The great resignation has organizations and companies losing over 4 million of their employees. There are many reasons why workers are taking the high road and, many researchers are trying to explain the rise in exists. So why is everyone quitting their jobs? I can give a few reasons because I was one of those 4 million people.
In April of 2021, at the age of 31, I quit my job.
After working for the same company for almost eight years and building a career as a personal trainer, I quit.
And before a few years ago, I had every intention of staying at my job…forever.
Until I found myself turning into the person I thought I’d never be.
I was constantly complaining.
Always unhappy and resentful.
And I was surrounding myself with people who were regularly tired, kissing someone’s a**, or sorry about something.
I was making a pretty decent living and had managed to defy the odds and continue my training career for just short of a decade.
More than 90% of personal trainers quit within the first year. It takes a special kind of person to succeed in the business and, I was doing quite well.
Insert the year 2020.
It hit like a ton of bricks.
And without it, I’m not sure I would have made this transition so abruptly.
So yes, the pandemic did directly affect my decision to leave.
I, along with 4.3 million other Americans, decided to quit.
Call it a trend but, last year many of us learned some very valuable lessons.
Lessons about the people and companies we work for.
Lessons about life and about who we surround ourselves with.
And most importantly, lessons about ourselves and what truly matters.
I found myself stuck in the rinse wash and repeat cycle of trading my time for money, never getting a raise, talking poorly about my workplace, and wishing things were different.
And it wasn’t until I was on a walk listening to a podcast that I realized the only person that could create the outcome I wanted was me.
Not my boss, not my coworkers, not the economy I was living in.
Nothing was ever going to change unless I chose to change it.
I’m sharing this because this was the job that helped me pay off over $50,000 worth of debt.
In that time I also bought a house, drastically increased my savings, and became more financially stable then I had ever been.
So why would I ever want to quit?
It wasn’t until the pandemic that I realized how disconnected and unhappy I was.
I lost my job and had more time than ever to process how I felt.
And even after becoming fully aware and admitting I was unhappy there were still many factors stopping me from quitting.
I had a schedule of committed clientele.
An opportunity for a 401k.
Provided health benifits.
Paid vacation.
All the things that would make you never want to leave a good stable job.
Insert problem #1: Guilt.
I felt guilty.
Being in a service-based industry and developing a tight-knit clientele made me feel bad about ever wanting to leave.
I also felt tied down by my benefits, perks, and incentives like paid holidays.
But I soon realized keeping my job for the benefits or for my clientele was not a good enough reason to stay.
Our system is flawed in that it is necessary for us to stay in positions we don’t like for the benefits.
But just remember you are the one that gets to choose.
And sometimes needing to stay at your job for the benefits is OK.
For me, I realized there was an entire world full of clientele and places that would offer their version of these “perks”.
Feeling guilty and needing to keep my vacation time was just an excuse.
A form of justification if you will.
I worked hard for years to build my business and what was happening subconsciously was me feeling insecure.
And worrying about things like benefits was just a form of self-sabotage.
Starting over as a personal trainer was my worst nightmare.
But what 2020 taught me was that starting over is exactly how you get better.
Being uncomfortable and doing unfamiliar things is exactly how we grow, and create better networks and opportunities.
Working the same job for many years is how we become stuck, complacent, and feel unfulfilled.
Finally recognizing my loyalty was stunting my growth was #2
I have only had two jobs in my life.
The first was my high school/college waitressing job that I continued to work my first year as a trainer.
And my job as a full-time trainer.
As a millennial many of us watched our parents go to and from work day after day.
They worked the same job to keep their pensions, traded their time for money, and worked hard until it was time for them to retire.
Loyalty to a company was a big deal. But that was then and this is now.
Devotion to one company today means attaching ourselves to the same people, the same pay scale, the same opportunities, the same skill sets without ever knowing what we are truly capable of.
Loyalty to a company is no longer seen as a priority.
Moving and changing jobs is actually a good thing.
It is uncommon and unusual for people to spend long spans of time at any job or even in a specific career.
Experts recommend a two year stay before potentially searching for something new.
Not looking could end up costing us thousands!
We need to quit to grow.
Insert realization #3
Most of us don’t matter.
Our admiration to become dedicated employees is great until we realize our companies secretly wish we would leave so they could replace us at a much cheaper rate.
And my young nieve, self didn’t notice this when I first got hired.
More than half of the previous training department left to pursue different opportunities.
This is where you can mentally insert social media trend RED FLAG.
Sorry.
This situation reminds me of filling in those bubbles at the top of a college test with your ID number instead of your name.
Most of us are a number and are just that…replaceable.
And when we work for an incredibly large companies, it is hard to expect anyone to know who we are, what we do, or even say thank you.
But as humans, we long to feel fulfilled. We seek gratifying work that makes us feel purposeful and needed.
The most rewarding part of my job was never the praise I would get from my company (which didn’t happen) but the opportunity I got to change the lives of others.
If you are someone who works in an industry helping others, you can probably relate.
We spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and years of our lives becoming experts in our craft only to be controlled by budget cuts, politics, bottom lines, and company policies.
And somewhere between the –
We will ask for your opinion but, it doesn’t matter…
Here is some meaningless busywork…
And here is a great opportunity that we won’t compensate you for –
We convince ourselves this is corporate America.
Then the epiphany happens which is #4
Amongst many other things, we lose our sense of importance.
We forget who is ultimately in control.
The epiphany part is that we forget we are the ones that provide the service.
We provide the value and, our employers pay us.
Our companies grant us income in exchange for what they need to keep their business running.
And at some point in our professional careers, we forget that.
We stop being selfish and start normalizing complacency, comfortability, and uniformity.
Where we work is the tool we use to make money.
Our companies are not the ones who make the money. We are.
Once I realized this I knew, I could continue going through the motions or I could see what else was available to me.
I didn’t need this specific job in order to make money because my job wasn’t creating the money. I was.
The pandemic showed me #5
Society has made us little tiny robots.
Like we are in our own version of squid game, terrified to make one wrong move.
I was finally able to taste what it was like to not be at my work place.
There was no coming home and complaining.
My 4:30am alarm wasn’t going off.
And I wasn’t fighting to be seen, heard, or understood.
That was always exhausting.
The pandemic proved that what we were after wasn’t childish, silly, or unrealistic.
We could work from home and still accomplish our tasks.
It was possible to be successful without our empoyers.
And sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day was not making us more productive.
Being forced into a new reality gave me the confidence to try something new.
Without the loss of my job fear, may have kept me there forever.
I made assumptions that there was no way the grass was greener on the other side.
That doing something else wasn’t worth the risk or that I would experience the same discontent that I was feeling now, regardless of where I worked.
And I realize that many will argue that the great resignation is just a bunch of people running after a lifestyle that doesn’t exist.
That not everyone can just quit their job to start a business or profitable youtube channel.
And we are just people unwilling to work hard or do what it takes to make a good living.
I assure you that was not my intention behind quitting…
I quit because:
- You didn’t get raises. It took me a long time to realize that working harder, longer, and more often was not the only way to make more money.
- Support. Employees are the backbone of many companies and organizations. Being fully aware that your opinion, thoughts, ideas, or concerns don’t matter is disheartening.
- Burnout. Yes, burnout is common in many industries and for many people. The hours, the grind, and the repetitiveness was getting very old.
- Guidance. In the workplace, there must be someone you are aspiring to be. Someone there to challenge you, to make you a better employee, and to grow your expertise. Otherwise, you stay the same.
- Everyone is replaceable. This is another commonality amongst many industries. There is always someone else out there who will do your job.
- Incorrect focus. Companies focusing on profit margins instead of delivering the best product is a business practice I have difficulty supporting.
- Competitive pay. Even if you think you are making a decent living never underestimate the power of looking elsewhere.
- Financial potential. The pandemic made me realize how much of an asset I was to my clients. They were willing to pay me whatever it took to keep them on the path to success. Big box gym or not.
- Understanding your value. This was probably the most prevalent reason of all. You work for your employer in exchange for your skills. You can take those skills elsewhere. Always.
And honestly, I could give you many reasons, which just solidifies my decision and makes me glad I did it.
From a financial standpoint, my goal was to live a different life than everyone else.
My husband and I managed to work our way out of debt, build our savings and create our own version of financial freedom.
We chose to learn how to navigate a different path with our money that turned out better than expected.
So why were we continuing down the same path conforming to the work, sleep, repeat, cycle?
There is absolutely nothing wrong with not quitting.
Choosing to not pursue something different is OK!
As long as you are aware and satisfied with that decision.
Staying at my job was not a choice I was confident in.
So I went out and got a different one.
And my husband followed me.
Right now I still have a boss.
I still work for a corporation who’s main purpose is helping others.
And I also still trade my skills for money.
So yes, my husband and I were two of the 4.3 million Americans that quit their job this year.
And we are happy, more skilled, and able to run our own business’s all at the same time.
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