The Difficulty in Making the Decision to Resign Work

Note: This article is based on a piece by CEO Ron Thomas, in which he tells us about his experience of resigning from a job.

This was a significant event in 2013, as it has been 600 years since a pope resigned, which was Pope Gregory XII when he resigned in 1415, so the above is a record.

The more I think about it, the more HR mentality comes to my mind. Although it was reported that the pope had resigned for health reasons, I was focused on "the art of resignation". We all go through jobs at some point in our careers that we can't wait to resign.

My decision to resign

I remembered a job I couldn't do anymore, and I realized that one weekend. Even though there was no other job in sight, I got to work early the next week and handed in my resignation. The idea of that resignation hovered over me like a dark cloud for nearly a year before I finally dared to do it. Trying to decide what to do and trying to find another job, it was very hard.

But in hindsight, I realized that it was the best move I ever made in my career. Sure it was intimidating, but I had a plan. With a few tweaks, it worked although my success was not quite in the way I expected. However, it was generally a successful career move. And on the days leading up to my resignation, I hesitated a lot, but in the end a decision had to be made.

The decision to resign is not an easy one

I'm sure many of the employees I knew there would have wished they could follow my example and walk in and announce their resignation as I did, so that heavy burden would be lifted off their shoulders.

But since I had that experience, it was not easy to make such a decision, as it accumulates over a period of time. Sometimes, we struggle over and over again in reconsidering the pros and cons. Some days we see things clearly, other days the sky turns black in our faces again.

When I was working in the human resources department of a company, one of the specific questions I used to ask that would open the floodgates was: "Tell me about the day you made your decision to leave, and explain it to me, please."

What I was looking for was the motive behind their decision, because everyone makes the final decision at some point in the process. For me, it came to mind as I was sitting in my backyard, having just finished reading The New York Times. I remember it as if it was yesterday.

When one becomes mentally unemployed

I have become mentally unemployed, I could easily go to work and do the usual chores until the end of the day, and I found that I was not alone in this. Today's workforce consists of a lot of mentally unemployed employees who have already quit and mentally disconnected while trying to figure out how to leave their jobs, and they are just waiting for a phone call or email to release them from their current job.

They cannot resign for many reasons, some of which are logical and some of which are not, and that spinning in such an orbit is not a pleasant thing. Sleepless nights, loss of energy and constant depression can all affect one's health.

Yes, many employees continue to go to work every day, but it becomes difficult to provide 100% attention and commitment. Their heart is telling them to resign and devote time to looking for a new job that might give them some job satisfaction, but that voice also says that leaving a stable job in today's economy is dangerous, and that interviewers may refuse to offer a new job to an unemployed person.

You need a plan to do this

Before you resign, consider how you will handle being unemployed. It may be a relief to pull yourself out of an unproductive state, but you will also lose your sense of purpose and organization, unless you can deal with how you feel when you wake up in the morning and ask yourself, "What am I going to do today?"

Strategically, you must have a plan if you decide to start making your move. Unemployment can be mentally exhausting, or you may feel that feeling a little malaise is a small price to pay for the opportunity to escape from your current job.

But the key is to feel good about yourself and your decision. So, if you have a pope mentality, I know what you're going through, and I wish I could tell you it would get easier, but it really isn't.

There is no easy way to do it like the Pope did, unless you have something waiting for you after you make up your mind, and If you don't, you are like many other people who are trying to figure out how to make the transition to the other side smoothly.