4个现象暗示你，该离开了！

So you’ve come to the realization you’re unhappy with your career path. You can’t remember the last time you looked forward to a Monday morning. You’re no longer are proud of your response to the question, “What do you do?”

你已不能记起最后一次盼望周一早上去上班是什么时候了。当别人问“你什么职业”时，你也已不再感到骄傲。那么，你其实已开始意识到，对自己的职业感到不太满意了。

At first, maintaining a steady salary and avoiding a gap in your employment history was more important, so you tried to put your head down and make things work.

最初，维持一个稳定的收入并避免职业生涯出现断档是如此重要，所以你埋头苦干地工作着。

The problem is it’s exhausting—physically, mentally and emotionally—trying to tolerate your job when you know deep down you’re unhappy.

问题是，无论在身体上、精神上和感情上，你都感到筋疲力尽，对工作不感兴趣还要试图忍受它。

In 2013, I was 10 years into the world of marketing in the corporate world. I was on a huge global team, managing advertising campaigns being rolled out across the world. By this point, I’d marketed everything from trash bags to drain opener to luxury desserts.

在2013年的时候，我进入公司市场推广领域已经10年了。在一个很大的全球团队，管理着世界范围内的广告宣传。那时，推销了从垃圾袋、管道疏通液到奢侈的甜点等几乎所有商品。

Each day I spent marketing products to consumers left me feeling emptier.

每天不停地向消费者推广产品，留给我的却只是更空虚。

Still, when you have a good job, it’s hard to walk away for a whole host of reasons: money, status, credibility, reputation, social validation, stability, investment, corporate incentives, or even just plain old inertia. Every single one of these factors has kept me firmly planted in jobs, even when I was feeling unsatisfied.

当然，你仍有一份好工作，一系列原因让你很难割舍：金钱、地位、信誉、荣誉、社会地位、稳定性、投资、公司激励或者惯性。即使在我感到不满意的时候，这些因素中的任何一个都使我坚定地待在了这个工作上。

So how can you tell when enough is enough?

所以，当够了就是够了的时候，你怎么说？

In every instance when I chose to leave a job, there was NOT an epiphany where the clouds parted to reveal that it was time to move on. Even when I was struggling, I was torn about what would be “right” for my career and life.

在我每一次选择离开一项工作时，这并没有灵光乍现、乌云拨日般告诉你是时候离开了。即使在挣扎时，我也被什么对于职业和生活才是正确的弄得很疲惫。

However, there are four common signs that suggest it may be time to make a leap—the same signs I’ve heard from talking with hundreds of people ready to make a career change.

然而，我听到数百个准备换工作的人谈到相同的4个现象，它们显示是时间一跃了。

1) You’re Absolutely Drained

1）你已完全消耗殆尽。

One of the factors that led me to pull the plug on an unfulfilling career path is exhaustion. For most of my life, I’ve worked in office settings—not exactly physically demanding. Still, in the months leading up to resignations, I always felt utterly drained.

迫使我远离不令人满意职业路径的因素之一就是筋疲力尽。大部分人生中，在我的办公环境工作不只是需要体力。在即将辞职的几个月里，我一直感到筋疲力尽。

Work that isn’t fulfilling can really sap your energy. When I wasn’t happy with my job, my weekends were spent recuperating. I vividly recall struggling to keep my eyes open in meetings, and I had no energy left to take care of myself, let alone spend time with people I loved. This just isn’t sustainable in the long run.

不令人满意的工作会真正消耗你的能量。当工作不高兴时，周末被我用来恢复元气。我清楚地记得在会议上挣扎着保持眼睛睁开并有力气照顾自己，更别提有精力与喜爱的在一起了。长远来讲，这是不可持续的。

2) You’re No Longer Serving Your Interests

2）你不再忠于兴趣

As your career evolves, so do your interests. When I landed my first corporate marketing job, I focused on learning everything I could, and developing a strong set of transferrable, professional skills. The corporate world served me well in this context.

随着职业的进阶，你的兴趣也在进化。当开始第一份市场推广工作时，我关注并学习所有能学的，并获得了一系列可迁移的、专业的技能。在此情形下，公司环境很适合我。

Over time though, my interests shifted. I got married, so family life became more important. My father also passed away, so caring for my own health became more salient. I also began craving work I found truly meaningful. My interests in a strong work-life balance were no longer being served by the corporate world.

但随着时间的推移，我的兴趣发生了变化。我结婚了，家庭生活变得更重要了。我父亲离世了，健康开始成为我关注的重点。我也开始寻找真正有意义的工作。我在工作与生活中寻求平衡的兴趣并不能在公司里得到满足。

3) Balancing It All Isn’t Realistic Anymore

3）平衡所有不再现实

The realization your job no longer fulfills you can mimic emotions you go through when dealing with loss. One of those stages is “bargaining”—highlighted by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her bookOn Death & Dying. I refer to this as the Mitigation Stage in my 7 Stages of Career Change Roadmap. It’s when you try to find ways to make your situation more tolerable. For me, this meant taking up a side project. In 2012, I enrolled in a professional coaching program while holding down my full-time job.

意识到工作不再令人满意，你可以模拟面对损失时经历的情感。这一过程被Elisabeth Kübler-Ross在《关于死亡与垂死》的书中称为讨价还价阶段。我在职业生涯变化路线图的7个阶段中将这个阶段称为迁移阶段。这个阶段就是，寻找能使你的形势更能忍受的方法。对我来讲，它就是参加一个项目。在2012年从事全职工作时，我还受雇于一个专业的教练项目。

I began coaching people through career changes on evenings and weekends. It started as pro bono work, but I quickly began enrolling paid clients. I loved it.

我开始在晚上和周末的时间教人们如何应对职业变化。刚开始它只是一个义务工作，但很快我就找到了付费客户。我喜欢它。

The problem was, my full-time job was still my priority. I was regularly working 60 hours a week. I was starting to turn away coaching clients because I just didn’t have the energy, time, or mental capacity to do it all. At some point, I realized everything was only getting a fraction of my attention, resulting in a fraction of the results. I knew something eventually had to give, and I didn’t want it to be my growing coaching business.

但问题是，全职工作仍是我的首选。我通常一周工作60个小时。因为没有精力、时间或脑力来应对所有，我开始拒绝辅导客户。在某些时候，我意识到，所有的事都只得到了我一部分注意力，所以也只导致了一部分结果。知道有些事需要放弃，但我并不想是刚有有起色的教练生意。

4) The Timing Is Right Enough

4）时机刚刚好

The reality is, only you can know what timing makes sense for your situation. Maybe you need to finish a project so you can leave on good terms, or wait for your year-end bonus. Maybe you’re just not ready. People will try to push you to make a decision—if you have good reasons for staying, stay.

现实是，只有你自己知道什么时间情形最合适。可能你需要先完成一个项目，以便能在离开时有好的条件，或者等到年底发完奖金。可能你还没有准备好。人们将会督促你尽快作决定，但如果有好的理由待着，那就待着。

Still, no time will ever feel 100% ideal. It’s generally easier to convince yourself to maintain the status quo than to plunge into the unknown. At some point, when the conditions feel right, you just have to make your leap to the positive changes you desire, something I spoke about in my TEDx Talk. When you feel ready enough to go, when you’ve tied off as many loose ends as you can, just go.

没有100%理想的时机。自己更容易相信，维持现状比进入未知领域更好。在某些时候，正如我在TED演讲中所说的，当情况差不多时，你不得不跳出想要的一跃。当你感觉准备好离开了，并已脱离了一些束缚，那就离开吧。

Trust Yourself

相信自己

No one likes to say, “I quit,” but sometimes, you have to let go of one part of your career to make room for something greater.

没有人喜欢说“我退出”，但有时，你不得不舍弃自己的职业，以给更有意义的事业留出空间。

These four sentiments helped me clarify when my situation had become intolerable. However, only you can know when the timing is right to make a move. Leaving your job behind is a huge and deeply personal decision. No one else can make it for you.

当情况变得不能忍受时，这4个现象将会帮我梳理清楚。然而，只有你自己知道什么时候离开才是最好的。离职是一个巨大的、影响较深的个人决定。没有其他人能为你作出决定。

Trust yourself and remember that everyone has limits. When you reach yours, you owe it to yourself to move on.

相信你自己并记住，每个人都是有局限的。当到达自己的局限时，留给你的内心，决定是不是该离开了。