“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.”

Lao Tzu

It is popular belief that you should only move forward to succeed. When you hike a mountain, you need to go uphill to get to the top. I mean, you will never get to the top if you walk backwards, right? However, contrary to popular belief, sometimes going backwards is still going uphill. Why?Because there are circumstances in life that it is not worth to push against the tide. If an avalanche is coming, then you hide until it passes. The same happens with your career. There are circumstances that it is necessary to switch jobs even if downgrades your salary and rank. In this post, I will share 5 compelling reasons to switch jobs even if downgrades your rank And salary.

Disclaimer: I am not a Psychology or therapeutist. The lists below comes from personal experience and this post is intended for educational purposes. Please if you have symptoms of depression seek a specialist.

Management is taking unethical decisions

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, behaving or acting ethically relates to beliefs about what’s morally right and wrong. The corporate world sadly is plague of work environments that spurs bad ethics, just pull the newspapers and you’ll find news of frauds and corruption everywhere. However, one thing is to read about it and another one is to live it.

Staying in a company where management is taking unethical decision can be harmful to you career, following the main reasons:

• If you get involve in a scandal just because you were following instructions it will damage your career. If you are an engineer or an accountant you will might never be able to exercise your profession.
• There is also a possibility that you will get fine, so you will be adding amounts to your total debt, of decreasing your capital.
• Your mental and emotional health will be compromised, the stress of the duplicity will increase the probabilities of suffering any type of diseases. Some examples are obesity, depression, insomnia and so many other, just search the internet and type diseases caused by stress, and the result will be an interminable list.

If you find yourself in this situation the choice to make, even if you have to step back in your rank or salary, it is to move, no money or career is enough to lose your identity and your health.

The company has a stressful environment that you cannot control

The other day I watched a meme referring to the hypocrisy of companies that value the idea of “working under stress”. Yes, the hypocrisy, because working under stressed is not an ability is a condition of your work environment, that thanks to the World Health Organization, now we know is one of the causes of work burnout.

As WHO nicely put it, “it os (stress) a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed”. But really, how do you manage chronic workplace stress without compromising who you are?

I know that you cannot expect a yoga class every time you go to work, but to work in a place that generates chronic stress in a continuous basics, it will bring the worse of you, you will lose focus, effectivity and control of your emotions. If your current job, has become and rattle snakes’ hole, look for something different. Save your life before is too late.

I know you are afraid, but trust in your abilities, you will find a job with a good environment to work, always understanding that there’s no a perfect job, just a better one. Also, you can have time to work on become independent and fulfill that dream you always have want to do or become. Don’t be afraid of the consequences, just evaluate them and

You don’t find fulfillment in what you do

You can start over, no matter your age. It’s ok to say today 5, 10 or 20 years later, this is not what I wanted with my life. I made a mistake.

It’s hard to say it, even harder to recognized it. But it is harder to knowing it, live with it and not do nothing to change it. You are probably afraid of what people will say, even your family, but doing something you don’t like anymore or that you come to hate, will take your energy away. Eventually, will make you feel more stressed, and you can even get into deep depression.

However, you have to acknowledged that you spend 50% to 63% of your day working, in order to have a happy life, you need to like it. The maximin goes, “if you love what you do, you will never have to work a day in your life.” And with this, I am not saying that you need to have passion for cleaning a hospital or picking up trash, for example, but you need to find fulfillment.

What do I mean by this?

Well, find fulfillment mean that even if you did not land your dream job, you still can find blessings, like it or enjoy your reward. If you can’t find the three things above and on top of it, you are stress, you feel tired and have problem been effective, ask yourself, do I find fulfillment in what I do? Is it lovable? Or you are already so frustrated that it is difficult for you?

You hate what you are doing

There is not much to elaborate on this, if your hate it, leave it. How to know if you hate it?

Well, that’s easy:

• You don’t want to go to work every morning
• You don’t want to see or talk anybody from work
• You want to leave early
• You find excuses to miss work

If you are doing some of the above or even others that I did not listed here that help you avoid going into work, them that’s your sign. Why to put that stress in your life if the power to change it is within you.

Work frustration are translated into your personal life

When things at work aren’t working, you will see the consequences of this in your personal life (at some point you may feel you don’t even have one), like for example:

• You fight with everyone at home without apparent reason
• You drive like a crazy person
• If you are single, you may have difficult time being yourself at dates
• If you are married, you will find a problem or fault on your spouse every time. Constant fight might be present.
• You will find a problem with everything, the yard, the stairs, the parking spot, and the list can go on…

Don’t let a bad job and the fear of losing income to stop you from being happy. You will find another source of income and you will find a way to sustain your life.

Have you been in a bad job situation? What other 5 Compelling Reasons to switch Jobs even if Downgrades Rank or salary do you have?