Leave the Party When You’re Still Having Fun

The title of this post is some advice I heard earlier this evening. It was in relation to job interests and future opportunities.

It helped me think about some things in a new light. There is a part of every job that is going to have its ups and downs. There are going to be times when you are just miserable and can’t wait to be out of what you’re doing. Sometimes these are really good times for us. Especially when first beginning your career, it’s important to persevere through some of the hardships so you can see past it to what the potential is after the initial pain.

The man who gave the advice was not negating this advice at all. In fact, he even made it clear that there are often times when you should stick through on something, it just depends on what stage you are in your life and career.

He phrased pretty much the same idea a little bit later by saying you should move onto your next opportunity when you stop seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

Humans often get sidetracked into the short-term gain mindset. That they need to be happy and enjoying every minute of every day. But often, the things that make you happy long-term are things that require some sacrifice.

When you can get past the short-term mindset, you can start understanding your options much better. If you worked at “suchandsuch” what opportunities could that create for yourself in 6 months or a year? You might not love it but your long-term gain might so outweigh your short-term pleasure that you go full speed ahead in a job that you might not love.

Once you are safely and consistently thinking of the long-term, then you can start to make some bigger decisions. When you are able to see your long-term at a company and don’t see any room for growth or are unhappy with the trajectory, that’s when it might be time to start looking for your next opportunity.

Leave the party when you’re still having fun, but don’t be afraid to go through the terrible part of the party to get to the best part.