How to leave the job you hate — even if it pays well

FORGET Fight Club and rewrite the rules by throwing out your stale old career and starting a new life — even if it means taking a pay cut.

IT’S ANOTHER random workday in the hundreds you’ll eventually forget. You’re sitting in your beige-grey cubicle decorated with SFW personal photos and boring artwork, looking at your day’s demands. It’s been ten-plus years in this industry and you are good at what you do. You have nice things and people depend on you. The only problem is that you are unfulfilled, and don’t want to live the next 20 to 30 years doing the same thing.

Is it irresponsible to change now? Or is it negligence not to? You remember hearing people say “it’s different when you are older” and you always thought you would never be that complacent person. But now you know exactly what they meant. Cutting corners and starting over just seems as bleak as continuing on the same path. So now what?

Here’s what you need to do now to make an informed decision and not just keep trudging on.

STAGE 1: DISCOVERY

If you would change your career, what would you do? Everyone asks this question and it is pretty difficult to figure out. If you knew exactly what to do, you probably would have already done it. Don’t fear, though. If you follow these steps, you’ll discover that you have more interests and options than you thought.

1) Write a list of every conceivable profession you can imagine yourself working in, regardless of how silly or unattainable it may seem.

2) Write out everything you know you are good at and still want to do.

3) Take online surveys: personality tests, career tests, skills tests … the more, the better. The internet has tons of them. Save all the results and write down the words most often used to describe you.

4) Do preliminary job searches. Go to job databases like monster.com, linkedin.com, indeed.com, simplyhired.com, usajobs.com, idealist.org, and specific industry sites. Search jobs using the words that describe you (from your surveys) and skills you are good at. Don’t put parameters on the job searches like location or timing. Use this as an opportunity to find job descriptions of positions you never imagined.

5) Find at least five to ten jobs that would make you happy if you had them. Save the entire job description.

STAGE 2: LOGISTICS

It takes a long time and a lot of work to plan accordingly and get the information needed. Put in the effort so you can make an informed decision. At the very least, you will know more about yourself and other career paths out there.

6) Note the keywords and minimum job qualifications of the jobs you saved. Set up Google alerts for the job titles and industries that you are most interested in.

7) Speak with a financial adviser. Figure out how much to save, if you will need to take any additional training or schooling, how much you could live off of, etc.

8) Start keeping a log of your mandatory expenses versus costs that can be avoided. Pay attention to the money you spend for your current job or waste on things to make you happy (because you aren’t happy at your current job).

9) Look for a part-time opportunity in the industry that most intrigues you. If you have the time, this is great chance to get an inside perspective before leaving your current profession.

10) Seek out people in the field(s) you are interested in and talk about their jobs, journeys, happiness, etc. Go to meet-up groups in your area and do research on the professional field by reading blogs and articles.

STAGE 3: EXECUTION

All the preparation in the world doesn’t mean anything unless you are willing to take action. Now that you have the information you need, it’s time to make a decision.

11) Give yourself a break and don’t make decisions based on low self-esteem or fear of failure. Realise you are strong and brave regardless of your decision and you have already done more than what most people do in the same situation.

12) Decide what is more painful: the fear of change or the depression you feel while remaining in your current work environment.

13) Once you make that decision, own it. If you choose to stay, you know you are doing it after a lot of consideration. If you choose to move on, you are more than prepared.

14) Update your actions accordingly. If you decide to stay in your current environment, think about how to excel and challenge yourself. Also think about an activity or opportunity to re-energise and use different strengths outside of work. If you decide to make the change, start updating your resume and profiles, reaching back out to those you’ve met, AND apply, apply, apply.

15) Keep an open mind. More opportunities present themselves when you are looking and accepting of all ideas. Everyone has advice, everyone knows someone who could help, and everyone understands the need to be in a personally rewarding profession. Who knows what you will find? Be excited.

This article first appeared on AskMen.com.

Originally published as How to leave the job you hate — even if it pays well