In the latest episode of “Lessons from a Quitter,” we dive deep into crafting a well-rounded Quit Plan. It all starts with an honest self-assessment—unearthing why you’re itching to leave that job of yours. You know, those reasons you might not even want to admit to yourself. We begin by understanding the underlying motives for leaving our current situation. Next, I guide you to explore your dreams and paint a picture of the life you desire. This way, you can dissect your strengths and skills and start to explore various career options that align best with your true desires. I also help you break down your finances so you can calculate your financial runway once you do quit. Once we crunch the numbers, you can explore whether it’s truly the cash or your thoughts about it that are keeping you stuck at your job. And all those doubts you’ve been harboring about quitting? I have you list your worries, confront them, and come up with a game plan for every single one. Trust me, it’s empowering. Listen and work through the six steps for your personalized quit plan, one that’s going to guide you to the life you’ve been craving.
Your quit plan
Ep. 268
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Show Transcript
Hello my friends and welcome to another episode. I am so excited you are here. Today we're going to talk about quit plans. What are quit plans? So we recently went over this in the Quitter Club, my membership, because we were doing a three month course called 90 Day Decisions that culminated in a month talking about deciding to leave it, whether you want to leave your job or not. And one of the ways that I like to prepare my students for leaving is through something called a quit plan. And it's basically a comprehensive guide that walks you through everything that you really need to think about before you leave. What I have seen so often happen is that a lot of us either quit reactionary, is that a word? We, we sort of react to our circumstance. We get fed up, we storm in, we decide we're done, we can't handle it anymore. Or even if we have a plan, we have like sort of touched on some of the things we need. Maybe we've thought about our finances, maybe we've gone through a couple, obviously we've thought about what we want to do next, but there are so many things that we haven't thought about. And what that tends to lead to is a lot of panic and a lot of freak out and a lot of a mismanaged mind. And I see people's brains go wild as soon as they quit or as soon as they're getting ready to quit. So even for my people who are ready, who have saved up the money, who know what they want to do next, as they get closer to that quit date, their brain is dreaming and trying to get them to stop, which is very normal because you're afraid 'cause it's uncertain and we don't know what's going to happen and it's uncomfortable.
And so I see a lot of people back out even though they've like decided and they've worked for it for a really long time, they keep pushing past their quit date and keep pushing it back, or they don't do it all together. Or if they do do it, even if they've worked in some time as a buffer, they've worked in some time as to rest. They want a sabbatical, they're going on vacation, doing whatever. A lot of that time is ruined because of their brain, because of all of the thoughts, because of the constant worry of like, did I do the right thing? What if this doesn't work? Should I be, I need to be hustling. I need to be onto the next thing. And so part of the reason why I think having a quit plan is really helpful is because it gets you to think through why you're doing all the things you're doing, what you want to do, what the plan is, what the obstacles are, how to get over 'em.
And when your brain inevitably freaks out because it will, and that is normal and nothing has gone wrong, you have a plan to go back to, to sort of calm yourself down. You have a plan, you've thought through everything, you have everything written down. And so it becomes easier to then manage that freak out. It doesn't mean the freak out's going to go away, it doesn't mean that like you're not going to get nervous or have fear. You will. And we're not trying to get to a place where we feel perfectly calm and there, you know, is no risk because that place doesn't exist. We're just trying to set ourselves up in a way that makes sure that we can follow through with our plan that allows us to do it with the least amount of negative emotion and freak out. So that's what a quit plan is, is just the different areas that you sort of have to think about and plan for so that you're ready to go when you're, when you want to quit your job.
I think that doing a quit plan is really valuable even if you don't want to quit your job, even if you don't know if you want to quit your job. I think going through these questions and these assessments and taking the time to think about things that a lot of us don't ever slow down to think about because we're always just in a rush to do the next thing. We're constantly trying to just be productive, hustling. And when you slow down and give yourself the space to just really ask yourself certain questions, really figure out what you want to do, it can open up a lot of things. Even if you don't want to quit, it can really get you to start questioning like, where do I want to take this career? What do I want out of this? How would I do that? What is, you know, how much do I have saved?
So today I figured I would just give you this areas that I think you need to focus on when you're creating your own quit plan. And if you want help with this, like I'm going to, obviously there's only so much I can do in like a 30 minute podcast episode but this is what we do in the Quitter Club together. So if you are wanting to put together a quit plan, if you want to work on it, this is not something that you put together in a day. This is not something that you sit down in an hour and bust out. It's something that requires a lot of thought coming back to a lot of soul searching, a lot of digging deep, a lot of figuring out what it is that you want. And oftentimes that can feel really overwhelming or confusing when you're doing it on your own, not really knowing like what is it that I want.
So if you want help with that, I want you to join me in the Quitter Club because like this is the work that we do and you can bring these questions. First of all, there's a whole class now on the quit plan and you can watch that and go through it. You can get the PDF, you can start working through it and you can bring your questions to coaching. You can start working on this quit plan slowly, step by step so that you have a comprehensive guide when you're ready to leave. Okay? But I figured today I would give you what I focus on so that even if you're not in the club, these are sort of the areas that you need to focus on that you need to start figuring out what you want to do. Okay? I always start with what I call self-assessment.
And then part of that is really figuring out why you want to leave, what is going on with you that is getting the reasons behind your decision to go. So I think for a lot of us, we might know we want to leave, but we're sort of scared to look at underneath that. Like what is driving me to go? And I think this is really one of the most important sections, one of the most important parts because I think for a lot of us, we want to just be really clear like, am I running away from something? Is it because, you know, for some of us we want to quit because we have imposter syndrome and we feel uncomfortable because we think we're a fraud. Like, is that really the reason why I want to leave a job, right? Or like what, maybe it's because I don't feel like I'm growing anymore and I really value growth and I have a lot of curiosity.
Okay, those could be really great reasons, right? You want to sort of figure out what, why is it that I'm doing this? What am I unhappy about? What is the problem here? What do I want to fix with that? Because you have to make sure that where where you're going is going to fix whatever the problem is that you think you have here. If it's growth, then yeah, maybe you go doing something new is going to give you growth, right? If it's imposter syndrome, maybe the next place won't help because if you're going to bring those thoughts with you and you're still going to think you're a fraud and you, you're still going to think you're not good enough, like you're just taking that problem with you to the next job, right? Maybe we slow down and figure out what to do here. So the first step is really just figuring out why, why do I want to quit?
What are my reasons for leaving? What are my real reasons? Like what are the secret reasons that I don't really want to admit to myself even or to other people? I really want to get to the bottom of that, okay?
The second area that I would focus on is the financial aspect, the financial assessment. This is extremely important. For so many of us, we have so much fear around money. We have so much fear around looking at our money, right? We have so much shame around debt and maybe we haven't invested as much as we want to and we should be further along and we should have more money saved and I should be making more money or whatever all the shoulds are gets us to sort of bury our head in the sand. And this is the part where we really just need to have an honest look at where are we financially, right?
Where are, what is our runway? How much do I have saved? What are my expenses? How much do I bring in? How much would I need to make? I think for a lot of us, we use finances as an excuse to not take a step into something that's scary and we want to know where is it really money? Where is it really the finances? Which is a real part, right? We all have to have money to live in this society. We have to pay our bills. But we want to know, like so many people tell me they have to replace their income. And I always want to know, like I was asked like, why is that really true? Right? Not that you shouldn't want to, you can and you can even make more, but we would just want to know the hard cold facts, right? Like do you need your whole income to meet your expenses?
If you did want to jump, could you make less for a little while? If that's going to help you in kind of the long-term span of what you want to do. Like let's say you want to start a business, you may not come out the gate making as much as you want to make in your salaried position. Is that okay? If you know, hey, my expenses are actually only a third of what I make. I don't really need to make this big of a salary in order to cover my expenses. I can make half of this or a third of this and still be okay and give myself time to build the thing that I want to make. Right? Maybe I take a job, maybe I go part-time in my career, maybe I do consulting so that I can replace that third of my salary to cover my expenses, then I have a lot more options, right?
When you just say like, for so many new people will say like, well I can't just quit. I need to make a living or I need to pay my bills. Yeah, sure, but what is the exact like numbers, right? We want to know what are the exact numbers and what is my fears? Because here's the thing, I coach so many people who have done this work and they already have their whole runway saved up. They have like a year worth of expenses saved up. They have, you know, they're, they have paid off their debts for the most part. They, they're in a good financial situation and yet they keep, they know that the money is what keeps them there. They're afraid because been programmed from childhood that you need stability. And the way to get stability is to always have an income and to always save and don't spend. And we keep squirreling away for a rainy day, but we don't allow ourselves to have that rainy day ever.
And when you get really nitty gritty on your finances, then you can really start figuring out where is it the money and where is it my fear? Right? Where is it all of my thoughts around money? Because once I can see like, oh, I have enough to make the jump and be okay for a couple of months or six months or a year, and even asking these questions, how much runway do I want to have to feel secure? What would be enough? Because for a lot of people they'll say, I want six months and then we get to six months of savings. And lo and behold, they still don't feel secure because it's not the actual money, it's their thoughts about the money. If the thought is it's going to run out, I could save for two years worth of runway and I still will have that thought, right? It's working on that.
So that's why it's really important to not just have a, like so many people are like, oh yeah, I, you know, I make a little bit more than I spend so I have to make this income. No, we want to know exactly like how much do I spend every month? How much do I make? How much do I save? How much would I need to save to create a runway, right? How many months would it take me to create that runway if I need to save six months worth of expenses and I only have a thousand dollars of extra money every month that I could save, let's say how many months will it take me to get that six months, right? Then I get a clearer picture of like, I can't quit for the next year. Okay, good to know. At least I can know that I can, hunker down and work on my thoughts and love where I'm at for a year while I save this money.
Okay? So this is a big part of most people's quit plans. They do obviously look, think about finances, but I want you to just get really detailed about what it is you need, how much you think you need how long that will take you, how much you're making now. And I, again, if you do have shame around this stuff, which a lot of people do, because we again are programed to have shame around money, I want you to get in the quitter club so we can coach on these thoughts because there doesn't need to be any shame. I don't care how much debt you have, I don't care what you've done with your money, I don't care how much you've wasted it. There doesn't have to be shame. They could simply be like, okay, this is what the facts were up until now and this is what I want to do here. And the more we can get rid of that shame, the more we can start making plans and changing things. Okay?
So this is where a lot of people sort of stop. They like do the why I want to quit. They sort of get an understanding. And then they know their money and maybe they do a little bit of like, what do I want to do next? But this usually gets like falls by the wayside. And what happens is that too often we get really panicked and so we just take the next best thing, which may not even be aligned with what we want to do, right? We just jump to another job so that I can get out of this job and start making some money. 'cause I'm afraid of not having enough money. And so I just go to the next thing and then I find myself unhappy there and I have to go through the whole process again, right? I'm at another job I don't like.
So what we want to do is really over the next couple of sections that I'm going to talk about is really get a better understanding of what do I want to do from here? If I quit this place, if this is going to be my, I'm quitting my quit plan, what am I going to do from here?
So one of the things that I really want people to focus on is figuring out their dreams. Like I want you to spend some time figuring out what do I want for this life? Not in the next job. Like we have to all, for so many of us, we get so caught in the day-to-day and the hustle that we really lose sight of what direction do I want to go? What is a successful life for me, right? What does a dream life look like? What, what are the things that I wish I could do? And for so many of us, we don't let ourselves even dream because we're so worried that we won't, that we'll feel disappointed if we can't have it. We think immediately. Like that's not possible. So I don't want to dream about that. And what's fascinating is that for so many of us, our dreams aren't really outlandish things. I mean, yes, there might be like some high expense things, maybe a certain type of house in a certain neighborhood, or you want to go on certain vacations, fine.
But for the most part what I've found is that people's dreams are very doable, right? It's like I want some more time at home and I want flexibility and I want to be able to breathe and stop doing so much and I want to not worry about money so much and whatever, whatever the, the basis of those dreams are, I want to have creativity every day. I want to find things that light my soul up. Like you would just want to start creating like more of a direction. You don't have to have an exact of what I want, but you want to start thinking about like, what is lacking for me right now and what would that look like if I had it right? What is a career like? If we're going to figure out how our career works in towards that dream life, we have to know what that dream life is. We have to know what am I working towards? Maybe I can't have it now. Maybe my next job won't create that for me, but can I have it in five years? Can I have it in 10 years? Can I set myself up for that? And I can only know that by looking at it. Like if we're so afraid of disappointment or thinking it's not going to happen, then we don't even allow ourselves to let it come up. Like what would that dream look like? Because what's fascinating is that when you start pinpointing it, it's so much easier to create for yourself.
If you know that like your dream life is that you have more flexibility and you don't work the 40 hour work week that starts opening us up to like, okay, what are the types of careers I want to have? What do I have to start looking into, right? When I look at a job, I start getting more focused on the opportunities that allow me more flexibility that start showing me like maybe remote work, maybe digital nomad work, whatever the thing might be. I can't know that if I don't ever let myself access my dreams if I don't ever admit to myself what it is I want. So you're going to want to spend some time really figuring out like what do I ultimately, if I got to wave that magic wand and figure out what I wanted, what would that look like? I have to be brave enough to admit that to myself.
After you figure out more of your dreams, I want you to like, in these sections, like these next two sections that I have people go through is really looking at like the nitty gritty of like, what are my options here right now? Right? Like, what is more realistic? Not maybe not for my north star, but exactly, you know, what I want to do with what I have.
So one of those is a skills assessment is looking at like where, what are my strengths? Where do I shine? And this is where for all my, you know, imposter syndrome people, you really have to like do some work on being able to look at what value you bring. I promise you have, you have tons of strengths if you can't come up with it, like take a strengths finders test, there's tons of different types of like assessment tools online just to give you an like, it will give you more of an objective look at like, hey, you actually are strong in these areas.
You have to start seeing it. You have to start looking at like, it doesn't have to be on specific skills. Like I'm not meaning like you have to say like I'm good at Excel. You can, if you are good at Excel, that could be a good one. But really like, okay, I am a big picture thinker or I really thrive on detail and I'm really good at being meticulous about, you know yeah, all the details or coming up with plans. It's really good to know because it starts becoming easier to see what jobs will I thrive in, right? We all have strengths and weaknesses every single one of us. And I'm going to give you, let you in on a little secret. Typically the opposite side of your strength is a weakness, okay? Like whatever's your strength is also kind of your Achilles heel. And that is neither a good or bad thing. It just is.
So like if you are a big picture thinker, if you're a visionary, if you can kind of, you're a futurist, you can see things that other people can't, you can see really big, like how all the pieces move together. You likely, I'm not saying everybody, but you likely have a hard time getting into the nitty gritty in the details, right? You likely don't like it. It's like if you like to see all of it together, maybe you have a harder time looking at like exact minuscule details of each part, right? The opposite is true too. Or if, let's say you are a super outgoing, super personable, wants to be with people all the time, wants to, you know, you might be really good at customer facing things as sales, you know, you have certain strengths in those areas. You likely might have a really hard time when it's projects that require a lot of time. Like you in front of a computer, like you might have issues doing tasks that are, you know, I don't know, writing or details that is just you and a spreadsheet. So like, okay, it's good to know that, right? This is where I thrive. Because one of the things we want to do, like we, I think that for most of us, we can learn other skills. We can, you know, I talk a lot about how every job is going to have 50-50, every job is going to have things that you like and that you don't like. But it's always easier to play to our strengths, right?
There's a reason, this is what happens is a lot of us don't value our strengths. And what I mean by that is like, we don't think it's a strength because it comes easy to us. So we think like, oh, that's not actually a strength, that's just, you know, I just can talk to people and it's like, well, there's a lot of people who can't. So typically the thing that's your strength, your superpower comes very easily to you that you don't even really look at it as a scale. You're constantly looking at what you don't do well. And we want to start shifting that. We want to start looking at like, what do I do? Well, what are the things I shine at? What are the things that I'm constantly getting praise for in my reviews from my bosses, from other, what do people come to me for? The more I can look at that and I can look at my weaknesses, like, okay, let me, if I don't have shame around it, and I can look at what, where I don't typically do well, it gives me a better understanding of like, where are the jobs, what are the fields, where is the areas that I'm going to shine in? Because that's where I want to focus on. So you want to take some time to really figure out what are your skills and then maybe what am I lacking in skill that I need to brush up on that I need to, you know acquire. And how am I going to acquire those? Do I need more personal, personal, uh, professional development? Do I need to get a certificate? Do I need to do some program? Do I need to volunteer? Do I need to take classes online?
Once we know like where's the deficit from what I want to do? And these two sections, the skills and your options, which is the next one I'm going to talk about can go hand in hand. That's like as I look at my skills and then I look at the options I want to pursue, I can figure out like, what are the skills I need to acquire and maybe I stay at this job while I'm acquiring those skills because that's what I want to set me up for.
The next thing, the next section that I'd like to like focus on is the options, which is like, what are the fields that I'm interested in right now? Right? So when we looked at the dream life, we can start figuring out like what are weight things that are in the direction of that Doesn't mean that it's going to, I'm going to do it the very next thing, right? But like, what are potential careers? And for a lot of us, it requires a lot of brainstorming and figuring out like what is a, not just one or two, but just researching, giving myself some time to research other industries that maybe focus on the skills that I have that, I've always been interested in figuring out, right? And I want to take some time to get to know those professions. Maybe that's through research, maybe that's through networking.
I do think networking is probably the easiest way to find out about any industry. So is it reaching out to people, going to job fairs, going to workshops or meetups, going to webinars, going to things they have online and learning more about what they do, right? And the more I learn about different fields, the easier it becomes for me to see, like, do my skills fit into this? Is this something I want to do long term? Is this something that will take me towards the direction that I want to go in? Because we talked about last week on the 90 day goal. Like there's the, there's a difference between your short term and your long term. So I might decide like, hey, I'm going to leave this and I'm going to go into this field as a stepping stone because maybe I want to acquire some skills. Maybe I want to get into that field. Maybe this is like my foot in the door. Maybe this is how I network with people. My goal is to be here for a year, right? And I'm going to do that and then hopefully parlay that into opening up my own business or whatever the next thing is towards my dream life. I can do that step by step if I know where I'm going, if I know what the, you know, sort of what the next step has to be, even if that's not the ultimate thing I want to do.
And so we want to start figuring out what are those options, right? Do I work for someone else, maybe to acquire some skills because I want to open my business? Do I volunteer on the weekends because I want to gain some skills for this type of industry?
And the last part of all of this is a fear assessment. And that is really getting all of your fears out on paper. I think for a lot of us, we allow it to live in our head and it will drive you insane. And I think it, I mean, it's not going anywhere. You're going to be afraid because changing things is scary and we crave certainty and there is no certainty in that. And so you're going to have doubts, you're going to be afraid. So we want to deal with it head on. The more you look at your fears, the easier it becomes to deal with them, the easier it becomes to manage them, the easier it becomes to recognize them. Okay? For a lot of us, we think that the fear is like this truth. So it's like, oh my God, what if I fail? What if I regret it? Right? And then we don't answer those questions. We just like let those questions play on repeat over and over again until it drives us crazy and then we stay stuck and we're like, I can't even leave because I don't know how to do this.
What I want you to do in a fear assessment is really answer those questions. And in order to answer them, you have to get them all out. So you have to know like, what am I afraid of happening, right? Am I afraid that I'm going to lose all my money or am I going to, afraid that my family's going to judge me? Maybe both, right? Maybe because I think for a lot of people, they'll tell me like, they're not actually afraid they're going to lose all their money 'cause they'll just go back and get another job. They're just afraid that everyone's going to judge them if they fail. They don't want to have to like go back with the, their tail between their legs and ask for another job. Like, okay, that's a much different fear than I really need to figure out financially how I'm going to make this work.
So you want to just get it all out first, like literally step by step. Like write out every single fear that you have. I'm afraid that my family's going to judge me and I'm afraid that I'm going to lose my money and I'm afraid that I'm going to regret this decision and I'm afraid that I won't have this opportunity if I go back and I am afraid that I can't come back into this field.
Whatever. It's, you want to have all of those listed out and then you want to like work through how would I deal with each one of these if it did happen? You want to go to the worst case scenario. I think for so many of us, we avoid that because it's scary to think about. Like, it's scary to think about like, if I quit and then I don't get another job, how would I pay my bills? Yeah, how would you, it is scary to think about. It's much scarier to not have a plan, right?
It becomes a lot easier when I think about, okay, I'm worried that I'm going to lose my money. What, what would I do if I started like trying to get a job and I couldn't get a job? What are some ways that I would overcome this? And when you start getting a comprehensive look, maybe I would downsize and I would move outta my house, sell my house and get a smaller place. I would move in with my parents. I would start driving for Uber. I would reach out to my network, I, whatever it is. Like I would get another job. When you start seeing like there's a lot million ways, I'm not going to end up losing everything. Like I can course correct, I can see where it's going to go wrong or like I can start seeing like, hey, I have six months of runway. Maybe if I at month three have not gotten a job, what do I want to do then? Right?
Once I've like seen that I I am halfway through my runway, maybe that's where I want to course correct. Right? What this does is helps us, like when you actually quit in month one, when your brain is freaking out, like, Hey, we need to make money. We can sort of calm ourselves down. Like, no, we've already thought through this. I have three months where I'm not going to look for another job. I'm going to like try to build this business, let's say. And then at month three, if I still am not bringing in money, then I'm going to start looking like I've already thought through all of this.
My brain is still going to freak out, but at least now I can bring it to our plan. I can bring myself back. I don't have to get lost with these crazy thoughts. I can come back to like, we're okay. It's okay that we, we saved this money for a reason and now we're using it to build our dream, right? If you have these thoughts of like I don't know, like, yeah, my parent, my family is going to judge me. Okay, how am I going to deal with that? What is the thought work I have to do around that? Do I want to talk to someone about that? Do I want to talk to them about that? Do I want to have honest conversations? Like, hey, I'm very vulnerable right now and so I need you guys to like not tell me your own fears. 'cause I have a lot of fear. I get that you're worried about me, but it's going to trigger a lot of insecurity. And so like I just ask that like for the next six months that you just not talk to me about it. I'm figuring it out. You know, like you could very much have that conversation and decide like, this is how I, this is what I need in order to be able to deal with this. Or I want to work on my own thoughts to not let that insecurity get to me, right? Or I want to go to a therapist, whatever it is. Like, if I start figuring out, okay, this is what I'm worried about and this is how I deal with it, these are the solutions I need to come up with. It's amazing how empowered you feel when you have it all on a paper when you're like, huh, that fear is actually not that big of a deal. Like I could actually deal with this. I could figure this out.
And if you can do that, it starts making that jump less scary when you're like, I've already thought through all this. I already know all the things that can happen. My brain thinks that this is the scariest thing in the world, but it really isn't. 'cause I already know, okay, worse comes or worse, I go back and get a job. Worse comes or worse, I go and work at this place. Worse comes to worse, I reach out to my network and I'm sure I can find something because it's fascinating with the people that I coach. So many people have these huge fears. And then as soon as I work through this exercise with them and I'm like, yeah, what would you do? They come up with like five solutions and they're are instantly calm down and they're like, oh, I could probably handle this.
So I want you to do that before you do anything else. I want you to have that plan before you quit so that you're not scrambling for it. So I'm just going to repeat the success assessments that I think you need to make. The six areas of your quit plan that I need, that you should think through deliberately and intentionally and have a plan and write it out before you quit. One is yourself, right? Why you're doing it. What's that self-assessment like? What's, what's the drive behind this? Two is your finances, three is your dreams. What kind of north star do you want to live? Where do you want to go? You know, where is your career taking you? Four is your skills. What skills do you have? What skills do you need? Five is your options. What areas are you going to look into? What, what potential career paths? What's taking you towards that North star? And six are your fears.
And when you have all of these, it creates such a more comprehensive and grounded plan, like what you want to do from here. And it'll start giving you a lot of really quick answers. Like if you go through your finances and you're realizing like, I can't quit until I pay off this debt. It's really easy to know like, okay, for the next year or when we go, you know, the next 90 days, the next six months, I'm not going to do anything but focus on saving money for my finances. I'm not going to think about quitting. Or maybe while I'm saving money is when I'm kind of taking the next 90 days to look at my options to look at the other fields. Like maybe that's what I want to focus on. It gives us something to work with of like, where is my next focus so I don't get overwhelmed with all of it.
So I don't think I have to have the whole quit plan done tomorrow. It's like, what am I focusing on piece by piece? So by the time I'm ready to quit, I have everything and I feel more grounded and confident about the decision I want to make. So that's what I want you guys to all work on. If you're getting ready to quit or you're thinking about quitting, and if you want help with that, I want you to join me in the Quitter Club because I will help you work through this quit plan and I will help you figure out what those fears are and what your skills are and what options you have. And we can work like through each part of this so that you have a plan, a comprehensive plan, and you have kind of that confidence to do the thing you want to do. And when inevitably those thoughts come up and that doubt comes up, you can get the coaching you need so that you don't stay stuck or you don't give up on the plan. Just because those come up. 'cause those will come up, but we can manage our mind. All right, my friends, I hope this was helpful. If you want to join us in the Quitter Club, go to lessonsfromaquitter.com/quitter club and I will be back next week with another episode.
Hey, if you are looking for more in-depth help with your career, whether that's dealing with all of the stress, worry, and anxiety that's leading to burnout in your current career or figuring out what your dream career is and actually going after it, I want you to join me in the Quitter Club. It is where we quit what is no longer working. Like perfectionism, people pleasing imposter syndrome… and we start working on what does, and we start taking action towards the career and the life that you actually want. We will take the concepts that we talk about on the podcast and apply them to your life and you will get the coaching, tools, and support that you need to actually make some real change. So go to lessonsfromaquitter.com/quitter club and get on the waitlist. Doors are closed right now, but they will be open soon.
And so I see a lot of people back out even though they've like decided and they've worked for it for a really long time, they keep pushing past their quit date and keep pushing it back, or they don't do it all together. Or if they do do it, even if they've worked in some time as a buffer, they've worked in some time as to rest. They want a sabbatical, they're going on vacation, doing whatever. A lot of that time is ruined because of their brain, because of all of the thoughts, because of the constant worry of like, did I do the right thing? What if this doesn't work? Should I be, I need to be hustling. I need to be onto the next thing. And so part of the reason why I think having a quit plan is really helpful is because it gets you to think through why you're doing all the things you're doing, what you want to do, what the plan is, what the obstacles are, how to get over 'em.
And when your brain inevitably freaks out because it will, and that is normal and nothing has gone wrong, you have a plan to go back to, to sort of calm yourself down. You have a plan, you've thought through everything, you have everything written down. And so it becomes easier to then manage that freak out. It doesn't mean the freak out's going to go away, it doesn't mean that like you're not going to get nervous or have fear. You will. And we're not trying to get to a place where we feel perfectly calm and there, you know, is no risk because that place doesn't exist. We're just trying to set ourselves up in a way that makes sure that we can follow through with our plan that allows us to do it with the least amount of negative emotion and freak out. So that's what a quit plan is, is just the different areas that you sort of have to think about and plan for so that you're ready to go when you're, when you want to quit your job.
I think that doing a quit plan is really valuable even if you don't want to quit your job, even if you don't know if you want to quit your job. I think going through these questions and these assessments and taking the time to think about things that a lot of us don't ever slow down to think about because we're always just in a rush to do the next thing. We're constantly trying to just be productive, hustling. And when you slow down and give yourself the space to just really ask yourself certain questions, really figure out what you want to do, it can open up a lot of things. Even if you don't want to quit, it can really get you to start questioning like, where do I want to take this career? What do I want out of this? How would I do that? What is, you know, how much do I have saved?
So today I figured I would just give you this areas that I think you need to focus on when you're creating your own quit plan. And if you want help with this, like I'm going to, obviously there's only so much I can do in like a 30 minute podcast episode but this is what we do in the Quitter Club together. So if you are wanting to put together a quit plan, if you want to work on it, this is not something that you put together in a day. This is not something that you sit down in an hour and bust out. It's something that requires a lot of thought coming back to a lot of soul searching, a lot of digging deep, a lot of figuring out what it is that you want. And oftentimes that can feel really overwhelming or confusing when you're doing it on your own, not really knowing like what is it that I want.
So if you want help with that, I want you to join me in the Quitter Club because like this is the work that we do and you can bring these questions. First of all, there's a whole class now on the quit plan and you can watch that and go through it. You can get the PDF, you can start working through it and you can bring your questions to coaching. You can start working on this quit plan slowly, step by step so that you have a comprehensive guide when you're ready to leave. Okay? But I figured today I would give you what I focus on so that even if you're not in the club, these are sort of the areas that you need to focus on that you need to start figuring out what you want to do. Okay? I always start with what I call self-assessment.
And then part of that is really figuring out why you want to leave, what is going on with you that is getting the reasons behind your decision to go. So I think for a lot of us, we might know we want to leave, but we're sort of scared to look at underneath that. Like what is driving me to go? And I think this is really one of the most important sections, one of the most important parts because I think for a lot of us, we want to just be really clear like, am I running away from something? Is it because, you know, for some of us we want to quit because we have imposter syndrome and we feel uncomfortable because we think we're a fraud. Like, is that really the reason why I want to leave a job, right? Or like what, maybe it's because I don't feel like I'm growing anymore and I really value growth and I have a lot of curiosity.
Okay, those could be really great reasons, right? You want to sort of figure out what, why is it that I'm doing this? What am I unhappy about? What is the problem here? What do I want to fix with that? Because you have to make sure that where where you're going is going to fix whatever the problem is that you think you have here. If it's growth, then yeah, maybe you go doing something new is going to give you growth, right? If it's imposter syndrome, maybe the next place won't help because if you're going to bring those thoughts with you and you're still going to think you're a fraud and you, you're still going to think you're not good enough, like you're just taking that problem with you to the next job, right? Maybe we slow down and figure out what to do here. So the first step is really just figuring out why, why do I want to quit?
What are my reasons for leaving? What are my real reasons? Like what are the secret reasons that I don't really want to admit to myself even or to other people? I really want to get to the bottom of that, okay?
The second area that I would focus on is the financial aspect, the financial assessment. This is extremely important. For so many of us, we have so much fear around money. We have so much fear around looking at our money, right? We have so much shame around debt and maybe we haven't invested as much as we want to and we should be further along and we should have more money saved and I should be making more money or whatever all the shoulds are gets us to sort of bury our head in the sand. And this is the part where we really just need to have an honest look at where are we financially, right?
Where are, what is our runway? How much do I have saved? What are my expenses? How much do I bring in? How much would I need to make? I think for a lot of us, we use finances as an excuse to not take a step into something that's scary and we want to know where is it really money? Where is it really the finances? Which is a real part, right? We all have to have money to live in this society. We have to pay our bills. But we want to know, like so many people tell me they have to replace their income. And I always want to know, like I was asked like, why is that really true? Right? Not that you shouldn't want to, you can and you can even make more, but we would just want to know the hard cold facts, right? Like do you need your whole income to meet your expenses?
If you did want to jump, could you make less for a little while? If that's going to help you in kind of the long-term span of what you want to do. Like let's say you want to start a business, you may not come out the gate making as much as you want to make in your salaried position. Is that okay? If you know, hey, my expenses are actually only a third of what I make. I don't really need to make this big of a salary in order to cover my expenses. I can make half of this or a third of this and still be okay and give myself time to build the thing that I want to make. Right? Maybe I take a job, maybe I go part-time in my career, maybe I do consulting so that I can replace that third of my salary to cover my expenses, then I have a lot more options, right?
When you just say like, for so many new people will say like, well I can't just quit. I need to make a living or I need to pay my bills. Yeah, sure, but what is the exact like numbers, right? We want to know what are the exact numbers and what is my fears? Because here's the thing, I coach so many people who have done this work and they already have their whole runway saved up. They have like a year worth of expenses saved up. They have, you know, they're, they have paid off their debts for the most part. They, they're in a good financial situation and yet they keep, they know that the money is what keeps them there. They're afraid because been programmed from childhood that you need stability. And the way to get stability is to always have an income and to always save and don't spend. And we keep squirreling away for a rainy day, but we don't allow ourselves to have that rainy day ever.
And when you get really nitty gritty on your finances, then you can really start figuring out where is it the money and where is it my fear? Right? Where is it all of my thoughts around money? Because once I can see like, oh, I have enough to make the jump and be okay for a couple of months or six months or a year, and even asking these questions, how much runway do I want to have to feel secure? What would be enough? Because for a lot of people they'll say, I want six months and then we get to six months of savings. And lo and behold, they still don't feel secure because it's not the actual money, it's their thoughts about the money. If the thought is it's going to run out, I could save for two years worth of runway and I still will have that thought, right? It's working on that.
So that's why it's really important to not just have a, like so many people are like, oh yeah, I, you know, I make a little bit more than I spend so I have to make this income. No, we want to know exactly like how much do I spend every month? How much do I make? How much do I save? How much would I need to save to create a runway, right? How many months would it take me to create that runway if I need to save six months worth of expenses and I only have a thousand dollars of extra money every month that I could save, let's say how many months will it take me to get that six months, right? Then I get a clearer picture of like, I can't quit for the next year. Okay, good to know. At least I can know that I can, hunker down and work on my thoughts and love where I'm at for a year while I save this money.
Okay? So this is a big part of most people's quit plans. They do obviously look, think about finances, but I want you to just get really detailed about what it is you need, how much you think you need how long that will take you, how much you're making now. And I, again, if you do have shame around this stuff, which a lot of people do, because we again are programed to have shame around money, I want you to get in the quitter club so we can coach on these thoughts because there doesn't need to be any shame. I don't care how much debt you have, I don't care what you've done with your money, I don't care how much you've wasted it. There doesn't have to be shame. They could simply be like, okay, this is what the facts were up until now and this is what I want to do here. And the more we can get rid of that shame, the more we can start making plans and changing things. Okay?
So this is where a lot of people sort of stop. They like do the why I want to quit. They sort of get an understanding. And then they know their money and maybe they do a little bit of like, what do I want to do next? But this usually gets like falls by the wayside. And what happens is that too often we get really panicked and so we just take the next best thing, which may not even be aligned with what we want to do, right? We just jump to another job so that I can get out of this job and start making some money. 'cause I'm afraid of not having enough money. And so I just go to the next thing and then I find myself unhappy there and I have to go through the whole process again, right? I'm at another job I don't like.
So what we want to do is really over the next couple of sections that I'm going to talk about is really get a better understanding of what do I want to do from here? If I quit this place, if this is going to be my, I'm quitting my quit plan, what am I going to do from here?
So one of the things that I really want people to focus on is figuring out their dreams. Like I want you to spend some time figuring out what do I want for this life? Not in the next job. Like we have to all, for so many of us, we get so caught in the day-to-day and the hustle that we really lose sight of what direction do I want to go? What is a successful life for me, right? What does a dream life look like? What, what are the things that I wish I could do? And for so many of us, we don't let ourselves even dream because we're so worried that we won't, that we'll feel disappointed if we can't have it. We think immediately. Like that's not possible. So I don't want to dream about that. And what's fascinating is that for so many of us, our dreams aren't really outlandish things. I mean, yes, there might be like some high expense things, maybe a certain type of house in a certain neighborhood, or you want to go on certain vacations, fine.
But for the most part what I've found is that people's dreams are very doable, right? It's like I want some more time at home and I want flexibility and I want to be able to breathe and stop doing so much and I want to not worry about money so much and whatever, whatever the, the basis of those dreams are, I want to have creativity every day. I want to find things that light my soul up. Like you would just want to start creating like more of a direction. You don't have to have an exact of what I want, but you want to start thinking about like, what is lacking for me right now and what would that look like if I had it right? What is a career like? If we're going to figure out how our career works in towards that dream life, we have to know what that dream life is. We have to know what am I working towards? Maybe I can't have it now. Maybe my next job won't create that for me, but can I have it in five years? Can I have it in 10 years? Can I set myself up for that? And I can only know that by looking at it. Like if we're so afraid of disappointment or thinking it's not going to happen, then we don't even allow ourselves to let it come up. Like what would that dream look like? Because what's fascinating is that when you start pinpointing it, it's so much easier to create for yourself.
If you know that like your dream life is that you have more flexibility and you don't work the 40 hour work week that starts opening us up to like, okay, what are the types of careers I want to have? What do I have to start looking into, right? When I look at a job, I start getting more focused on the opportunities that allow me more flexibility that start showing me like maybe remote work, maybe digital nomad work, whatever the thing might be. I can't know that if I don't ever let myself access my dreams if I don't ever admit to myself what it is I want. So you're going to want to spend some time really figuring out like what do I ultimately, if I got to wave that magic wand and figure out what I wanted, what would that look like? I have to be brave enough to admit that to myself.
After you figure out more of your dreams, I want you to like, in these sections, like these next two sections that I have people go through is really looking at like the nitty gritty of like, what are my options here right now? Right? Like, what is more realistic? Not maybe not for my north star, but exactly, you know, what I want to do with what I have.
So one of those is a skills assessment is looking at like where, what are my strengths? Where do I shine? And this is where for all my, you know, imposter syndrome people, you really have to like do some work on being able to look at what value you bring. I promise you have, you have tons of strengths if you can't come up with it, like take a strengths finders test, there's tons of different types of like assessment tools online just to give you an like, it will give you more of an objective look at like, hey, you actually are strong in these areas.
You have to start seeing it. You have to start looking at like, it doesn't have to be on specific skills. Like I'm not meaning like you have to say like I'm good at Excel. You can, if you are good at Excel, that could be a good one. But really like, okay, I am a big picture thinker or I really thrive on detail and I'm really good at being meticulous about, you know yeah, all the details or coming up with plans. It's really good to know because it starts becoming easier to see what jobs will I thrive in, right? We all have strengths and weaknesses every single one of us. And I'm going to give you, let you in on a little secret. Typically the opposite side of your strength is a weakness, okay? Like whatever's your strength is also kind of your Achilles heel. And that is neither a good or bad thing. It just is.
So like if you are a big picture thinker, if you're a visionary, if you can kind of, you're a futurist, you can see things that other people can't, you can see really big, like how all the pieces move together. You likely, I'm not saying everybody, but you likely have a hard time getting into the nitty gritty in the details, right? You likely don't like it. It's like if you like to see all of it together, maybe you have a harder time looking at like exact minuscule details of each part, right? The opposite is true too. Or if, let's say you are a super outgoing, super personable, wants to be with people all the time, wants to, you know, you might be really good at customer facing things as sales, you know, you have certain strengths in those areas. You likely might have a really hard time when it's projects that require a lot of time. Like you in front of a computer, like you might have issues doing tasks that are, you know, I don't know, writing or details that is just you and a spreadsheet. So like, okay, it's good to know that, right? This is where I thrive. Because one of the things we want to do, like we, I think that for most of us, we can learn other skills. We can, you know, I talk a lot about how every job is going to have 50-50, every job is going to have things that you like and that you don't like. But it's always easier to play to our strengths, right?
There's a reason, this is what happens is a lot of us don't value our strengths. And what I mean by that is like, we don't think it's a strength because it comes easy to us. So we think like, oh, that's not actually a strength, that's just, you know, I just can talk to people and it's like, well, there's a lot of people who can't. So typically the thing that's your strength, your superpower comes very easily to you that you don't even really look at it as a scale. You're constantly looking at what you don't do well. And we want to start shifting that. We want to start looking at like, what do I do? Well, what are the things I shine at? What are the things that I'm constantly getting praise for in my reviews from my bosses, from other, what do people come to me for? The more I can look at that and I can look at my weaknesses, like, okay, let me, if I don't have shame around it, and I can look at what, where I don't typically do well, it gives me a better understanding of like, where are the jobs, what are the fields, where is the areas that I'm going to shine in? Because that's where I want to focus on. So you want to take some time to really figure out what are your skills and then maybe what am I lacking in skill that I need to brush up on that I need to, you know acquire. And how am I going to acquire those? Do I need more personal, personal, uh, professional development? Do I need to get a certificate? Do I need to do some program? Do I need to volunteer? Do I need to take classes online?
Once we know like where's the deficit from what I want to do? And these two sections, the skills and your options, which is the next one I'm going to talk about can go hand in hand. That's like as I look at my skills and then I look at the options I want to pursue, I can figure out like, what are the skills I need to acquire and maybe I stay at this job while I'm acquiring those skills because that's what I want to set me up for.
The next thing, the next section that I'd like to like focus on is the options, which is like, what are the fields that I'm interested in right now? Right? So when we looked at the dream life, we can start figuring out like what are weight things that are in the direction of that Doesn't mean that it's going to, I'm going to do it the very next thing, right? But like, what are potential careers? And for a lot of us, it requires a lot of brainstorming and figuring out like what is a, not just one or two, but just researching, giving myself some time to research other industries that maybe focus on the skills that I have that, I've always been interested in figuring out, right? And I want to take some time to get to know those professions. Maybe that's through research, maybe that's through networking.
I do think networking is probably the easiest way to find out about any industry. So is it reaching out to people, going to job fairs, going to workshops or meetups, going to webinars, going to things they have online and learning more about what they do, right? And the more I learn about different fields, the easier it becomes for me to see, like, do my skills fit into this? Is this something I want to do long term? Is this something that will take me towards the direction that I want to go in? Because we talked about last week on the 90 day goal. Like there's the, there's a difference between your short term and your long term. So I might decide like, hey, I'm going to leave this and I'm going to go into this field as a stepping stone because maybe I want to acquire some skills. Maybe I want to get into that field. Maybe this is like my foot in the door. Maybe this is how I network with people. My goal is to be here for a year, right? And I'm going to do that and then hopefully parlay that into opening up my own business or whatever the next thing is towards my dream life. I can do that step by step if I know where I'm going, if I know what the, you know, sort of what the next step has to be, even if that's not the ultimate thing I want to do.
And so we want to start figuring out what are those options, right? Do I work for someone else, maybe to acquire some skills because I want to open my business? Do I volunteer on the weekends because I want to gain some skills for this type of industry?
And the last part of all of this is a fear assessment. And that is really getting all of your fears out on paper. I think for a lot of us, we allow it to live in our head and it will drive you insane. And I think it, I mean, it's not going anywhere. You're going to be afraid because changing things is scary and we crave certainty and there is no certainty in that. And so you're going to have doubts, you're going to be afraid. So we want to deal with it head on. The more you look at your fears, the easier it becomes to deal with them, the easier it becomes to manage them, the easier it becomes to recognize them. Okay? For a lot of us, we think that the fear is like this truth. So it's like, oh my God, what if I fail? What if I regret it? Right? And then we don't answer those questions. We just like let those questions play on repeat over and over again until it drives us crazy and then we stay stuck and we're like, I can't even leave because I don't know how to do this.
What I want you to do in a fear assessment is really answer those questions. And in order to answer them, you have to get them all out. So you have to know like, what am I afraid of happening, right? Am I afraid that I'm going to lose all my money or am I going to, afraid that my family's going to judge me? Maybe both, right? Maybe because I think for a lot of people, they'll tell me like, they're not actually afraid they're going to lose all their money 'cause they'll just go back and get another job. They're just afraid that everyone's going to judge them if they fail. They don't want to have to like go back with the, their tail between their legs and ask for another job. Like, okay, that's a much different fear than I really need to figure out financially how I'm going to make this work.
So you want to just get it all out first, like literally step by step. Like write out every single fear that you have. I'm afraid that my family's going to judge me and I'm afraid that I'm going to lose my money and I'm afraid that I'm going to regret this decision and I'm afraid that I won't have this opportunity if I go back and I am afraid that I can't come back into this field.
Whatever. It's, you want to have all of those listed out and then you want to like work through how would I deal with each one of these if it did happen? You want to go to the worst case scenario. I think for so many of us, we avoid that because it's scary to think about. Like, it's scary to think about like, if I quit and then I don't get another job, how would I pay my bills? Yeah, how would you, it is scary to think about. It's much scarier to not have a plan, right?
It becomes a lot easier when I think about, okay, I'm worried that I'm going to lose my money. What, what would I do if I started like trying to get a job and I couldn't get a job? What are some ways that I would overcome this? And when you start getting a comprehensive look, maybe I would downsize and I would move outta my house, sell my house and get a smaller place. I would move in with my parents. I would start driving for Uber. I would reach out to my network, I, whatever it is. Like I would get another job. When you start seeing like there's a lot million ways, I'm not going to end up losing everything. Like I can course correct, I can see where it's going to go wrong or like I can start seeing like, hey, I have six months of runway. Maybe if I at month three have not gotten a job, what do I want to do then? Right?
Once I've like seen that I I am halfway through my runway, maybe that's where I want to course correct. Right? What this does is helps us, like when you actually quit in month one, when your brain is freaking out, like, Hey, we need to make money. We can sort of calm ourselves down. Like, no, we've already thought through this. I have three months where I'm not going to look for another job. I'm going to like try to build this business, let's say. And then at month three, if I still am not bringing in money, then I'm going to start looking like I've already thought through all of this.
My brain is still going to freak out, but at least now I can bring it to our plan. I can bring myself back. I don't have to get lost with these crazy thoughts. I can come back to like, we're okay. It's okay that we, we saved this money for a reason and now we're using it to build our dream, right? If you have these thoughts of like I don't know, like, yeah, my parent, my family is going to judge me. Okay, how am I going to deal with that? What is the thought work I have to do around that? Do I want to talk to someone about that? Do I want to talk to them about that? Do I want to have honest conversations? Like, hey, I'm very vulnerable right now and so I need you guys to like not tell me your own fears. 'cause I have a lot of fear. I get that you're worried about me, but it's going to trigger a lot of insecurity. And so like I just ask that like for the next six months that you just not talk to me about it. I'm figuring it out. You know, like you could very much have that conversation and decide like, this is how I, this is what I need in order to be able to deal with this. Or I want to work on my own thoughts to not let that insecurity get to me, right? Or I want to go to a therapist, whatever it is. Like, if I start figuring out, okay, this is what I'm worried about and this is how I deal with it, these are the solutions I need to come up with. It's amazing how empowered you feel when you have it all on a paper when you're like, huh, that fear is actually not that big of a deal. Like I could actually deal with this. I could figure this out.
And if you can do that, it starts making that jump less scary when you're like, I've already thought through all this. I already know all the things that can happen. My brain thinks that this is the scariest thing in the world, but it really isn't. 'cause I already know, okay, worse comes or worse, I go back and get a job. Worse comes or worse, I go and work at this place. Worse comes to worse, I reach out to my network and I'm sure I can find something because it's fascinating with the people that I coach. So many people have these huge fears. And then as soon as I work through this exercise with them and I'm like, yeah, what would you do? They come up with like five solutions and they're are instantly calm down and they're like, oh, I could probably handle this.
So I want you to do that before you do anything else. I want you to have that plan before you quit so that you're not scrambling for it. So I'm just going to repeat the success assessments that I think you need to make. The six areas of your quit plan that I need, that you should think through deliberately and intentionally and have a plan and write it out before you quit. One is yourself, right? Why you're doing it. What's that self-assessment like? What's, what's the drive behind this? Two is your finances, three is your dreams. What kind of north star do you want to live? Where do you want to go? You know, where is your career taking you? Four is your skills. What skills do you have? What skills do you need? Five is your options. What areas are you going to look into? What, what potential career paths? What's taking you towards that North star? And six are your fears.
And when you have all of these, it creates such a more comprehensive and grounded plan, like what you want to do from here. And it'll start giving you a lot of really quick answers. Like if you go through your finances and you're realizing like, I can't quit until I pay off this debt. It's really easy to know like, okay, for the next year or when we go, you know, the next 90 days, the next six months, I'm not going to do anything but focus on saving money for my finances. I'm not going to think about quitting. Or maybe while I'm saving money is when I'm kind of taking the next 90 days to look at my options to look at the other fields. Like maybe that's what I want to focus on. It gives us something to work with of like, where is my next focus so I don't get overwhelmed with all of it.
So I don't think I have to have the whole quit plan done tomorrow. It's like, what am I focusing on piece by piece? So by the time I'm ready to quit, I have everything and I feel more grounded and confident about the decision I want to make. So that's what I want you guys to all work on. If you're getting ready to quit or you're thinking about quitting, and if you want help with that, I want you to join me in the Quitter Club because I will help you work through this quit plan and I will help you figure out what those fears are and what your skills are and what options you have. And we can work like through each part of this so that you have a plan, a comprehensive plan, and you have kind of that confidence to do the thing you want to do. And when inevitably those thoughts come up and that doubt comes up, you can get the coaching you need so that you don't stay stuck or you don't give up on the plan. Just because those come up. 'cause those will come up, but we can manage our mind. All right, my friends, I hope this was helpful. If you want to join us in the Quitter Club, go to lessonsfromaquitter.com/quitter club and I will be back next week with another episode.
Hey, if you are looking for more in-depth help with your career, whether that's dealing with all of the stress, worry, and anxiety that's leading to burnout in your current career or figuring out what your dream career is and actually going after it, I want you to join me in the Quitter Club. It is where we quit what is no longer working. Like perfectionism, people pleasing imposter syndrome… and we start working on what does, and we start taking action towards the career and the life that you actually want. We will take the concepts that we talk about on the podcast and apply them to your life and you will get the coaching, tools, and support that you need to actually make some real change. So go to lessonsfromaquitter.com/quitter club and get on the waitlist. Doors are closed right now, but they will be open soon.
