Monumental Mistake many make by not quitting at correct time!

Humans are infested by inertia and love to do what they have been doing. One fine day, they start facing issues, crises, stagnancy and decay. Often, the cause their troubles is that they had stuck around the place way too long and ignored the signals their surroundings were giving to quit and seek change! It is true that majority misses the boat for bolstering their career and craving for a crest!

One caveat for quitting – do that only when you have another appropriate alternative in hand.

Judging right time to quit

By quitting, I not only mean current employment; but also present position in your profession or pursuits. You should quit, when:

  1. You don’t feel happy with what you are doing, despite your sincere efforts and you don’t see a chance of a change.
  2. Despite 3 nos. of candid conversations over a period of time, there is no comfort level between you and your boss, even though top management had intervened. Remember the rule 1-2-3 & Go; it applies to everyone every time!
  3. Despite being well meaning, you are often mired or pulled into conflicts or controversies over a year.
  4. Your company is not changing and growing, and hence your management is able to offer you only stability and promotion; but not growth in real terms.
  5. Your senior managers and management are not interested in addressing your genuine concerns and issues. Be sure about genuineness of your concerns!
  6. You are excelling and reaching climax. It the best time to quit!
  7. When you start to enjoy comfort of your job and don’t want it to be compromised.
  8. When your management makes promises and fails to deliver at least 3 times.
  9. When your management does not hold moral and ethical grounds.

Hype and Hypocrisy on Employee Retention

Ludicrous is the style of that management and its HR, whose focus is to retain employees by hook or hammer; rather than encouraging and stimulating employees to see and shape their future with the company!

Most management reward for retention, create comfort zones for employees and show love for loyalty more than performance! Seldom they realize that by creating comfort zones, they are killing creativity and initiatives in employees.

Real leaders and managers are those, who tirelessly create opportunities, develop and grow their employees and if they can’t, then would graciously come forward to offer deserving ones a choice to relocate to another company or give honorable exit.

What we need are Constraint Zones, not Comfort Zones

Do not mistake Constraint by controlled and freedom limiting zones. Constraint zone aims at encouraging employees to give more for less – again don’t confuse less means less salary; it means less time, less energy, better efficiency, innovative ways to accomplish more and so on.

Banes of Comfort Zones

  • Inactiveness and inefficiency
  • No drive to learn and change
  • Hatching covers for comforts
  • Taking things for granted
  • Taking time to manipulate and justify inactions

Only blessing that comfort zones offer is stability, uneventful and peaceful time, before degeneration takes control.

Blessings of Constraint Zones

  • Auto drive for value system
  • Self-motivation to learn and change; employees don’t do it otherwise
  • Promotes productivity, creativity and value creation
  • Realization for value of time, energy and cost/money
  • Gunning for greater growth

How quitting at correct time can unleash new order and opulence

Normally, people do not understand how sometimes a single decision can have amazing power to become game changer in your life. The game of quitting under duress or distress is radically different than to quit by design, which can leave irrevocable imprints on your career and character!

  • When you quit plan fully, it makes you confident and courageous decision maker – very rare qualities to progress and excel.
  • State of your mind when you quit and quest for Change would shape your future successes.
  • It can open flood gates of opportunities.
  • It empowers you to shape your destiny.
  • Its best impact is to inspire you to drive events, rather than those driving you!

Comments

14 responses to “Monumental Mistake many make by not quitting at correct time!”

  1. Murli Lohia Avatar
    Murli Lohia

    Transferred from LinkedIn

    Roshan Pais has sent you a message.
    Date: 3/02/2013
    Subject: RE: Monumental Mistake many make by not quitting at correct time!

    Dear Mr. Lohia,

    Once again, a very clear and concise message; I am starting to envy your ability to get it just right everytime.

    Reading through, its as though my innermost thoughts and gut feeling were put in black-and-white. The ‘constraint zones’ are very real and it’s amazing how much one’s productivity shoots up due to the full force of our minds being brought to bear down on every challenge that we come across. This easily becomes a habit over time and the exponential surge of growth through the years. But i will say in the same breath that it gets lonely through the years because there are few similar individuals that understand and appreciate this. That takes us back to the very core of your article – Quit at the right time with a plan.
    I would just like to add one point – its important to take breaks and step back to look at the larger picture so that one can remain in touch with ever dynamic world around.

    1. Murli Avatar

      I am very grateful to you for your very inspiring and encouraging words!

      Your analysis and understanding is superb!! Please keep it up; these would take you to great heights. Yes, taking break and stepping back to view and review is very crucial. I hope you have read an article on CYI “Most failures come from looking forward first and then looking backward….”. It validates your point.

      Please consider yourself to be very fortunate, since rules that apply to you, me and the best person you know on this planet are the same. We as each individual might be applying those differently. Let the application be the same; you would necessarily come to same point!

  2. Murli Lohia Avatar
    Murli Lohia

    Transferred from LinkedIn

    Monica Sharma has sent you a message.
    Date: 3/02/2013
    Subject: RE: Monumental Mistake many make by not quitting at correct time!

    This one Sir , is sure food for thought.

    1. Murli Avatar

      Thanks a lot! I am sure, you would relish it, once you taste it!!

  3. Murli Lohia Avatar
    Murli Lohia

    Transferred from LinkedIn

    Alberto Mendez has sent you a message.
    Date: 3/03/2013
    Subject: RE: Monumental Mistake many make by not quitting at correct time!

    Mr. Lohia,

    This is a good one, I like the way it can help me anticipate on senior people leaving the company and therefore do something to prevent so.

    Tahnk you for sharing this.

    Regards,

    1. Murli Avatar

      Thanks a lot for your valuable views. It is my pleasure to share.

  4. Rudra Avatar
    Rudra

    Two utterly different things here I would say – Quitting and Changing! I don’t think anybody should ever ‘quit’ in his life. ‘Quit’ is a very strong word for me… its more kind of a full-stop in your life. It’s OK to change what you’re doing but not quit for sure, even when you’re at your peak and have finished (even you’ve “shifted” your profession I would say, not quitted!! :)).

    As your post also seems to be advocating my above snippet, it correctly says you should ‘change’ soon as you enter your comfort zone, but certainly can’t think about quitting, can you?

    Your “Banes of Comfort Zones” are bang on target… could relate that very well… 😛

    Good succinct article… to-the-point… speaks for itself!!

    Cheers!!

    1. Murli Avatar

      Many thanks for your views and giving me an opportunity to clarify what I understand, as the difference in the spirit of Quitting vs Change.

      Quit means abandon or come out of your current situation or activity. Quit does not mean Full-stop in your life; it is only a stop for what you quit – say quit smoking or comfort zone. Essentially, quitting breaks your connection to past. On the other hand, Change keeps a connection to past and has an alteration or modification in what you were doing. Example – one can’t say that he is changing the company; he is quitting the company and in that respect, you have no connection to older one. You have now a new one. But you can say I am changing the job! It signifies that you were in a job earlier and now also you have a new one; so there is a connection to past for being in a job but not to past company/employer now.

      I have really meant in the post, when you are at the peak, it is best time to quit. Reason – please refer to my earlier posts – adversity would take its grip; unless one had really evolved to sustain or seek higher peaks, Seldom people are able to do that in practical life. The said posts had cited several examples of leading world figures.

      So, you should continuously change; but quit when the time is ripe and right!

      1. Rudra Avatar
        Rudra

        Thanks for a much comprehensive elucidation and I completely agree with that but the word “Quit” still remains a strong word for me. I would say I’ll stop something and then restart it in a better way (unless it’s a bad habit like smoking that you’ve cited).

        I don’t think I would ever start anything if I know I am going to ‘quit’ it someday. I’ll stop it, take the experience out of it, and will re-implement it in the next thing that I do. Though I don’t smoke, but let’s say if I do and want to get rid of this, I would want to change/shift this passion of smoking with/to something else for better. So here, I am not quitting my passion, but I am changing my passion from smoking to… let’s say Reading… or Writing… So I am not going to disconnect myself from my past. I know that I did something bad in my past which I shouldn’t repeat!! So that connection is required – just like a reminder, isn’t it?

        You mentioned “Quitting” means disconnected from the past and “Changing” suggests you still have a connection to your past, correct? So now my question… would anybody be able to do justice to his post-retirement work, if he disconnects (or quits) his past? I think what you do after your retirement is nothing but a cumulative effort of your past experiences and knowledge. OK, if you say, in rare to rare cases, a big Business tycoon or a famous personality puts a full-stop to his career and goes to Himalayas and never comes back – we MAY call it “Quitting”, though it still is a very strong statement.

        I think we both have got the essence of the post correct, only that our interpretation is a bit different. I just don’t like to use the word “Quit”, nothing else!!

        Don’t mind but these are only my frank guileless views… views of a relatively inexperienced corporeal… 🙂 😛

        1. Murli Avatar

          I welcome your frank views! I am only a media or may be a facilitator. You have to eventually figure out what is right or wrong for you.

          More than words, the meaning and spirit behind is more important. Meaning can’t be changed, simply because we don’t like it or find it very strong. One thing I must say, you seem to be relating Quitting a given thing to Renouncing i.e. abandon everything! This is not the meaning of Quitting!

          I have quitted EEEC at a pre-appointed time does not mean that I have quitted or disconnected from my past experience. I had just left my employment.

          Dissent is always good, as long as our purpose is to reach truth. I admire your efforts!!

  5. Aniruddha Rao Avatar
    Aniruddha Rao

    Hello Sir,

    I am not sure if you remember me, but I started my career with EEEC and the first time I met you was when I was undergoing training in EEEC.

    I have been reading each and every article you publish on this website.

    For the above one, I have been in a world class organization for almost 6 years now, and a few things that I have observed is, in spite of being a part of a fortune-50 organization where growth of the company is always confirmed year by year, it makes not much of difference to you until you get to know what was your role to play in the growth of the company. It is much annoying when we get to know from our management that you did excellent and this is a reward/incentive/promotion etc. But the bottom line is, if you give an examination and don’t get to know your scores, even if somebody says you did great, without the scores it seems like you are just being pampered or something is hidden.

    I often tend to feel that I deserve to know some more facts, some more figures. I am ready to contribute in developing something new which would only happen if I move out from my monotonous efforts of leading projects that don’t tell me how significant they are in the growth of the company.

    Is that when you really think you should move out?

    But after you decide that, you look for a job in the market, you wont get anything new, it shall be the same stuff for some other organization. I sometimes fail to understand, from where do actually revolutionary ideas/decisions come from in an organization.

    Will this curiosity get people like me anywhere?

    Thanks for sharing the beautiful views.

    Regards,
    Aniruddha

    1. Murli Avatar

      I, off course, remember you very well. You have been my colleague and hence, have become part of my life!

      I indeed appreciate your interest in articles being published on this website.

      As it looks like, you are a dedicated employee; however, your management’s communication to you is not satisfactory and you seem to feel left out. Have you had a candid discussion with your management on what are you looking for in its communication? I don’t think your demand is unreasonable; it is all about knowing in time how your work is contributing to company’s growth. May be a direct statistical figure is not available with your management; but it can definitely advise you how it values your work! Also, tell your management that you want to develop something new in terms of business or process or else (please be specific) and ask for an opportunity or even change of your functions or rotation of your job.

      Hopefully, your frank discussion with your management would address your problem. Please follow up 2 more times. In case it does not yield the result, then it is time for you to move out to another job.

      Please do believe that your genuine desires and thoughts have to fructify; keep bringing correct change in your approach, be optimistic and remember the rule 1-2-3 & Go (please refer one of the earlier articles). You are bound to get there.

      Have I addressed your problem; otherwise we could share more thoughts?

  6. Rahul Thorat Avatar
    Rahul Thorat

    Hello Sir
    Hope you are doing well !!
    Thanks for sharing wonderful views in practical way.
    Regards
    Rahul Thorat

    1. Murli Avatar

      Yes, I am doing well. Many thanks!

      I greatly appreciate your valuable views!!

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