Sometimes, quitting feels like the only option. Maybe you really hate your job or maybe you don’t actually hate it, but you know there’s a better one out there for you — somewhere, somehow, in some place that is anywhere other than where you are now. Because where you are now feels lousy. And you are absolutely sure that quitting is the best and only option.
But what if it isn’t your only option?
We have a radical suggestion. Don’t quit. Yet. Better may be right in front of you, and we can help you find it.
The vast majority of workers both in the U.S. and globally are disengaged at work, according to Gallup[1] — many severely so. If you’re one of them and feel the only choices you have are to tough it out or quit and move on, there’s another choice.
Don’t resign — redesign
A typical job search takes six to nine months and dozens of rejections; it’s a heavy lift. Why not give one of our four redesign strategies a shot? All you have to lose may be your disengagement.
1. Reframe and re-enlist by finding a different story for and relationship to your current job
While rarely a permanent solution, reframing can make things good enough…for now, which may just save your sanity for the next eight months until the toddler starts preschool, or you buy enough time to find a great job, not just another job.
It’s pretty straightforward: 1) Accept the new reality. 2) Identify new sources of “why” that you can use as your rationale for your redesigned job. 3) Reframe your relationship to the job and company. 4) Re-enlist and live into it. 5) Look for new benefits and sources of satisfaction along the way to make it good enough . . . for now.
WARNING: Beware lemonade stands! We aren’t saying “when life gives you lemons make lemonade” by telling you to manufacture something likable about what’s in fact lousy. We’re not asking you to pretend. If your boss is a total nightmare, there is no lemonade in those lemons. Look elsewhere to reframe with a positive reality, such as developing career-enhancing, get-things-done efficiency skills that knock your lousy job down from 50 to 38 hour a week, or learning everything about your company’s health-care vertical to prepare for changing industries (and get paid to do it).
Reframing means shifting your reality, changing your mindset, not just hanging tough.
Read: 9 things companies should be doing to avoid creating a toxic workplace[2]
2. Remodel your job through accessible modifications aligned with your interests and strengths
Darcy was a team lead in a telesales call center. She liked her job and enjoyed dealing with customers and prospects, but it was pretty repetitive. She was also a great interviewer. Whenever...