Quit quittity quit – why everyone who can should quit a job they love at least once.

Alexandra Rickerby - 25 Jan 18

I am sharing this post nervously. I wrote it in the hope to inspire others but am aware it might come across as someone who has the luxury to make the choices I have. Having shared it with some local parenting groups and had positive feedback I have decided to woman up and post it here. I hope you enjoy reading it and I hope it leaves you feeling lifted.

Quit quittity quit – why everyone who can should quit a job they love at least once.

I am a quitter. A big fat quitterooney. A quit, quitty quitterson and, for the most part, I couldn’t be happier about it.

I quit my job at Google to be a stay at home mum. Call it what you will…retirement… a career break…a permanent career break…feminism at its best…feminism at its worst and anything else you can think of in between.

I write this knowing how lucky I am to have had the ability to choose. I didn’t choose a career that was remotely about doing good. I have never had any desire to be a nurse, a teacher, a firefighter, a policewoman or a charity worker or anything that remotely resembles helping others in a real way. Don’t get me wrong I’ve done and still do lots of volunteering and raising money for charity but having a career was always about getting as much cash as I could and loving my job whilst I did it. Having grown up in a family where money, or more precisely the lack of it, was the cause of rows and stress I was determined for my adult life not be the same. I started out in b2b magazine sales before moving to national press and then tech. All of which has enabled me to make the choice to step out for a while.

It isn’t without sacrifice… And by sacrifice I mean in a first world problem kind of way. We now make choices based on one public sector salary coming in so hello staycations, a smaller house in the future and zero impulse purchasing or unnecessary spending. Like I say… absolutely first world problems.

When I tell people my story (and by people I mean successful men and women in serious corporate jobs) most eventually admit to being envious or admiring of what they see as a huge and terrifying choice-one, that it seems to them, is out of their reach.  It isn’t. If you, like me, have ridden the corporate wave and are fortunate to have some savings then it is in your power to do.

One of the things I learned from my time working at Google was to use the phrase “so what” liberally. So in this case so what if you don’t buy the dream house, so what if you no longer holiday abroad, so what if you can no longer buy presents on impulse, so what if you have to budget for a while, so what if people think you are crazy, so what etc etc. You’ll know what your so what’s are and they will be different for everyone.

Before I made the decision to leap into something new I made a list of all the risks and all of the concerns to talk through with my family and friends. Obviously making this choice isn’t without risk both from a practical and financial perspective but also from a mental perspective. What if you make the decision and realise you were wrong?

There is no right answer. No one other than you can decide to do it and no one can predict the result. All I know is that it has been one of the most liberating decisions I’ve ever made. I am running a consulting business on my terms working only on projects that interest me with people that I like, I get to be with my son all the time and I’ve started this blog. It has been hard, exhausting and occasionally I’ve longed to return to corporate work but those feelings pass almost as quickly as they come and I wouldn’t change a thing.

So I say do it. If you can then you should. Even if just to see who you are without the career and title. What an adventure it could be for you and your family. And if you need any more convincing I have been to a few funerals lately and one of them included this. Says everything I could ever want to say on the subject.

Success – By Bessie Anderson Stanley (1904)

He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much

Who has gained the respect of intelligent men and women and the love of little children

Who has filled his niche and accomplished his task

Who has left the world better than he found it

Who has looked for the best in others and given the best he had

Whose life was an inspiration

Whose memory is a benediction

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Alexandra Rickerby

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