A Good Reason To Stay?

Maybe you, like many of the women I speak to, have a Good Reason to stay in that job that sucks the life out of you. Do you? Because it’s a very easy trap to fall into.

These are some of the ones I hear frequently:

Long service leave…
Maternity leave…
EOFY bonus…
Voluntary redundancy…
Another promotion…
The end of a project…
Improving your relationship with your boss so you’re ‘guaranteed’ a great reference…
Finishing a professional development course…

The problem I see with many of the Good Reasons that my clients pull out the bag when it comes to indecision or inaction, is that the Good Reason is often masking the Real Reason, and so either the goalposts continually shift, or the next Good Reason comes up.

The Real Reasons? You’ll have heard me mention them often if you’re a longtime follower…

… lack of confidence

… fear of change

… reluctance to do the hard work needed to get where you want to go!

The other problem with Good Reasons to stay is that some of these can equate to months, or even YEARS of waiting.

Does it really make sense to hang tight for another two years in a job you hate or have outgrown, just to qualify for 6 weeks or so of long service leave?

Can you truly count on falling pregnant within the timeframe you have in mind or are you risking a longer wait than feels manageable? I know plenty of women (personally and professionally) who fell pregnant quickly with their first child yet waited years for their second.

Is it really true that the only way you can finish that course you started is to stay put, or could you cover the cost independently or ask your new employer to cover it?

What if you just found yourself a new exciting job that paid you what you were worth, instead of hanging around waiting for a bonus at the end of the FY? Wouldn’t that be a Good Reason to make a change.