10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Quit Your Job - When I Grow Up

10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Quit Your Job - When I Grow Up Oh, how Ive been there, dear reader. That breaking point when you realize that you are  done with your job and the stress, frustration and/or anxiety that goes with it. Your  know its time to leave and make the transition into your own creative business! and you day dream about how youll do it. Barbershop quartet? Dance video? Dressed as a banana and proceeded by a mariachi band? We all know that going into your job, screaming a profanity-laced tirade on the intercom to all the passengers, grabbing two beers and activating the slide at the side of the plane to make your grand escape results in jail time    along  with the fear of being homeless.   But that is NOT how you want to go out. You probably couldnt even if you wanted to! We know you have to keep that roof over your head and food in your kids tummies and that you dont want to have to worry youre about to eat Ramen every night for the rest of your life. So instead of the resignation cake,  ask yourself these questions instead: 1. What do I have in savings now? It never ceases to amaze me how much my clients speculate at what they have in savings, and how much they assume the worst! Theyll despair that they dont have even close to the resources theyd need to quit, and it would take years (decades?!)  to save up. But when theyre given the homework to actually come face-to-face with their numbers, they come to our next session with a hint of a happy surprise in their voice. They  never have as little as they think, and if they do, it feels better to at least  know about it and  be in control of it than it does to avoid it. 2. What do I need in savings so I can quit sans panic? This is what I like to call your  Breathe Easy number. Its the number that, when you see it in your Ditch My Day Job Fund, it makes you breathe easy (yes, Im often obvious like that). Whats that number for you? You can take a few minutes to figure out how much your bills are and what youd need to cover em and have padding for food and entertainment, or you can think of it in terms of your current salary. I personally looked at it that way because I knew the paycheck I was making covered the bills and then some. I was able to figure out pretty easily that giving myself five months’ severance could cover my expenses for eight or so if I  was smart about it.   3. What would make me feel as comfortable and confident as possible in making this transition?  Comfortable and confident is my favorite phrase when it comes to making an effective escape from your job.  You do not have to be on a tightrope twenty feet above the ground with your safety net looking like an ant below you. You can literally have the safety net on the floor while you’re walking directly on top of it until you realize you’re on solid ground and you didn’t even notice the safety net wasn’t there any longer. Jot down the things youd need in place in order to feel that way, and start working through em! 4. What baby steps do I need to take to ensure Ill actually quit in the near-ish future?  One of my strongest beliefs is that baby steps build the strongest foundation. Take the things you wrote about from Question #3 and break them down into bite-size action steps. For example, a goal like  Start A Blog could be paralyzing. Its too big! Instead, youll know that the first baby step in starting a blog is to have a couple posts drafted in Word. Then, its coming up with the blogs About page. Then, its having a dozen ideas to work off of. And on and on until your blog is live and people know its there. By knowing the steps to your goal,  theres less of a chance of overwhelm and procrastination. 5. What do I need to say No to in order to say Yes to becoming a Woman of the World?  I knew Id have to say No a lot in order to get my life coaching certification and build my business  during my off-hours from my corporate job. My lunch hours, nights and weekends were the only time I had, and while I didnt wanna end up a hermit, I had to say No to lots of happy hours, vacations, and parties in order to put the attention on my business. It was a sacrifice, but I knew it was only temporary and the outcome would be well worth it. It was on both counts! 6. What is my family  on board with and can there be a way to make everyone in my  family be more comfortable and confident with this transition?  When I originally sat my husband down and told him that I wanted to ultimately work for myself, he said “Well, you just have to make what you make now. And once you’ve been making consistently what you’ve made at your Executive Assistant job, then you know you can quit.” Needless to say, it felt like the air got sucked out of me. There was no way I was gonna be able to make over $1,000 per week as a coach while I was still working full-time! Seriously, he’s the most supportive wonderfulest most greatest guy ever, so I knew there was a disconnect. I spoke to him about what it would take for me to know that I was ready (savings + professional website + a secure feeling that people knew I existed), and after we talked it through he realized that what he was expecting just wasnt feasible. We came to terms with what would make him Co mfortable and Confident, and what would make me Comfortable and Confident (theres that phrase again!), and we were able to come up with a compromise.  I know it can be a scary conversation, but do it and do it soon so you can really get on the same page.   7. Is there anything I can get out of this job before I go?  Whether its a skill set  thatll help in your business, a program youll need to know, or connections youd want to secure, your current job  can give you something in the interim. Think outside the box here, and brainstorm some ways to get what you need. For example, if you know you want to lead events as part of your marketing business, can you raise your hand to put together your companys annual internal conference? If you want to improve your photography skills, can you offer to take headshots of your colleagues that can be used on your companys website? Really be pro-active here, and dont be afraid to pitch your idea(s) to your manager. 8. What would be my Plan B should this not work out?  Plan B is really a bottom-line: What could you do if you had to?  But there’s another piece to it, because I know how draining and horrible it is when you’re at a job that you hate and your soul is being sucked out of you for eight+ hours a day. It’s barely enough to feed yourself when you get home, nevertheless work on your career change! So it’s not only “What do you have to do if you had to?”, but “What’s not gonna beat you down?” Doing what you have to and knowing that soul sucking will be involved is at least Plan C, if not Plan L or Plan X. 9. Who can I count on for support?  Sure, you can absolutely still be successful in ditching your day job without having the support of friends or family   but its way harder and definitely not as fun. Jot down who you can count on to hold you accountable or cheer you on. If nobody is coming to mind, or you want a support squad thats made up of more people who get it (our families can be supportive, but we can still not feel understood), dont fear  there IS a support system for you. Its one of the blessings of taking this journey in The Age of the Internet. You can find support by hiring a coach (ahem ahem), joining a  community site, starting or attending a Meetup  or other in-person group,  or attending a virtual or IRL class that  youre interested in.   10. How can I tolerate the day-to-day  at work until its time to leave?  My most popular post is 8 Ways to Get Through Your Day Job Without Shooting Yourself in the Face, and I know it can help you now. With a perspective shift and a physical reminder of  why youre there and what your job is allowing you to do, you can make your days less torturous and not need a file in a cake to get out of day job jail. Need help with your own Safety Net Action Plan (or SNAP, as I like to call it?) so you can be Comfortable Confident with ditching your day job? RSVP for my free CreativeLive class, and/or apply to be in my intimate Seattle audience!