Why i Quit My Dream Job and Never looked back

In early 2021, I quit what turned out to be the best job I ever had. 

Unlike the other 5 times I quit over the course of my career, it wasn’t an easy decision to walk away. I was a 33-year-old Senior Director overseeing a team of 30 FTE and 100 contractors. There were no glaring issues. I was compensated extremely well, loved my team, worked 100% remote and could make my own hours. I was all but guaranteed a promotion to Vice President that year and had the support of many senior leaders who wanted to see me advance. 

When I started that role, I was only 28 and ended up hiring and managing folks twice my age. I learned how not only to survive but thrive at a company where zero women of color held executive positions and I was routinely the only Black woman in meetings. 

It was challenging, grueling and rewarding work and I loved feeling valued and respected by my colleagues. 

Getting that promotion would have been the culmination of everything I had worked so hard for after leaving my job as a financial reporter to join a startup. Becoming a VP would have been the ultimate affirmation that I had made the right choice when I bet on myself and took on a leadership role for the first time. 

Despite all that, my gut told me it was time for a new challenge. 

I had done such a good job building the infrastructure of my team that I knew they could survive without me. The fact that I was able to take my 3-month maternity leave in 2020 and they didn’t skip a beat was proof enough for me that I had done what I set out to do and could be incredibly proud of that legacy.

I didn’t deny my gut feeling or try to ignore it. Instead, I sidled right up next to it and started listening closely, trying to discern exactly what message it held for me. It told me I wanted a new opportunity where I could focus on my own creative skills again. It reminded me that the only thing I’d written in those five years was the first act of a play I never finished, roughly 500,000 work emails and the show notes for Brown Ambition each week. 😆

My gut also told me not to doubt myself. I wasn’t the same naive and inexperienced 22-year-old who started covering personal finance in 2011. In the decade that followed, I developed a wealth of knowledge not only about personal finance but also career advancement, entrepreneurship and leadership and I was ready to share it. 

I had no idea what my path forward would look like, but me and my gut decided in the summer of 2020 to start changing my mindset and looking for an opportunity that would give me the change I was looking for. I updated my resume, became more active on LinkedIn and actually responded to recruiters when they reached out. I took interviews for VP level positions and dusted off my interview skills. 

I couldn’t exactly put on paper what type of role I was looking for but I just told myself I’d know it when I saw it. It took about six months before the right opportunity came along, and I pounced without hesitation. 

The story gets pretty interesting from there (that job only lasted 3 months after all!) but I’ll leave that for another day. 😉 Like the incomparable Maya Angelou said, “I wouldn’t take nothin’ for my journey now!”

In the meantime, consider this your invitation to start listening to your gut. Even if you’re happy where you are and “successful” by all measures, it doesn’t mean you can’t make a change. If you’re waiting for permission, understand that you have to give it to yourself. 

So many of my coaching clients try to talk themselves out of wanting more because they feel like they’re being greedy or ungrateful for the great jobs they already have. 
I do my best to make everyone I talk to feel empowered to put themselves first. I do that because I know firsthand that both things can be true — you can quit a job and still love and value that experience at the same time. 

Are you starting to feel that little whisper from your gut telling you that you might be ready for something new? Text or call a friend and say it out loud. Saying it aloud yourself and to others is the first step toward building the confidence you need to move on. I’m happy to be that sounding board for you, and cheer you on virtually. You can also book a session with me to create an action plan.

Wishing you all much success and love,

xM

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