Want to Quit a Job You Hate? You Need to Read This Advice

You can feel it… The path you’ve taken isn’t right. It doesn’t align with your values, goals or purpose. But despite this truth, you can’t seem to pry yourself away. Why?

… You don’t want to disappoint your spouse.

… You’re afraid of what would happen.

… You don’t feel financially secure enough.

… You’ve gone too far to turn back now.

… You don’t have any clear direction.

If you’ve experienced this dread, you're not alone. In fact, it’s so common that there’s even a phrase to describe it: escalation of commitment. Many simply refer to it as irrational escalation -- a telling description, no doubt.

This behavior is the tendency to continue investing effort, money and time into a bad decision. You know deep down that you’re journeying down the wrong path, yet you stay the course.

It happens all the time, in a variety of situations. Consider the organization who dives deeper into an obvious failure. Or when your dinner group keeps waiting for a table at a mediocre restaurant, even though you’ve already waited 45 minutes.

And it’s why you can’t muster up the courage to change career paths.

Why We Commit to Irrational Escalation

Have you ever physically pushed yourself harder than you thought possible? You likely arrived in that state due, at least in part, to a mindset that says, “I’ve already come this far, so I can’t quit going now.”

The process becomes irrational when the reward no longer aligns with the effort.

From the perspective of your career… You’re scared to turn away from a job you’ve already invested so much money and time into.

So, you keep showing up -- day after day, year after year. Before you know it, your entire life passed you by while you wallowed in an unfulfilled, miserable state. If you’re on the wrong path, it takes a lot of courage to count your losses and move on.

But it’s the only option that will lead to fulfillment and happiness.

Economics teaches a concept called sunk costs. It refers to money spent that you cannot recover, no matter what. Researchers know people make irrational choices in the face of sunk costs. Their mindset locks into the idea that they have to stay tied to the losing horse.

Careers are laden with sunk costs. You’ll never get those 10 years back that you invested into sales, only to accept the fact that it’s not for you.

But just because there are some unrecoverable investments doesn’t mean it was a waste. The experience you’ve had along this path can make you a smarter, better employee in an entirely different career.

You can transfer a host of skills to a new career path. All it takes is some creative resume copywriting and -- more importantly -- the right mindset.

The Reason You Can’t Leave: FEAR

Something more tangible lies beneath fancy phrases like, escalation of commitment and sunk costs… Fear. We’re afraid of taking the leap of faith because of a more powerful force at play: our fragile ego.

How do geese know when to fly to the sun? Who tells them the seasons? How do we, humans know when it is time to move on? As with the migrant birds, so surely with us, there is a voice within if only we would listen to it, that tells us certainly when to go forth into the unknown.

-- Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Ego empowers us to engage in self-justification for a couple of reasons…

1. We Hate Admitting Defeat

Ever gotten deep into an argument, only to come to the sudden realization that you’re wrong?

An interesting thing happens in this moment, and you're faced with a decision… Will you admit your defeat and apologize for the debate? OR will you dig your heels in and fight even harder for the wrong point of view?

You’d be surprised how many people choose the latter.

Admitting defeat is hard, but it’s an important element when resolving a conflict. If YOU want to free yourself from internal conflict, you must become willing to admit your defeat.

This wasn’t a good job. You chose wrong. Now you have to start over. Admit it, accept it.

2. We Also Hate Change

At every turn, humans resist change. It’s very rare that you’ll find someone who embraces the consistent ebb, flow, and the storms of life.

Society rewards us when we’re persistent in the face of adversity.

Careers reward us when we stay with it a long time.

Community rewards us when we stay active and involved.

Changing the course, then, fights against yourself AND the world around you. It’s a hard battle, but necessary if you want to move forward, toward a path of fulfillment.

The Secret Method to DEscalate the Commitment

If this post hits a bit too close to home, it’s going to be okay. In this section, we’ll learn how to DEscalate your commitment before you get in too deep.

Accomplishing - it won’t come easy.

But if you push past the fear and implement these one tactic, you can leap into the life of your dreams. Are you ready?

Acknowledge How Much You’ve Actually Changed

First, you need a bit of perspective.

Have you ever looked at an old photograph, only to feel SHOCKED at how old you look now by comparison? That’s the thing about time -- it all starts to meld together after a while.

Change is similar. We feel like things have been this way forever. But if you shift your perspective just a bit, you’ll start to realize how different things have become. A psychological reframe like this can make the process seem less terrifying.

Take a moment and imagine how your life was 5 years ago…

• What were you doing?

• What music did you listen to?

• What was your favorite restaurant?

• Where did you live?

• How much money did you make?

You’ll start to realize just how LONG ago that was. And it won’t just become clear how quickly things change, but also how MUCH they change.

Life changes a lot in five years. But it’s up to you whether you’ll still be miserable or not.