when you want to quit your job

I’m so done with this place.

That had become an almost constant thought for the last few months, and finally I was going to make it a reality. I had the speech for my boss prepared, I was ready to give my best regretful goodbye, and I was salivating at the thought of driving out of the parking lot for the last time.

It was my first job in the field I’d gone to school for, and things just weren’t working out here like I’d planned. The work itself was exactly what I wanted to be doing, but it wasn’t exactly the kind, supportive environment I’d been hoping for. It was stressing me out and making me dread my shifts at work. I didn’t want to hurt feelings, so my plan was to blame my departure on the pay and make my exit.

And as soon as I decided for sure that my time was coming to an end, I also felt for sure that there was nothing else I could dredge from this place, and really no point to being there. And I set my speed at idle.

And that’s on my mind a lot today. I’ve had several other jobs where I knew for sure - even while I was interviewing - that I wouldn’t stay there for any longer than absolutely necessary. And I thought the only thing in it for me there was a paycheck that I could use to keep my bills current while I waited for something better to come along.

So I want to make this crystal-clear today:

You can have real happiness and fulfillment in your job, even when you aren’t going to stick around there. And you can have that by using it as a tool to achieve your biggest goals. There are so many valuable things you can take from it in the time that you have left there, and taking those things and giving your job a real purpose for you will result in you giving so much to that job. The side-effect of it will be high-performance from you.

That’s the subject of this video, and I went into detail in it, so let’s watch:

I'm always going on about how you can be happy and fulfilled from your job, and today I want to make sure it's clear that you can do that even in a job you plan to quit. When you want to leave your job, make sure you get the most from whatever time you have left there.