By William Taboas, M.A.

Should I stay at my current job or am I better off elsewhere? During the course of our careers, most of us experience a “the grass is greener on the other side” moment. Some of our jobs have stopped having that initial charm and we start thinking about that next step. Making the decision to stay at a current job or seek out employment elsewhere can be easy in situations where one is starkly unhappy or the job is not making ends meet. But what about in situations where there is uncertainty about how prudent switching jobs would be. I was inspired to write this as I read some of Albert Ellis’ and Windy Dryden’s writings on how to help clients reach decisions and make commitments to change their lives. So let’s examine common pitfalls that lead people to be stuck in indecision.

A common pitfall of job unhappiness is equating money with happiness or identity (e.g., you are what you earn). When you are what you make, and you don’t make as much as you “should”, you tend to have self-defeating thoughts about the current situation. Having an income is about realistically making ends meet while saving a reasonable amount given your preferred lifestyle. This piece of the puzzle is greatly influenced by where you live and the type of lifestyle you are striving for. And having other people influence how much money you “need” tends to add unnecessary pressure to your job performance.

A second pitfall is expecting that a job never loses it its initial luster of novelty. As you read this, I’m sure you can recall the first week at a job and how exciting it was. Eventually, every job reaches its point of tedium. No job will be forever new. However, a job can turn into a career when if offers an opportunity to continually learn and grow. Attaining skill sets and experiences are quintessential to establish a long-term career, as opposed to focusing on the frustrating tedium of the day-to-day. If the current place lacks opportunities to learn more than what you already know, then maybe it’s time to look for learning opportunities elsewhere. The trick is to limit the “should” statements to a minimum, as in “my job should always be stimulating”. Instead, focus on the both short-term and long-term growth.

And a third pitfall is not reflecting on what is your threshold of work-life balance. Taking a moment to evaluate where you fall on the spectrum facilitates the kind of career you would like to have. I often hear how overworked some people are and how it takes a toll on their emotional well-being. While most of us attempt to adopt an industrious attitude, it comes with the costs of not making time to recharge those batteries. This point tends to be more subjective than the rest, given that everyone has their own work-life balance threshold and other obligations to consider.

The above-mentioned points are not exhaustive, to be sure. However, they are worth reflecting, especially how they factor into our decision-making.