Are You Quitting Your 9 to 5 Job? The Major Questions To Ask Yourself and How To Do It

This week’s episode of the Holistic Wealth podcast is a very important one. Are you thinking about quitting your 9 to 5 job? In this episode, we explore the major questions to ask yourself before you quit your 9 to 5 job and how to do it successfully. During the pandemic, I’ve received so many questions from people who are thinking of switching careers altogether so taking a job in a different industry and field where they would be starting from ground zero. The pandemic has caused us all to look more deeply at our lives to examine the direction we want our post-pandemic lives to take. Here are the three major questions to ask yourself before you quit your 9 to 5 job as well as some strategies to transition successfully.

Three BIG Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Quit

These are the first big questions that you need to ask yourself before quitting your 9 to 5 job:

1. Am I working for the right organization?

This is a big question. It’s very important to ask yourself this question because you want to be working for an organization whose values are aligned with yours. In doing that, think about the things that are very important to you in terms of your values. You want to do an assessment to see how much importance and how much significance in terms of that organization that you’re working with and the significance they place on your values. So, for instance, are they just paying lip service to the issues that directly impact your personal and professional life, like diversity and inclusion? For some of us, diversity and inclusion is a big one. And you want to get a sense of just how deep, the depth and breadth of their coverage on these important issues to you. So whether it’s diversity and inclusion, work-life balance, fair promotions, pay and benefits etc.

Tip: Craft Your Own Personal Mission Statement with Your Personal Values

In my book Holistic Wealth, there’s an entire chapter on crafting your personal mission statement, in a way that’s authentically aligned with your values. It’s also very well laid out in the Holistic Wealth Personal Workbook. There’s actually a list of values outlined in the Holistic Wealth Workbook to help guide you. And you can go through each one and tick the ones that correspond with your values and there are case studies in the personal workbook that will help you to craft your own personal mission statement. So that’s something that I would start to do right away, as you’re thinking about how to make that transition in your career. The Institute on Holistic Wealth also has a personal mission statement template and mini-course to help guide you.

2. Am I in the right position?

So the first question was, “am I working for the right organization” and the second is, “am I in the right position? And that’s a question that we ask ourselves throughout our careers. It’s one that you need to ask yourself when you think about quitting your 9 to 5 job or transitioning out of your job. If you wake up every morning feeling demotivated, absolutely lost, feeling stressed out, when you think about going to work, there is an issue there.

If you wake up feeling energized and ready to go, ready to conquer your day with your work, then that’s a good sign. It’s a good sign that you’re still motivated. Your job still keeps you happy and energized, and that’s a good thing. But if you ever have those Monday mornings where it’s just the worst feeling ever when you wake up, then that’s not a good sign.

There are some other questions that we want to ask ourselves like “do I have learning opportunities to grow and evolve in this position? Am I even still learning? Do I have a manager or a leader who I’m learning from? I think for many of us, especially when you reach a certain point or milestone in your career when you’ve built up a lot of experience, you can actually reach that stage where you need to grow and learn from somebody else, perhaps another leader with another set of skills.

3. Am I positioned to or set up for the future career that I want?

How Transition Out of Your 9 to 5 Job

There are a series of steps to take to ensure you have a smooth transition and they’re so many considerations to think of in terms of your field, your industry, what the job prospects look like, for instance, what are your personal finances looking like right now? What are your goals and your dreams? And all of that is so very personal. The books mentioned in this article are very helpful in any transition period in your life including career transitions.

Craft Your Networking Plan

One of the next steps is crafting your networking plan. In crafting your networking plan, it’s best to outline concrete goals. So, if you want to look for another job in another organization, you want to look outside of your field or industry, start thinking about the people you can start talking to in that organization. Start thinking about the who, what, when, where, and really jot down your networking plan with actual concrete goals. For instance, one month to month three, who do I want to connect with to do this? How many people in the field or industry do I need to connect with to make a decision? There’s an entire chapter on that in Holistic Wealth and there are resources in the Holistic Wealth Personal Workbook to help you with that. It’s important to think about your life goals.

I want you to think about your goals from now through to retirement. So even in your retirement, what do you want that to look like and start planning ahead from now. So over above this particular job, this particular industry, what do I want to do? In terms of your personal finances, that’s another big area that you want to take a look at, for some people they might want to take breaks now, they might be able to take a month or two just to focus on the job search. They might be able to resign their positions and have that break because they have the personal financial cushion to do that. Now, you might not have that cushion, but you can look at your personal finances and assess what you need to do, and ask yourself the important questions like, can I give myself a month or two? What is my budget looking like?

In the Holistic Wealth Personal Workbook, there’s also a budget spreadsheet and it’s a worksheet that can help you to budget, to think about whether you have gaps. Many people will have career gaps during COVID-19. It’s becoming the norm. We’ve discussed it previously on the Holistic Wealth Podcast, what to do if you have gaps and how to figure that out on your resume, how to put it on your resume so that it doesn’t put you at a disadvantage.

So even if there’s a gap of a month or two, or even a year (I took a year off for a sabbatical), it’s important to get comfortable with those gaps. It’s what we do in that time, that really counts. So if you plan your finances like you anticipate the gaps and even expenses associated with changing a career or going back to school, getting a new certification. These are all financial issues that you can start jotting down in that Holistic Wealth Personal Workbook, in that spreadsheet right now.

Figure Out Your Personal Financial Identity

This is the part where people get really nervous and anxious and can’t sleep at night because they’re thinking, if I leave my job, what am I going into? If it takes me two months to find another job, what do I do? The personal financial aspect of any career transition is important. I developed the personal financial identity quiz. It’s part of the personal financial identity framework and the quiz is available on the Institute on holistic wealth website. It takes two minutes. In two minutes or less, you can find out your personal financial identity. By taking the quiz, you will learn about yourself in untold ways. I’ve had so many guests on the Holistic Wealth podcast, tell me how their results have been spot on and how much it’s just opened up a whole new world for them.

This is important because it will help you plan ahead. So for instance, if you’re thinking about taking on any risk as you think of quitting your nine to five job, for instance, some people are thinking of starting businesses. Some people are thinking of transitioning into freelancing. Some people are thinking of transitioning into other areas where, your personal financial identity becomes very, very important, especially in terms of managing risk. It can be emotionally stressful when you’re transitioning out of your 9 to 5 job into a different industry, into entrepreneurship, or even finding another job. So thinking about your personal financial identity, knowing who you are, putting that into your budget, letting that frame your overall money philosophy, your spending and your saving identity will be critical.

For instance, there are people who’ve taken the quiz who’ve identified as Anxious Spenders. If you’re thinking of quitting your 9 to 5 job, and you’re an Anxious Spender, and you’re thinking of transitioning into entrepreneurship, you might feel very anxious and nervous. It’s enough to send your anxiety through the roof. So it’s good to know your personal financial identity and have the tools, to be honest with yourself, to communicate with others and give yourself grace and patience and the time to figure out what you need to do and take the time that you need. Take the time that you need. There’s no need to take on more stress than you need to right now.

I want to also share a few other pointers about quitting your 9 to 5 job. Always think about how you can leave your organization and your team prepared after your transition. So thinking about breaking the news to your manager, first, thinking about how you will transition your files well so that your team members feel secure knowing that what they will need to do all of those things will set you up for success in terms of your transition from old colleagues, your old bosses for everyone to have that good impression, which is very important. In this life, you never know what can happen as they say, “don’t burn your bridges”. The next one that I want to say is in terms of giving your notice if you’re giving the notice to leave, it’s great to also give that extra time, as well, just for your planning for your team.

I also do one-on-one coaching. If this is something you’re interested in, you want to work through any of these big pieces. I’m available. Contact me through [email protected]. Again, the books are also a great resource for transitions, Holistic Wealth, the first edition, which is the Holistic Wealth: 32 Life Lessons to Help you find Purpose, Prosperity, and Happiness. That’s the first edition of the book. Then there’s the Holistic Wealth Personal Workbook which can be a great resource for you. It’s your constant companion. I’ve had readers tell me they don’t leave home without it. It can help you really think through and strategize this entire process.

Pre-order the Holistic Wealth Expanded and Updated second edition. This book will help you move the needle in terms of building your Holistic Wealth Portfolio, which is so, so important. I’m excited that the book is now available for pre-order. It will be out in the world and it really will help us go from this first book to the second book, to the next step in our journey, which is making sure that we all have Holistic Wealth Portfolios.

Resources Mentioned In This Episode:

Holistic Wealth (Expanded and Updated): 36 Life Lessons To Help You Recover From Disruption, Find Your Life Purpose and Achieve Financial Freedom. Now Available for Preorder.

Listen to the full podcast episode:

How To Quit Your 9 to 5 Job. The Questions To Ask Yourself and How To Do It With Keisha Blair.