Do you need to break up with your dysfunctional job?

JUST like a suffocating partner in a relationship off the boil, your job can leave with you the same emotional scars. Here are three signs that you need to dump your job.

If your job is leaving you unsatisfied, it's time to have "the talk". Pi...

ARE you always settling for second best? Do you ditch your friends and your plans at the last minute? Is every day an emotional roller-coaster where you could be bouncing high one minute and down in the dumps the next?

You're in a classic dysfunctional relationship. With your job.

What does a CEO actually do all day?

That "elusive" work-life balance? It's not hiding under a rock or darting away like Peter Pan's shadow. Like bliss and satisfaction in your romantic life, your job can, and should, be healthy and sustainable, according to Alexandra Tselios, co-founder and publisher of opinion site The Big Smoke. She argued there are three sure ways to recognise a toxic work relationship.

A job that pays the bills without giving you any professional gratification or career progression is one of the ways people settle for less than they deserve. Maybe it once made your heart go aflutter but the spark died off with the mastodons.

"Unless you are strategically working your way through a career that requires a few years of crappy work, why would you stay in a job you know is not taking you anyway?" Tselios said. "If that job is not going to satisfy you, why waste your time?

Best and worst industries for 2014

"'But I need to pay the bills' is just as disappointing a response as 'but they're good in bed'. You deserve a job that is going to leave you satisfied overall, rather than just one department - in this case, your wallet."

Equally distressing is a job that manipulates all your time and energy. Just like a partner who keeps tabs on your whereabouts three months in advance. Tselios added: "You don't need an intrusive job that totally defines who you are as a person. Your job complements the life you lead and the goals you have and should be equally as balanced as the relationship that propels you to be a better, more effective individual."

'My hellish job almost broke me - so I quit'

And unless you're one of those adrenaline junkies that get a kick out of high-octane days, your job shouldn't leave you feeling like you want to vomit or as if you've just disembarked from the turbulent flight from hell.

"If your job is the kind of roller-coaster that leaves you having anxiety attacks as you count down to the beginning of a Monday morning, you probably need to get off that ride," Tselios said. "A job can be hard work, like any long-term relationship, but it shouldn't leave you a frazzled ball of nerves."

Do you need to break up with your job? Continue the conversation on Twitter @newscomauHQ | @TheBigSmokeAU

###