You have heard the saying, “Never give up”, many times in your life. You have heard the saying, “Winners never quit”. So when you begin to have thoughts about quitting your job or closing your business you may get pangs of guilt coming at you from yourself and those around you. There is a stigma that quitting is what losers do.
But what if we don't put the label of “quitting” on the action? Perhaps we are on a journey and now your path is leading you in another direction. Or maybe you want to change your mind. Maybe you thought this was what you were destined to do but now are having second thoughts. Does that make you a loser? Does that make you a quitter?
For instance, you might be a nurse. You became a nurse because you love helping people. You love nurturing and taking care of people. You like to help people heal from injuries and traumatic diseases. Plus, the pay is not bad. The shifts are long but you can work with more flexibility than many other careers. Think back to why you became a nurse. Now, fast forward to your current feelings. You may now feel burned out. Your cup is empty and there is no time to refill it. You are getting fatigued working long shifts and graveyard shifts or swing shifts. You end up getting 3 hours of sleep on those days. We can go on and on…
You may be at the crossroads. You still want to help people. You still want to assist in their healing. You still love to nurture and take care of people. The vehicle just needs to change. There is nothing wrong and everything right with that. You are not quitting. You are just changing vehicles.
In this time it is also very normal to change careers at least 3 times in our working lives because we are living longer, it is easier to learn to work in another field or career and our lifestyles change to fit our next path.
You might be a Real Estate agent who is wondering if showing and selling houses is really what you are being called to do. Perhaps you became a real estate agent because you enjoyed being with people, you enjoyed the smile on a new family's face when they purchase their first home, or maybe you got into real estate so that you could invest in properties to build wealth for you and your family. Maybe you became a real estate agent because you like to serve others, help others, make a difference in their lives.
But now you may be wondering… while you love to serve others you also have bills to pay. Maybe you are not making the amount of income you need to make to support your family. And may be you are suffering from burn out because you have been burning the candle from both ends, not delegating your tasks, not creating systems that can be delegated, and not taking right action to reach your financial goals.
I have seen agents who are miserable, barely making enough to pay their bills, struggling with lead generation and getting enough business and yet, they tend to defend their decision to stay in real estate because of the stigma connected to quitting real estate. After all, being altruistic is something you want to be admired for. Being in real estate is not a career but a business. The mistake I see most often is agents who don't treat their businesses like businesses. They treat it like a job. That will never work out. Employee mentalities don't work in entrepreneur settings.
Perhaps you are working in corporate America putting in long hours and climbing the “success” ladder. You chose this path as the vehicle to reach security and have a great retirement. However, years into this grind, you start to see you are giving up too much of yourself and time away from your family. Something is going to have to give.
While the 3 of these scenarios are pretty different, what they have in common, is a chosen vehicle and a road to drive that vehicle on.
Now, maybe you have been thinking about how much you would love to start your own business and leave the 9 to 5. Maybe you are passionate about skiing and want to teach skiing instead of selling real estate. Maybe you are a nurse that knows natural healing alternatives and believe starting an online business coaching parents in how to deal with their child who has ADHD naturally is going to be much more rewarding while still fulfilling your desire to nurture and help others.
As long as you are changing the vehicle on the path you want to be on, that is perfectly fine. I have been hired by real estate agents, business owners and corporate employees to help them get more business only to discover they are not passionate about their business at all and they wish they could be doing something else. If your heart is not into it, the drive and tenacity you need to succeed will not manifest for you.
Interested in having a discovery session to go through your options? If you are contemplating changing horses ( vehicles) the best thing you can do is get an objective opinion and expertise to help assist you to make sure you are making the right decision.
Schedule your session today!
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