The overtime money and bonus are compensation for the sorrow of doing extra for a job we don’t like. You are being unfair to yourself.

In the movie Devil Wears Prada, the protagonist played by Anne Hathaway got an assistant job to a fashion magazine editor-in-chief. Her colleague told her this is a job many journalism graduates would die for but Anne Hathaway wants to write about politics, not fashion. This is a dream job for many, but mediocre work for her.

A job, even a career, that’s considered to be enviable, might have an opposite effect for some. You can only judge it from your personal perspective because you’re the one spending your precious time in this.

In the last newsletter I asked ourselves what do we want to have more time to do in our life, and what do we want to do less. I imagine some of you would have talked about your job.

To improve or change something we are not happy with requires a clear-head and thorough analysis. If we act solely on our emotional response, we can easily become impulsive and go down a slippery slope.

Let’s dig a little deeper.

When we dislike our job, that’s a push factor; but to make an effective change, we also need the pull factor. That’s the yin and the yang of all big decisions.

The pull factor is, do you actually have things you want to do instead? Do you have the substance for a passionate and productive life?

If we quit our job without a direction of where to go next, it’s very likely we will end up in another job that we hate. I have plotted five years before leaving my finance job to become a writer, and as I mentioned in my last newsletter, I have never stopped writing in the meantime.

There are many options for changes, from reducing the hours you work to quitting a job. It’s important to not see life as black or white but as a spectrum of choices.

I have prepared this little flowchart to help you to design if you should quit your job. It should push you to rethink vague emotional narratives like ‘I hate my job’ and see what actually is it that you hate, and what you actually need to do NOW.

Have a go at the chart and maybe it will help you to think more clearly and accumulate more capital for living a passionate life.

If you enjoy this newsletter, don’t forget to share this with your friend, this will help me to spread the message of building a holistic and sustainable productive life!

Obviously the above is on the basis you have a choice, that your survival and livelihood allow you to pursue a meaningful life. It’s something we mustn’t take for granted. I’m always grateful that I have the resources to be free.

Write down your decision on what direction are you going to take with regards to your career!