Yes, you can leave a “good” job.  But I bet anytime you’ve expressed a desire to do so you’ve heard something to the tune of, “Oh, it would be a shame to leave such a cushy salary!”

Or maybe it was, “Why would you willingly leave such a great company?!?”

And then there’s my personal favorite, “Do you know how many people would kill to have that job?”

Although those in our personal circles mean well, their responses are almost always based on their own experiences and perceived circumstances and not our best interests. They often can’t see past their own needs (and baggage—hello scarcity mindset!) long enough to understand our reasons for seeking different pastures.

So yes, you can leave a job that others might call “good.”

Here are nine reasons you may want to leave your current position, no matter how “good” that job may be.

Reason 1: You achieved the goals you envisioned at your job

Since the day you started your current job you’ve been laser-focused on your growth and development:

• You established a strong professional reputation that’s afforded you access to special projects and stretch assignments that interest you
• Your co-workers, teams, and boss have full confidence in your abilities and respect the expertise you bring to your day-to-day responsibilities
• You lead and/or contribute to a handful of internal company committees that are important to you
• You’re no longer an individual contributor, but are instead leading a team and are guiding direct reports along their own professional development journeys
• You lead your teams through complicated operational and company-wide change initiatives

You’ve been quite the busy bee!  Although there is almost always more you accomplish in any given role or company, only YOU can decide when you’ve done all you wanted to do.

Reason 2: You were promoted but this new job isn’t part of your career plan anymore

Congratulations! You worked hard, earned the leadership team’s respect, and have crossed the finish line into a promotion milestone.  Well done, you!

But what happens when the role on the other side of the promotion celebration no longer aligns with the new career plan that’s slowly taking shape in your mind?

Perhaps the responsibilities of the new role uncover a shift in your interests.

Here’s an example from a friend that comes to mind:

I checked in recently with a friend about a promotion they received three months ago.

Me: “How’s the new job going?”

Friend: “Eh, okay.”

Me: “Just okay?  What’s going on?”

Friend: “I miss the projects I got to work on as an individual contributor and am starting to feel like by taking this promotion I’ve strayed a bit from what I ultimately want to do long term.”

Or, what if the new role shines the light on a burning professional passion you didn’t know existed?

I’m going to draw from my own personal experience here.  When I was promoted to manager while working for one of the Big 4 consulting firms, one of my new responsibilities was to take on a small roster of coachees.

I immediately fell in love with that part of my role! Although I didn’t fully realize it at the time, it utilized my key strengths, fueled my passions, and was in direct alignment with all of my top values.

I also sought out some of the firm’s in-house leadership coaches and noticed that (in addition to being incredible human beings), they were all so fulfilled and satisfied with their jobs and put forth a constant aura of inner peace.

It inspired me to reconsider my definition of success for myself.

Cut to me recrafting my career plan, taking a step down to senior associate in order to work on programs that put me in close proximity to the firm’s coaching team (and taking an $8k salary cut to do so) and enrolling in an accredited Coach Training Program that helped me step into my dream job.

If a promotion isn’t aligning with your new career goals, and stepping back into another role isn’t an option (or a desire), then it might be time to move on.

Reason 3: You lack enthusiasm and dread Monday morning

Ah, the Sunday Scaries. Who among us hasn’t fallen victim to their depressing grip.

But there’s a difference between a rough patch or dreading a work week that promises too much, versus one that’s threatening not enough.

That feeling of not enough might be rooted in boredom, or a lack of enthusiasm for what you’re doing. You might even just say you’re feeling “stuck” at work.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself to gauge your lack of interest or excitement for the work:

• Which of your “to-do’s” for the week are you most excited to tackle?
• Are you constantly procrastinating on even the easiest or most familiar tasks?
• Are you finding yourself having to “force” yourself to appear excited or enthusiastic when discussing what you’re working on?
• What tasks, projects, or initiatives used to light you up but now barely move the needle on the excitement scale?

If your answers to the above do not elicit any full steam ahead excitement or enthusiastic energy there’s a possibility that the work is no longer enough for you, and it might be time look for a new position, new industry, or other new opportunities where you can tackle a new set of great things.

And speaking of not enough…

Reason 4: You have outgrown opportunities

Most companies offer ample opportunities for growth and development. But what if you’ve already grown and developed in the areas within the opportunities being offered from your current employer?

I’m currently working with a client who has been offered two new roles within their company, one of which would be a promotion.

As we talked through each of the options I noticed they seemed less than enthused about either of them, despite wanting desperately to do something different.

Me: “What are your honest thoughts about each of these roles? And, which of the roles do you have the most energy around?”

Client: “That’s the problem, I don’t have any strong thoughts or energy around either of them.”

Me: “Okay, tell me what’s behind that?”

Client: “There’s nothing wrong with them, it’s just that I’ve done all this already.”

Although both roles would be in new cities, working with different clients, and focusing on a different set of issues, for my client it was just more of the same.

• They’d already led a team of people through a complicated organizational change
• They’d coached and mentored dozens of direct reports through behavioral and performance challenges
• They’ve supported numerous staff members and direct reports in identifying and creating actions plans to achieve their growth and development goals
• They’ve proved themselves to be a competent leader, garnering the respect of both colleagues and their company’s leadership

In short, there was no challenge for my client in either role. After sifting through all the fine points together, the choice to start a job search for their next career move became increasingly clear.

Reason 5: The culture no longer aligns with your values

It’s not just lack of opportunity or enthusiasm for the work that causes us to contemplate heading for the door. A company’s culture, values, and leaders play a significant role when it comes to, “Should I stay or should I go?”

Let’s say you’re noticing a slow, but decidedly negative shift in company culture around things you consider important, such as work quality, real-time feedback conversations, or promotion requirements.

Or, perhaps your company has received some bad press lately about whom they’re choosing to do business with, or its leader(s) have made public statements around their world or political views that are in direct opposition to your most cherished values.

Anything that pushes up against any of your non-negotiables may make you feel uncomfortable or even angry, which might lead to questioning your future there.

Consider these culture-focused questions when deciding whether or not to stay in your current job:

• How proud am I to tell others that I work here?
• How visible are my top values within the company’s description of theirs?
• How often is the company walking its talk when it comes to our values and mission statement?
• How supportive of and comfortable am I with the company’s mission and vision?
• What cultural red flags have I recognized and tried to justify, unsuccessfully?

Culture and shared vision are becoming more and more relevant among desired job requirements, especially with the younger generations in the workforce. It’s not enough for an employer to offer better benefits or compensation.

Take some time to identify what your cultural non-negotiables are. These can be a big driver of whether or not you stay in your current job or quit for a job that’s more aligned with your values.

Reason 6: You’re experiencing burnout

We often don’t notice that burnout has been lurking in the shadows until it’s far too late. Avoiding burnout is always best, but most of us who experience burnout can attest that you don’t often know it has you in its grips until you’re in the thick of it, maybe even several years in.

Burnout is categorized as a constant state of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion. It’s typically a problem of “not enough,” meaning your resources are so depleted you quite literally have nothing left to give.

When you’re in the grips of severe burnout, simply “pushing through” isn’t often possible. When we push ourselves beyond our energy reserves, but continue to plow ahead, our bodies need to find that energy elsewhere. Guess where that is?

I’ve had clients in the grips of burnout speak about hair loss, ceasing menstrual cycles, blinding headaches, and a whole lot of other scary stuff. In short, burnout is unsustainable and highly dangerous.

Here’s another ugly secret about burnout: managers and leaders often see the telltale signs of burnout in their workforce long before their teams bring it to their attention. Unfortunately, in some instances, a company’s bottom line might take priority over the wellbeing of its employees.

Decreased head count and other cost-cutting measures often result in work being redistributed to already full-to-bursting plates, even when it’s not realistic. Employees who are already overworked and overstretched start moving closer and closer to the burnout line as a result.

Sadly, more often than not, speaking up about burnout falls on deaf ears. Make no mistake, this is the hallmark of a toxic work environment, and a sign it’s likely time to update your resume and get ready for a job search (or a break!).

Reason 7: You’re financially stable enough to take a risk

You’ve made it through the nightly-out-of-necessity cheap ramen dinners and are now feeling pretty comfortable financially.

You learned the fine art of extreme couponing, curtailed your shoe-shopping habit, and have managed to save up quite the large emergency fund. You’re prepared for unexpected home repairs, the dreaded lay-off, or the random dream trip to Italy.

But what about that other thing that hard earned stash of money can buy? Something that is far more valuable than a trip abroad: possibilities.

Although many don’t immediately connect our emergency stash with willingly leaving a job, having that safety net available gives you the freedom to take a few risks, including leaving a job without another lined up.

That shifts an almost-closed lens to one that’s wide-open, where dozens of possibilities are visible for you to explore and choose from.

I worked with a client a few years ago that was two years out from retirement. She’d done everything she wanted to do, accomplish, and experience at her company over the 15 years she’d been there. She was now facing 48 months of counting the days and “riding it out,” as she liked to call it.

One day I was curious and asked her:

Me: “Just for fun, what is another career you’d like to try over your last two years before retirement?”

Client: “Oh, that’s easy. In another life I would have been a mystery writer. I’d spend the next two years working on my first novel.”

Me: “Why isn’t that an option now?”

Client: “Well, because…

Client: “Well I don’t know why…

Client: “I guess I don’t have the money…wait, that’s not actually true.”

After breaking this all down over our next few sessions, my client made the announcement that she was leaving her job and would be spending the next two years as a full-time writer.

Her hard earned financial stability allowed her to take a risk on a dream, which completely altered the trajectory of her pre-retirement years.

If you have the ability to try something else that lets you develop personally, what’s the point in waiting for an arbitrary last day?

Reason 8: You’ve lost trust or respect for your employer or co-workers

The person you see in the mirror at the end of the day needs to be proud of the person you were during the work day. But what if the you in that mirror is shooting some bombastic side-eye at the you who is just trying to get their teeth brushed before bed?

You might be having a crisis of integrity, my friend.

It started with you overhearing two of your colleagues sharing a joke about your manager’s appearance. It wasn’t anything horribly inappropriate, but it just felt a little too mean-spirited to you.

Or maybe the promotion your manager promised you was suddenly filled by an external candidate who just so happens to be his golf buddy’s son.

Maybe there are some investigations going on around fraudulent activity conducted by a colleague who you’ve long been suspicious of.

If you’re feeling increasingly uneasy about the things that you’re witnessing in the workplace, it’s ok to quit your job and search for employment that is a better fit for you and your values.

Reason 9: You want to quit

The only opinion that carries any real weight is your own. At the end of the day, you get to decide what to do with your life. Your happiness in your career is your own business, and there are many jobs out there that can meet your needs.

You know yourself best; if you feel in your gut that it’s time to make your exit, then it’s time. It’s like that one brand’s slogan: just do…well, you know the rest.

How to get started making a career change

Need some tips on where to start? If you’re thinking about making a career change, want to explore other options, or are at a point in your life where this is the right move for you and your personal circumstances, we’re here to help. Book a free call today to learn more about working with a career coach.

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