Top 10 Reasons Why I Left My Job

Posted by Alexander Tsatkin

April 30, 2008

Recently I have decided to put my two week notice at Red Bricks Media . It was a very difficult decision to leave the security of full time employment, but I figured there is no time like today to pursue your dreams. Perhaps I have been watching a little too much Big Idea with Donny Deutsch or maybe I have been reading to many blogs praising self employment like Steve Pavlina’s 10 Reasons to Never Get a Job . Either way I decided that it has been some time that I stood at the edge, and it was time to take the leap.

The goal is to activate my flight or fight response by reducing my living to squalor and hardship. When the human body and mind is pushed to the limit it can do amazing things. The brain is something that has been slowly atrophying. Good news is that you can reverse the decay of your brain, check out Secrets of the Mind if you don’t believe me.

I used to be able to come up with an idea every day, and even used to keep a journal of it. I was flipping through it and saw tons of great ideas which will never come through fruition unless I take the next step. Besides this burning desire to start my own thing I decided to write down why I left my job.

Top 10 Reasons Why I Left My Job

10. Hours - Lets face it as a full time employee you are stuck working ridiculous hours. I have been living in San Francisco for almost a year and have barely explored the city.

9. Social Life - I have a few friends in the city who continued to get neglected due to the hours at the office. Evening where I got home early I was so exhausted that I did not feel like seeing anyone.

8. Networking - I was not meeting anyone new in various industries. My time was surrounded by the same people working at the same company working in the same industry.

7. Meetings - Meetings are the most annoying part of working at any corporate job. They were endless and killed off a few brain cells each time.

6. Clients - When working for someone else, you get assigned the clients rather than choosing the ones you wish to work on. This can make your job dull and if the client is demanding can add unnecessary stress.

5. Dogs - I do not hate dogs, but letting dogs run around started to get to me. It wasn’t so much the dogs but the way the company was “fake corporate.” In other words dogs were allowed and we got snacks, but yet we still had a corporate culture behind the facade.

4. Neighborhood - Not sure what up and coming means to some people, but to me it meant being welcomed by the stench of urine and having to step over human feces on a regular basis.

3. Commute - I have tried commuting three ways to work each with its own problems. N Judah Muni always crowded and full of drunks. Driving, no assigned spots had to move the car every hour or two. Biking, the ride back was all uphill.

2. Routine - Lets face it getting up every weekday with nothing to look forward to was starting to wane on me. No surprises just same routine. If there was a surprise it was stress related never a pleasant surprise. The only thing I looked forward to is Free Lunch Fridays, so sad.

1. Money - It is NOT that I did not make enough money. In fact, I had received an increase in salary. When I received the first pay stub it did not even feel like I had, because deep inside I knew it was NEVER about the money. Money is a means not an ends.

Random Life, San Francisco

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Comments

Comment by donald on May 3, 2008 @ 2:33 am

congratulations to making that first important step to leave your job which many people do not have the courage to make!

Make the best out of your decision, and i know you will do really really well. If you do what you need to do outside, it will definitely get you better results than sticking to a job.

We need to reclaim our lives by taking ourselves away from our job!

All the best to you!