We have all had a bad day at work … someone made a rude comment, your boss yelled at you, or a project didn’t turn out as planned.  But when a bad day becomes a bad week, and a bad week becomes consistent anger, sadness, or “Sunday night dread”, your quality of life is becoming drastically impacted.  What makes it worse is that your feelings about work are not contained at the office … they are likely impacting other areas of your life such as your health (read:  stress levels!) and relationships with family and friends.

If this sounds like a familiar scenario, it may be time to cut your ties at work.  Below are three major signs that it is time to put in your two week notice and focus on a major life improvement … the job hunt begins.

1. Change In Habits.  If work (or your relationships at work) are so stressful that you become closed off and head straight for your couch after work, you may stop attending dinners with friends, family functions, or other social gatherings.  Don’t cut off the people who care about you and can help – reach out to them!
2. Physical Health.  Do you typically maintain a fairly healthy diet, but with recent job turmoil you have either turned to junk food or, at the other end of the spectrum, stopped eating?  Do your gym clothes have moth holes in them?  Have you gained or lost a significant amount of weight in a short time?  If so, you are not paying attention to the most important person – you!
3. Sunday Night Dread.  Do you party like a rock star on Saturday night, only to re-enter your “work-week dread” early on Sunday afternoon?  If you are spending half of your weekend dreading the upcoming five days at work, it’s time to search for a new position.

Surprise yourself – you could be so much happier in a matter of months at a new job … or by starting your own company … or taking a sabbatical for a year … consider the options!  Then remember – back to the gym and family gatherings!

*Note:  we are not doctors and cannot address any clinical emotional issues; these are simply recommendations that have personally worked for us in the past.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 25th, 2009 at 7:33 PM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.