I QUIT my academic job. Here are three signs you should too.

last month i resigned for my permanent academic lectureship during a shockingly competitive job market and i feel really good about it if you're thinking of quitting your job it can be a scary time especially if it's your first real job or if there's substantial sunk cost like eight years of university or if you move to a different country but there are some things worth taking a risk for in this video i'll share some tell-tale signs it might be time for you to evaluate your career plan and make some changes toward the end of the video i'll share the strategies i put in place to make sure i could resign successfully the first sign it might be time to reevaluate your career is a feeling of pointlessness about your work and i don't just mean because you're not a brain surgeon or you haven't won an oscar i mean at a much more micro scale than that for example the actual things i needed to be successful as an academic like publishing papers and winning grant money felt utterly pointless there were times where i spoke to colleagues who had papers rejected and they were upset about it and i just couldn't relate because i didn't care because i didn't care and i found myself almost being judgmental about people who took their jobs in academia seriously because i couldn't see why it mattered to them or why it once mattered to me which is a bad place to be in i quickly learned that this feeling of meaninglessness is a symptom of burnout and it's often ignored it can be caused by misalignment between your values and your job which is where i was last year and treating burnout isn't just about taking holiday or a few days off it's about making some real changes in your lifestyle which is one of the things that led me to realize i need to leave objectively i know research and teaching aren't pointless but on the day to day i couldn't shake the feeling that there were more important things i could personally contribute to the world the second sign it's time for you to realign is if you find yourself justifying your unhappiness this is also called the comparison mantra i don't hear many people talk about this but it's that feeling that you don't deserve to be unhappy because other people have it worse i kept telling myself that i had a good steady job which is rare enough within academia let alone outside the industry but i was so disappointed in myself for not being happier and eventually what helped me decide to leave was recognizing that even though things could be worse they could also be better remember that allowing yourself to be miserable doesn't make anyone else's life any better and in case you haven't heard this lately you deserve to be really really happy was that cheesy the third sign you need to reevaluate your career is if you're experiencing something called negative spillover or toxic impact i relate to this one so much because somehow over the last three or four years complaining became my personality i had a short temper and random bouts of anxiety i remember once literally yelling at my friend at a bar for making a minor joke at my expense don't get me wrong self-deprecating jokes are my specialty but for whatever reason i hulked out because she made completely accurate observation about who i am i also always hated talking about my work again because it felt so pointless but also because it just made me angry and this was a big turning point for me a few months ago i was on the couch with my partner and we were both on our computers working away when i started saying something about work and he looked up from his computer and with the saddest look on his eyes said enough please just enough and i knew exactly what he meant i'd been complaining four days about the same thing we of course talked about it in detail later and i explained that i was miserable this made me realize that being unhappy at work was making me unhappy in other areas of my life and it was also just making me a less interesting person and i really hated that the final sign it might be time to look at your career options as if it feels like you're running someone else's race i think if you're feeling this way you'll know what i mean when i finished my phd i already had a postdoc and shortly after secured a permanent lectureship both at great universities i was making about 45 000 pounds a year or 77 000 canadian or 61 000 american and i was barely 27 years old i could have climbed the hierarchy getting salary increases every year and slowly making my way up the academic hierarchy but the best parts of my day were the one hour i spent at the gym and my one hour walk where i listened to a podcast it was getting harder and harder to get out of bed and go to work every morning because i was dreading it i kept telling myself i was doing really well i'm a good academic and the work itself was not that challenging for me sure it wasn't really easy but i knew it would get easier as i progressed there was a moment where i realized that i wasn't just running someone else's race i was winning someone else's race i was working hard for a lifestyle i didn't even want but quitting your job is a big deal and i want to be clear about what i did before i ever let on to anyone that i was even thinking about leaving the most important thing to do before you quit your job is to minimize risk and here are three ways you can do this the first is by getting your finances in order few of us can afford to live without a job so i ensured i had a job lined up before i quit if you're not gonna do this the recommendation is to have six to 12 months salary saved but honestly it's true that it's easier to get another job when you already have a job take a serious look at your finances and how long you can realistically afford to be unemployed or underemployed if you're taking the route where you are quitting your job before you have another one the second thing you should do is make sure you're leaving for the right reasons manage risk by making sure the reason you're quitting is actually related to your job what i mean by this is ask yourself the question is your current problem really your work or is there something else that you're running from like a bad relationship loneliness or something else if you're quitting it's best that you're running towards something else like a different type of job or new skills or a new role not running from something maybe you need to see a therapist or make plans to socialize with friends more regularly because we have just been through and are still going through a universally traumatic event so it's important you do a lot of thinking before you really make any big decisions the third and final thing to do before you quit your job is to let people in your social circle know what you're doing do not up and quit your job without telling the people you trust because there might be something that you're missing i recommend you tell some friends outside of your industry i told friends who are not aware of what academics do at all i was really surprised by their response i remember specifically telling three friends that i've known for about 15 years and one of them said good for you cheryl i think it'll help you get your light back and that absolutely crushed me but it also helped me see very clearly that it was the right decision i of course had further in-depth conversations with my partner and my parents discussing things like what if i take this new role and i don't like it can we afford to be unemployed for a few months how much of my personality depends on my identity as an academic what if i'm unhappier in the next job having these spaces where i could talk to people who knew nothing about academic work was really helpful so although social networks might not seem like an obvious way to manage risk they can really help clarify any of the things you might be worried about my reasons for leaving my job have nothing to do with anyone but me i was treated incredibly well but i couldn't shake this feeling that i should do something else and when i looked at the goals i have for my life and how i want to look they are not aligned with the academic lifestyles or with the skills that i was developing every single day i was simply building a life i didn't want if you're feeling a bit lost in life but not sure if quitting your job is the right thing for you to do then i also have a video on following your passions in life and why it's okay if you don't know what your passion is thanks for watching and don't forget to subscribe so we can figure it all out somewhat together thanks

Channel: Cheryl Hurst

Views: 49,197

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Id: gWyfhG9TrW4

Length: 8min 27sec (507 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 21 2022