ALT-1 Bad Reasons for Quitting your Job
There are plenty of bad reasons for quitting your job. Whether it be a vague feeling of frustration or being in conflict with a particular colleague. Typically though, what many of the bad reasons for quitting have in common is that they are symptoms of some real specific problem in your life that needs to be solved.
In some cases the underlying cause of the problem can be directly attributed to a problem in the workplace itself such as hating your boss or being unhappy with some responsibility that you have. But in other cases it may be more about your own health, or your personal relationships outside of the workplace or with your state of mind.
What you really need to do is to identify what the specific underlying problem is and then see if you can come up with a solution that addresses that specifically. Only if this can not be done should you consider quitting. So for example, if someone is bullying you or harassing you at work then you report them and make sure that action is taken against them. It is not your fault and you don't have to take it or walk away.
Or take the case where you find yourself unchallenged by a job. Here, it would be perfectly reasonable to ask your boss to see if there are any more responsibilities that you could be given that would challenge you more. Conversely, if you find that something is beyond you then you could ask for some extra training or for a reassignment to something more appropriate.
In the case of reasons deriving from outside the workplace a similar strategy of trying to solve the root cause is preferable before going to the extreme of quitting. If you are unfit, for example, you may be generally unhappy and it has nothing to do with your job, and you may simply need to exercise and eat better. If you have a more specific health problem that is interfering with your work then you should see your doctor to see if anything can be done about it.
A similar thing can be said of relationships and your state of mind. If your marriage is going through a bad spell then it is this that needs addressing. Quitting your job could even make things worse. If you're feeling unappreciated or restless then maybe there are things that you could introduce into your life outside of the workplace that would solve these issues. Whatever the case, quitting your job should never be your initial knee-jerk reaction whenever you encounter a problem.
