You’ve Quit Your Job. Now What?

Deciding to leave your job without a new one in hand lands you in a very unreliable place, even if you know you’ve made the right choice. “Lands” might indeed be the wrong word, as the ground beneath you feels uncertain, perhaps absent altogether. The situation, at once exhilarating and frightening, can thrust your perceptions toward extremes, either positive or negative. To some degree, that’s unavoidable; you’re not a robot after all. But in the wake of my own decision to quit late last year, I’ve arrived at a few insights that might help to keep things in perspective — to “ground” you, as it were.

1. Give yourself space, not a gaping void. A life-changing decision demands room for clearing your head, contemplating possibilities, taking stock of what really matters to you. It can be tempting to grab the first fresh, long-term opportunity that comes along — either out of desperation for security or because new pastures seem deeply (and deceptively) green. But if you latch onto something too quickly, the quitting itch will return, as you’ll barely have scratched it. On the other hand, lingering too long in the void because nothing seems perfect has its own deceptive charm. Don’t allow the pleasure of saying no make it impossible for you to say yes. Continuously scratched itches eventually start to bleed.

2. Try lots of new things. After you’ve quit, allow yourself the luxury of professional and personal experimentation. Financial constraints must be respected, of course, but some of your experiments can take the form of paid part-time or short-term work in domains that you’ve never explored. Be bold in saying yes when it comes to things with a limited commitment. Indeed, it’s healthy to establish a new routine shortly after you quit, one that consists of new activities that hold promise but don’t lock you down.

3. Don’t glorify the decision. Hyperbole about your new-found freedom, whether expressed to the world or just in your own head, gets old fast. Americans, in particular, have a penchant for mythologizing self-renewal and heaving the past on the trash heap as they till the virgin soil of the future. That kind of “manifest destiny” approach is not just delusional — it’s potentially reckless in the long term. Your new possibilities are many, but they are not limitless. Talking and thinking in ways that don’t reflect that reality sets you up for an eventual letdown, or even a crash and burn.

4. Retain old ties. A very concrete way to keep your decision in perspective is to stay in contact with the place you’ve left. That can take a variety of forms, including social connections with former coworkers or freelance work for your former employer. Sure, you need distance, especially at first, but it’s important to respect your old job as part of your past. Drawing from who you were helps you shape who you’ll become, and it allows the new people you meet to appreciate all you have to offer. This seems like common sense, but folks who quit are often ruled by their initial instinct to sever ties and take too long to see the value of continuity. That oversight ultimately creates more limits than opportunities.

How have you managed to reach for the sky yet stay firmly grounded after a life-changing decision, whether it’s quitting your job or something else?