Below is my story and why I created this blog about letting go.
It started with two words: Just Quit
I was working for an international company in strategic purchasing. I had been in the purchasing profession for over 15 years, moving around from company to company, and even though I liked purchasing I wasn’t passionate about it. I felt like I had fell into the profession and I wanted to try something new.
I had finished my masters degree in Education and wanted to move into a training role in the company, but there weren’t any available positions. So, I started looking for a job in training outside of the company. I looked for over a year and couldn’t find anything – not one interview – nothing.
I felt depressed and stuck.
Then, one morning I woke up with two words on my mind: Just Quit
The only problem was that I didn’t know what it meant. Just Quit what?
I forgot about it until I woke up a week later with the same thought: Just Quit.
It would not stop. It happened morning after morning after morning.
One day it was as if a light bulb went off in my head. I wondered if the thing that I needed to Just Quit was my job? There was NO way I could Just Quit my job. I needed a job. I needed benefits. I needed a pay check. I needed a title. I needed a place to go everyday.
It was 2002 and the economy was in a slight recession (not as bad as the 2008 recession, but still there weren’t many jobs – remember I had actively looked for over a year, so I knew the condition of the market). I quickly pushed the thought of quitting my job, without another job, out of my mind. That could not be the thing I needed to Just Quit. That was out of the question. Not going to happen.
As hard as I tried to push the thought of quitting my job out of my mind the more it wouldn’t go away.
One day I decided to “pretend” like I could Just Quit my job without having another one lined up. I did a spreadsheet. My spreadsheet said I could Just Quit, pay for all of my bills: mortgage, car payment, utilities and son’s tuition for about six months. That was without changing anything. If I scaled back I could go anywhere from nine months to a year.
The fact that I really could quit my job,
gave me so much power.
Instantly I wasn’t depressed anymore.
I was surprised and enlightened.
Then reality set in, or maybe it was just the voice of fear. I thought of course I wasn’t going to Just Quit my job. That would be crazy. Bad Decision. Just tough it out until I transferred to a training job somewhere. The point was that I could Just Quit if I decided to.
Well… a few months later…I found myself in a neurologist office. I had lost 30 pounds without trying. The only thing I could eat was yogurt and I couldn’t always get that down. More alarming was that my arms and legs felt like they were on fire every morning. My nerves were on edge and it was coming through my skin. I couldn’t make the sensations stop.
There was nothing physically wrong that was causing the sensations according to the neurologist. After interviewing me he concluded that it was all due to stress. My body was telling me that indeed I would Just Quit
When I got back to my office, I pulled out my calendar; I picked the date that was three days after my five-year mark. I marked that date, marked the number of months, weeks and days until that date (I had to do about 10 more months).
I then started counting how many Monday’s I had left before I would Just Quit. I stopped looking for a job, stopped sending out resumes, didn’t even worry about having a job. I just focused on making it to my Just Quit date. I felt liberated.
At the three-week mark before that “Just Quit” day, I walked into my bosses’ office and said: “I’m leaving.” He wanted to know if I was going to a supplier. I said: “No, I’m giving you my resignation.” He stopped typing and said: “You can’t quit!” We talked and he asked me where I was going. I told him I was going home. I did not have another job lined-up.
He was shocked and asked how I could quit without another job with all of my responsibilities as a single parent. I told him that I had faith in this working out. I just knew. I didn’t know exactly then how I knew, but I knew that I knew. I knew that if I Just Quit doing what was not working for me at that time, that things would open up. I didn’t know how they would, or even when they would, but I just knew that they would.
So, after I left my job I happily walked on the Beach everyday for two weeks.
While I was on the beach I made telephone calls to all of my friends. Some of them knew I had been looking for another job in a different career field. A few knew that I was considering the radical idea of just quitting and starting over. Others had no idea.
When I made the phone call I would ask them how it was going and what they were doing. They would go through the things that you do in a corporate job – preparing for a meeting, just getting out of a meeting, looking at action items, preparing expense reports, preparing for a business trip, or they’d talk about their boss.
Then they would ask me how it was going with me and what I was doing. I would say: “I’m on the beach.” They’d ask if I were on vacation and I’d tell them: “no, I quit my job – unemployed.”
After they got over the shock that I had quit such a great job with so much promise they would ask me if I were crazy and what was I thinking. I could hear the mixer of pity and pride in their voices. To me at that point in my life it didn’t matter what they thought about my decision. Their voices (even though most were very concerned for me) just didn’t resonate with me. I knew that I had done the right thing, at the right time for me. I just knew. I wasn’t afraid. I was at a place of peace.
One Month after I quit I had a job as a
High School Business Education Teacher.
One Year after that I had a job as an
Assistant Vice President of Training.
There it is.
I was in a new career field.
I can’t say that I never would have transitioned out of Purchasing into the Training Field (It’s called the Learning and Performance Improvement Field these days). I can say that:
Sometimes in life you have to first Just Quit doing what is NOT working in order to make a transformational change.
Three Things To Help You
#1. Step 1
If you want to know how to quit your job too without another one lined up then read this post and do Step 1.
#2. Take The “Just Quit” Your Job Survey
Below is a survey link which has a list of questions to help you determine if you are READY to Just Quit Your Job Without Another One.
#3. Use the “Just Quit” & Live Book Daily