Recently news articles have been popping up everywhere discussing one of the unexpected consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic — the unprecedented rise in employee resignations.
Researchers began seeing signs of the Great Resignation (aka the Big Quit) in early 2021. Before that time, U.S. resignation rates hadn’t surpassed 2.4% of the total workforce in 20 years. However, by April 2021, it had reached historic levels. That month, a record 4 million Americans quit their jobs amounting to 2.7% of the total workforce. Numbers have remained high since.
To be clear, everyone isn’t quitting. For many people of color and individuals from other marginalized communities, quitting a steady source of income just isn’t an option. For those that are leaving their jobs, there is one question that no one seems to be asking — what happens after you quit?
After a few months without a steady income, will the Great Resignation turn into the Great Return To Work to do the same unsatisfying job under the same undesirable conditions?
Without a plan, that answer will likely be yes.
Researchers attribute the great resignation to four major causes:
- burnout
- a backlog of employees who were planning to resign before the pandemic but held on a bit longer when it arrived
- “pandemic epiphanies” causing a major shift in one’s identity or purpose and leading to them pursuing a new career or entrepreneurship, and
- the desire for continued remote work
I think these are all valid reasons for moving on from a career, particularly when it comes to fulfilling your purpose.
Purpose is an essential element of who we are. It crosses disciplines. It is the reason we are on the planet at this particular point in history.
However, as someone who has quit her job to start a business with no guarantees, trust me when I say that quitting is just the first hard step in a series of hard steps to fulfilling your purpose.
Fulfillment isn’t going to magically happen once you quit, read a few self-help books, and finally have time to workout in the morning.
Here’s what will happen if you don’t have a plan…
- You’ll feel great for a while, but as your savings start to dwindle, you’ll panic.
- You’ll start applying for jobs in the same industry you just left.
- Then, you’ll end up with the same job you quit a few months ago. Only this time it will be in a different building with a new title.
Figuring out how to live your life on purpose is vulnerable work that most of us never learned to do as kids and avoid doing at all costs as adults. It requires risk. It means that we create plans for career destinations when we only know the first step. Then we intentionally expose ourselves to uncertainty, failure, and disappointment.
The road is complicated. There are more failures at first than successes. It feels uncertain, scary, and requires more self trust in the face of your doubts and the doubts of others than you can imagine.
The good news though, is that this road is the one that you will not regret.
It’s the one that is proven to have more glory and more victory than you can imagine…if you stick to it!
So it’s the ‘sticking to it’ part where we need support.
My purpose as a coach is to help people find and follow their purpose. It’s the reason I love to coach and why coaching has become so popular today.
Coaching accelerates your purpose.
It helps you to take risks and leaps into the unknown without the years of thinking about it, talking about it, and dissecting the dangers in your journal. Coaches support you in taking those leaps and that support gets you to your goals faster.
If you left your job during the Great Resignation, know that your reasons were valid. You were meant to live a life on purpose.
Now comes the hard part.
How are you going to ensure that you are moving toward your purpose even when things get tough?
How will you deal with the fear and doubt when you only know the first step and everything else seems unclear?
Living on purpose requires a plan and support, and I can help with that.
If you need help with your next step, book a call with me today.