Feeling stuck? Here's how to know when it's time to leave your job | Ada Chen Rekhi

[00:00] Many people don't know how long to stick with something that maybe doesn't feel good, but may lead to something. Like someone may be in a job right now or just like, [00:08] I really don't like this job, but I feel like it'll lead to something. [00:12] Great. [00:13] And I don't want to give up too quickly. [00:15] So I guess the question is, what are heuristics that tell you to stick it out? [00:20] and stick with something that you think will lead to something great versus like, pull the ripcord and get out? That's a great question. And it's a really tough one that is kind of contextual on the person that you are. So one of the things that... [00:33] I like to share is sort of this idea of, um, [00:36] It's a little gory. Don't be the frog. [00:38] And so if you are familiar with the story of the frog, it's this idea of boiling the frog. [00:44] So if you take a frog and you throw in a pot of boiling water, it'll jump out. [00:49] But if you take a frog and you put it in a pot and you increase the temperature degree by degree by degree, the frog doesn't notice. And before it knows it, [00:58] It's boiled alive. [01:00] And how I apply this to kind of your question, to come back and circle back to it. [01:05] is that [01:06] It's really easy to be a victim of inertia. [01:10] It's really easy for all of us to be the frog where there are little things that make us uncomfortable. [01:15] And, you know, we kind of sit with them or we think, you know, gosh, I'm [01:19] it'll get better, the next manager will get better. I'm always one conversation or one promotion away from kind of getting to that next step. [01:26] but you really have to be aware of your surroundings. [01:29] You have to be aware of which way is the direction of the temperature of the water trending.

[01:36] And, [01:38] That's what kind of makes advice really contextual. I really kind of look at it from the lens of learning. What can I learn here and how am I growing and developing? So there might be an argument for you to stay at a job for a decade, for two decades. [01:51] If it turns out that every single day you're being really challenged, [01:55] you're learning new things, you're deriving a lot of meaningful enjoyment out of your work, and you're kind of, [02:00] this happy frog that's hanging out, [02:03] realizing that things are good and the temperature is not rising. [02:06] But there are also situations where you might encounter just some really hard walls where you don't get along with [02:12] the thesis of the company, right? You don't agree with the direction of the company that you're in. There are fundamental aspects of the role which are limiting to you or you're not learning a lot, frankly. And I think that happens a lot where you're providing a lot of value and doing a good job at a company. [02:28] but you might not be learning things that kind of stretch you and grow you to achieve your ultimate goal. [02:33] And when you are aware of that learning, I think that's sort of the point at which you have to say, [02:40] "How do I change that? How do I kind of be an agent in my own career and make a difference in that?" [02:46] And it doesn't necessarily mean that the strategy is to quit your job and do something catastrophic, and then go do something else, take a course or sign up for something new. It might actually mean a proactive conversation with your manager or the leadership to say, [03:01] I love what I'm doing here. [03:03] And... [03:04] I would also like to learn a little bit more, and here's what I'm interested in.

[03:08] and then try to find a way to either land the right projects. So in my case, it was really growth and subscriptions, right? That experience that I really wanted. [03:16] or to even, let's say you hit a blank wall there, [03:21] even take it as a gift of time. [03:23] which is great, I'm not going to be able to get this from my company, but now that I have sort of this extra time because I'm so optimized at this job, how am I going to choose to use that time? And it might be around building relationships with some of the key people at the company or learning something new on your own time that you can leverage in another way. [03:41] Thanks for listening. You can find the full episode on YouTube or head on over to Lenny's podcast.com.