into her psyche. Even though she was miserable, and there was no foreseeable way to make her work less miserable, she labored on. Finally, she asked herself some tough questions, and realized there was an upside to quitting.

She asked:

• Are the values of the organization/supervisor consistent with my own?
• Will this job help me achieve what I want in 5 years? 10 years?
• Am I happy? (this is an important one)
• Will I be wrestling with these same miserable questions three months from now? Or is there a path towards making the situation better?

Then she wrote out a pros and cons list, and asked herself, "Are these pros really pros? Are these cons really cons?"

It's hard to let go of something if you've poured yourself into it. But, as this freakonomics podcast says, you should think about two things:  sunk cost and opportunity cost. Sunk cost is about the past - it's whatever you've already invested. Opportunity cost is about the future. It means that for every hour or dollar you spend on one thing, you're giving up the opportunity to spend that hour or dollar on something else - something that might make your life better.

If you're in a bad spot, think about your opportunity cost. As great as Vince Lombardi was, realize that he probably was never in the situation you're currently in. Winners sometimes quit.

Do you have a process to determine when it's time to move on? Share in the comments!

James Hannaway is a Fellow with the Candidate Project at NOI   

Photo from Y, via Creative Commons