Ingrid: How do I know when to leave something that I love doing but doesn't seem to lead to anything?

Dotty: Have you ever experienced burnout - and if so, when and how did you recognize it and heal/recover from it and what do you differently now as a result?

Julia: What if you want to leave?

This is such a great set of questions. Thank you Ingrid, Dotty, and Julia.

Historically I have waited too long to leave. My intuition generally knows it’s time to go (as does my wife Trish) before my mind does.

My first job out of uni was a sales role for an international personal development company. I lasted three months, and that was probably six weeks too long. It really, really wasn’t a good role for me. I remember riding into work one day thinking it would be good if someone opened a car door in front of me, and knocked me off my bike. Then I wouldn’t have to go to work. Not a good sign.

Dotty, that’s probably the closest I’ve come to burnout. In hindsight, I think I was depressed. I’d lost weight (when I didn’t have much to lose) and I’d lost my joy.

So when should you leave?

When you know in your gut that it’s time.

It’s particularly hard when our identity is tied up with staying. We’re tribal animals. Our tribe is important to us in a primal way. So it’s doubly hard to leave a tribe, or make a move that we think our tribe will think badly of.

Every time I’ve left something big, it’s felt huge before I left. That it’s going to be terrible. And each time I’ve felt much better almost immediately.

After I left the job I mentioned earlier I thought I’d ruined my life. I’d wasted my education, my law degree, and it was all over. A month later I was working as a waiter, and happy again. Three months later I had a great job that I loved at Accenture. I stayed for four years … and then left to start my business. But that’s another story.