Is settling for quiet resignation also mean giving up on your career? by David Goldsmith

Is settling for quiet resignation a symptom that you’re in danger of giving up on your career?

Busy doing nothing….

We’re busy doing nothing,

Working the whole day through.

Trying to find lots of things,

Not to do.

We’re busy going nowhere,

Isn’t it just a crime?

We’d like to be unhappy,

But we never do have the time.

Sung by Bing Crosby and latterly by Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart.

Is this you?

The ‘quiet resignation’ is one of the latest buzz expressions on the block. Meaning to mentally ‘resign’ from your job by basically getting away with doing the bare minimum required to keep it.

More a new expression than a new concept, people have been ‘working to rule’ for years, every workplace has its share of characters that are simply marking time.

But is just turning up to collect the monthly income doing you any good in the long term?

Are you really winning if you do this, or are you in effect shooting yourself in the foot?

No satisfaction….

You can string a job out for ages provided you know how to look busy or are popular enough with your colleagues to be able to get away with it. But this isn’t what you signed up for in the first place, is it?

When you took the role, this isn’t what you had in mind, is it?

Is there any satisfaction in clock watching and getting home exhausted because you have spent the entire day doing diddley-squat?

The answer to that is probably a resounding ‘no’.

Yes, it’s bringing home the bacon.

But by failing to make the most of your talents, aren’t you guilty of cheating?

Not just your employer who is getting no return on their investment in you. Aren’t you also guilty of cheating yourself?

Of course the money matters, but if you’re feeling bored all the time, is this really the kind of life that you want for yourself?

What if the job became better?

Does your employer even know that you’ve mentally disengaged? If you’ve never spoken to management about how you’re feeling about your role, how can they be expected to do anything about it to make it better?

It’s a bit like being a tenant who forever complains about their accommodation, but when you ask them what their landlord is doing about it, they admit they’ve never broached the subject with them!

If your employer doesn’t know how you’re feeling they can’t help you, so you have to take the bull by the horns, be proactive and tell them!

Positive does it

No employer is going to respond favourably to somebody telling them that the job they’ve entrusted you to do is, erm, crap! So even if that’s how you feel, have a think about what your employer could possibly do to stop it from being so.

Are your skills being under used, for example?

What else could you bring to the table that you’ve never been given the opportunity to demonstrate?

Being open that the role doesn’t satisfy you but making suggestions as to how it could be is a far more positive response than throwing your toys out of the pram and just carping on about how bad things are.

Plus, if you’re going to leave, it makes sense to do so on your own terms, not because your employer has sussed your attitude and decided to show you the door!

Changing the mindset

If you’re settled into ‘quiet resignation’ mode, the only thing that can change it is your mindset. You need to start believing that you’re worth more than just treading water.

That you deserve to be doing something that gives you pleasure as well as profit. By just going through the motions you are denying yourself the opportunity to be fulfilled in the area of your life that you spend the most time doing.

Don’t you owe yourself more?

Wouldn’t a change of attitude result in a happier all-round person?

It won’t only benefit you, your family and friends will also appreciate having a happier you in their lives!

But the change needs to come from you, no amount of people banging on at you will produce it, you have to want to think differently yourself.

Change attitude, formulate plan

It’s possible that no matter what efforts you take to counter quiet resignation in your current role, it may never provide you with the level of satisfaction to make it something you want to do in the long term. It’s therefore an opportunity to take stock and reflect on what you would like an ideal job to be.

What do you want from an ideal job?

Do you want a role that matches with your interests?

Would it be feasible to retrain in a completely different direction?

Or, of course, there’s the potentially scariest option of them all….

Could it be time to take the plunge and set up in business on your own account?

Lots and lots of food for thought.

But if you’re in quiet resignation mode you’ll have plenty of time to do some serious thinking!

A problem shared

Thinking about improving a current job or creating a plan to find one that you really want is pretty serious stuff. Not something that’s easy to do on your own, especially if you might have a tendency to self- sabotage. It would make sense to talk things through and have a heart-to heart with a partner or trusted close friend.

Someone who knows you well enough to be able to offer constructive criticism without you taking it the wrong way.

Or if you’re looking for an entirely impartial sounding board for your ideas there’s always the option of a career coach.

Whatever route you go down, feedback makes it far easier to create a plan that you can believe in and then put into action!

Good mental health really matters!

Yes, it’s stating the blindingly obvious, but worth mentioning simply because it’s true.

Quiet resignation mode doesn’t encourage or stimulate a positive frame of mind. Yes, having a job is infinitely better than having no job at all!

So is settling for quiet resignation a symptom that you’re in danger of giving up on your career?

Perhaps there is another way.

Giving up isn’t necessarily a happy place. If you think it’s a victory, good for you.

But perhaps it would be worth thinking about whether it might be a hollow one.

We started with a song so it makes sense to end with one too.

‘Don’t Give Up’ by Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush!