Not a day goes by that someone doesn’t ask me if they should quit their job. It’s such an ever-present question in my life that we produced a bonus podcast episode that will be released later in the week. (Sign up for LFW updates here.)
Today’s email question comes from a reader who received a not-so-great performance review back in March and feels like it’s both unfair and unrecoverable. The review was contested, his appeal was overruled, and the lack of “due process” and transparency around how the number was created — along with his very vocal protestations of the process itself — leaves my reader feeling like he has nowhere to go in this company.
“Should I quit my job?”
I’m probably the wrong person to ask because #NeverWork is my goal. There’s plenty of wealth in this world for basic income, and I think the world is better served when people are following their skills and dreams instead of toiling away at bullshit jobs that will kill them.
But, if you have to work, you shouldn’t quit a job before you have another position lined up. More importantly, you shouldn’t leave a job because someone tells you that you’re not good at something. Bad performance review? Negative feedback? Why are you running away from this? Be the kind of person who sticks around to improve your skills on someone else’s dime and, possibly, prove them wrong.
If you get an annual performance review that says you’re bad at collaboration, you have a few options: run away like a baby and prove them right, or collaborate like hell during the next project. Another option is to say, hey, you’re right, I’m bad at collaborating, but I’m good at putting together strategic plans (or whatever). Can we talk about where my skills might add more value to this company?
See, there are 100 paths to success before you walk away from a job. But, if you want to quit, go ahead. You don’t need anybody’s permission. And it’s a fallacy that you have to work in the same job for five years.
Just make sure you know why you’re about to quit. Because if you don’t fix what’s wrong with you, the same thing will happen again and again throughout your career.