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There is nothing worse than having to work a job every day that you hate.
It could be said that this is about the cruelest, most unjust load of crap that we, as living, breathing human beings, must endure to live out some jacked-up version of the American Dream.
Sure, that shit job of yours might afford a reasonably decent apartment, a vehicle you enjoy, and maybe you haven’t been reduced to eating bologna sandwiches every night just to keep the lights on.
But what’s the trade-off? Increased stress, chronic unhappiness, and maybe even a rotten battle with the grips of alcoholism.
If you are going to bed on Sunday night filled with extreme dread, only to wake up Monday with an overwhelming desire to put a bullet in your skull, chances are it’s time to make a career change.
Here are five questions career experts say will help you make that determination.
Do You Constantly Dread Your Job?
Regardless of whether you are a Rockstar, an Academy Award-winning actor or a fork truck driver, no one likes their job all of the time. And this might be especially true on a Monday…or a Tuesday.
Hell, even Wednesdays can be hard to stomach.
However, if you consistently experience anxiety with respect to your employment situation, INC columnist Bill Murphy Jr, a man whose claim to fame is once quitting a $100k per year position after just a single day, suggests it might be time to move on.
Murphy’s advice is to do what Steve Jobs did back in the day: Ask yourself a simple question.
“If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” Jobs explained in a 2005 speech at Stanford University that “whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”.
So if you’ve considered jumping out the bedroom window ten Mondays in a row to avoid going into work, you probably need to find another job.
RELATED: I Followed My Passion And It Was A Huge Mistake – Here’s What I Should Have Done Instead
Do You Aspire To Take Over As Boss?
If salary wasn’t your only motivation, would you want to step into the captain’s seat at your present company?
This is a crucial question one must ask himself when trying to determine whether they hate their job or not.
The idea is that a person who likes his post will likely have aspirations to advance in that career. If you’re looking at your boss right now thinking, “There is no way in hell that I would ever want that bastard’s job,” it’s a pretty solid indication that you need to get the fuck out of dodge.
Because if you don’t, the misery is only going to deepen on down the line.
“The people who like their work and who do in fact hope for promotions — will have a motivation that you lack,” Murphy writes. “As they move past you, you’ll only wind up even less satisfied in your current job.”
Does Your Job Make Your Personal Life Hell?
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Not only should a job provide the financial support you need to live and support your family, but it should also be fulfilling on another level.
One thing is sure. It shouldn’t consistently make other aspects of your life a living hell.
Murphy says it is essential to be honest with ourselves when determining whether our jobs are having a negative effect on our lives.
If your job is causing you to experience health issues, it might be time to make a switch.
If it is causing your family problems, once again a career change might be needed.
If you dig deeper into the situation, is the job preventing you from achieving your dreams or bettering yourself in anyway?
That’s not the way it should be.
“Granted, there might be things you can do short of quitting that would address some of these issues,” Murphy wrote. “But if you find yourself saying yes to this question along with others on this list, it’s probably time for a change.”
Does The Job Feel Like It’s Going Nowhere?
People who like their jobs typically are those who are continually growing and learning. Feeling like you’ve hit a wall in your current position is a relatively good sign that it’s gone down in flames. The restlessness of your situation, the constant dismay, is your brain’s way of saying you need more.
Go find it!
“If you’re putting in hours, trading your time for money and helping build someone else’s wealth — but not growing, learning, and gaining things that you value — then be a friend to yourself and grant permission to think about quitting,” Murphy advises.
Does Your Gut Tell You To Leave?
As humans, we come equipped with intuition, that feeling in our guts that tells us whether something is right or wrong. Murphy says that once you have thoughtfully examined the above questions, the real truth could come from your gut.
“Of course we can interpret things incorrectly, but if we’re honest, our gut feelings can contain wisdom,” he wrote. It is essential, however, not to mistake pure emotion as a gut reaction.
If at work today, your boss pissed you off, and you felt like saying, “Hey, go fuck yourself, I quit,” that’s not your gut telling you that it is time to go.
Being able to trust your gut about a situation really only comes after a careful examination of the evidence.
Maybe you don’t hate your job at all and just dealing with a workplace bully.
As we mentioned in an earlier column, working with these ass hats can often make people miserable and inspire them to jump ship without a life preserver.
Never allow this to happen to you.
You want to leave your job because it is the right thing for you to do, not because some jerk made you mad.
Whatever You Do, Make Sure To Have A Plan
If after some careful consideration you’ve concluded that the time has come to quit your job, it’s probably not a good idea to do it without a strategy.
It is first necessary to figure out what your next position must have to make it more enjoyable than the last: Do you want more responsibility, less, do you need more money, health insurance benefits, do you want to work days or night, etc?
Having a job is never going to be perfect, but improvements can be made to make your time on the clock less dreadful.
Once a person has an understanding of what it is they want and need out of their career, it is easier for them to find work that makes Mondays easier to tolerate.
Or… you could always find yourself a sugar momma.
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Mike Adams is a freelance writer for High Times, Cannabis Now, and Forbes. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.