Should I Stay or Should I Go?

As the song by the Clash says, "If I go there will be trouble, an' if I stay it will be double…" How many people are waking up Monday through Friday wishing they could go some place else or do something else than the job they are facing. But too often you think the problems you know if you stay are easier to deal with than the problems you don't know if I leave.

Sometimes the decision is made for us. Good people are being let go at all levels of an organization, and for many it is a shock and the first thought is how can I get money flowing back into my account! Quick! Grab anything, something I just need a paycheck!

Whether you want to leave or have been relived of duty now is the time to think BIG. Play the "What if" game. If you leave this job what would be the perfect job you want? After you answer that question, figure out what you need in the bank to make that jumping point possible? Do you want to move to the perfect city and look for the job you always wanted to do? Do you want to go out on your own and be a sole-practioner at something? Do you want to open that deli you always dreamed about? Map out a plan, set a target date, discipline yourself to put away money each month to reach that point of readiness. Then comes the gut check. Is now the time?

Jump ahead into your future. You are 72 years old and you are looking back on your life. Do you regret making the effort at your occupational dream? Or, are you regretting never taking the chance?

The biggest reason people don’t take the leap to try to chase their dream is the fear of failure. Failure is not death. If you fail at your business venture all the way to bankruptcy you still wake up the next morning. You still have marketable skills. The failure isn’t in making the effort; it's in the not trying.

Many of the most successful business leaders have faced a personal or business failure. The key is to recover.

This is the worst case scenario. In my case almost fifteen years ago I made the right step and I am enjoying my choice every day. As Harvey MacKay once told me, "Do what you love to do and you'll never work another day in your life." Life is good.