Why You Can’t Afford to Stay in a Mediocre Job

Do you like your job? Are you in your dream job? Because if the answer is no, you’ve got some work to do. Sometimes we need to take a job simply to pay the bills or to gain experience that allows us to apply for the jobs we really want. That’s life. But staying in a less-than-perfect job for any longer than necessary is not life. That’s giving up on life. Now let me tell you why exactly you can’t afford to stay in a mediocre job even if it doesn’t feel that bad.

First of all, life seldom is as difficult as we think it is. We are constantly bombarded with stories about people being unemployed, losing their jobs and savings, and having serious trouble paying back their student loans or getting even an entry-level job in their field.

That kind of information doesn’t help you. You already know that bad things can happen in life. You don’t need any new reminders. What this information does to you, is eat away your self-confidence and keep you from reaching for what you truly desire.

You have to be serious about your future

People who have amazing jobs and make a lot of money are not any more intelligent or more special than you. They have made mistakes. Stupid mistakes even. But they’ve turned failure into success.

You have to cut the negativity out of your life and out of your mind. Don’t spend time with pessimists, don’t follow people who don’t motivate you to work, don’t read the news if they make you feel like life is something to be afraid of.

Fill your life and your social media with optimism, motivation, and good inspiration. That’s what will push you forward and keep your head in the right place. If and when problems come, you deal with them. But you don’t plan your life around them.

Things have a habit of working out. If you look back, you will see many times you were worried about what was going to happen or how you would survive a certain situation. But after all, it wasn’t that hard or that scary. You are capable of so much more than you think.

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

Steve Jobs

Why you can’t afford to settle in a mediocre job

Let’s get back to why exactly you can’t afford to stay in a mediocre job. The most important reason is, that life is short. Time flies and opportunities are lost as you wait for the “right moment” to quit your job and do something else. The truth is, unless you actively work on the right moment to come, it will never come.

When you spend five days a week waking up in the morning and getting ready to go to work you don’t care about, you’re losing five days out of your life. And you won’t get those days back.

When you sit down at your desk to work for a company that doesn’t care about you, you lose an opportunity to work for yourself or for a company that you yourself care about and who actually values you. You’re losing a day that could have been perfectly happy. You’re losing a day where you could have come back home feeling content and proud.

Problems with mediocre jobs

Mediocre jobs tend to have a few things in common: they don’t make you happy, they don’t teach you the skills you need to learn, they don’t challenge you the way you want and they don’t let you find the right people you need in your life.

In other words, these jobs don’t let you grow in the direction you want. What you need is a job that constantly keeps pushing you forward and that helps you land new opportunities by introducing you to new people in your field or offering good promotions.

Now imagine you stay in the same old job you’ve settled for because you’re too afraid to quit and find something better. Three years later you still haven’t learned any new useful skills. You haven’t met people that inspire you and you haven’t grown as a professional, because you haven’t faced the right challenges. You’ve spent hundreds of days wishing you could be somewhere else, doing what you actually care about.

Is that the situation you want to end up in? Probably not. Now don’t worry, I know it’s not too easy to change your life and land the exact job you want or to build the company of your dreams by yourself.

What you need is a plan

I’m not saying you should quit your job without having a plan or a dollar to your name. What you should do, is make a plan. That plan needs to get you out of your current situation as soon as possible and let you move in the right direction.

Your job takes a big part of your day and you probably come home pretty tired every day. It’s not easy to build a future when you’re tired and just want to relax, but that’s what you have to do.

If you want to simply find a better job, you have to send out applications. If you think you need to learn certain skills to be more employable, that’s what you have to work on. And if you want to build your own business or start a side hustle, you have to make time for it every evening.

Remember that leveling up your life isn’t supposed to be easy, but it is necessary.

Questions to ask yourself before quitting your job

It’s good to ask yourself a few questions before you go and quit your job. Think about at least these questions:

1. How many hours a day you can commit to working on your goal?

2. Can you work on your lunch breaks or on your commute?

3. What are the specific skills you need?

4. Do you need to save money before quitting your job?

5. What can you realistically do next?

Make a plan to quit your job

When you have a clear idea of what you want to do next (maybe apply for a manager position or create your own product), you have to outline your plan to make it happen. Make sure to be as precise as possible – the more detailed your plan is, the more likely you are to succeed.

You don’t have to have everything planned out right away, and you’ll probably have to adjust your plan every now and then, but without a plan, you won’t make any progress.

The first time you’re planning something you will probably be enthusiastic and full of excitement. The problem is, that your enthusiasm will probably fade as days go by and that’s when you risk giving up altogether. This is not something to worry about, as it is perfectly normal.

But what you want to do, is to take this into account already when you’re outlining your plan. What will you do when you feel like giving up? Or when you’re super tired? Or when something goes wrong? And what about the times when you feel like you don’t have time to do everything?

Conclusion

If you’re well prepared and have a plan for when problems arise, you’re much more likely to succeed and you can make constant progress.

Of course, it’s hard to change your life. But it is something you can do. Just focus on what your current job is keeping you away from. Your mediocre job doesn’t let you be your true self. You could be so much more in your dream job. Your life could be so much happier.

I know the idea of quitting your job is scary. Use that to your advantage. When you are afraid you’ll hit the rock bottom or end up not being able to pay your rent, you become stronger and more resourceful. You already have everything it takes to make your dreams come true. Have the courage to take the first step.

What is your dream job? What are you doing to reach your goals? Let me know in the comments! Also, remember to pin this post if you liked it.

While working on your dreams you will probably face hard days and need some extra motivation every now and then. Sign up for my newsletter to get motivational emails and tips straight to your inbox! If you sign up now, you’ll also get a free copy of my ebook ‘A Complete Guide to a Productive Life.’