'When people tell me they want to quit their job, I tell them to try these 5 things first.'

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We've all hit that point where work feels… fine, but a little too familiar. 

You like your team. You're doing good work. But you're not learning anything new and the spark's gone.

You're answering more questions than you're asking. You're in meetings thinking, "I've done this dance before."

That's when the slow slide starts. Less energy, less curiosity, less edge. 

And you're left thinking the only option is to quit – the grass has to be greener on the other side, right?

Not necessarily… but you do have to figure some things out.

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Leave too quickly, and you might miss the growth that was right in front of you. Stay too long and things just start to feel a bit stale.

So how do you figure it out?

When people tell me they want to quit, I tell them to try one of these five things first.

They'll give you fresh energy now and help you figure out if there's still room to learn and grow where you are, or if it's really time to move on.

1. Learn about your level.

Maybe it's a promotion you're chasing or a complete career pivot. First up, choose a skill your current role doesn't demand (think strategic thinking, storytelling, coaching, data stuff, managing people).

Do some really focused learning on this topic — listen to a podcast, read a book on it, try some micro-learning — and start trying it out in those meetings that you could run in your sleep.

If anything, it'll make things more interesting, open you up to some new possibilities, and if you do end up quitting, you get to take that new skill with you.

2. Cross the lane.

Ask your manager if you can jump into a cross-team project or (even better) identify a project yourself that the organisation would need help with and bring in some different people to work with on it.

You'll get to flex your creative problem-solving muscles, work with fresh thinking and show some leadership. Either it sparks motivation for where you are, or you take that project and what you learnt into your next role.

3. Ask for stretch, not status.

Instead of asking for a promotion, first try asking, "what bigger problem can I help solve over the next 90 days?"

Or "Where's a gap the team hasn't had the time or head space to tackle that I could run with?"

Your action here is to book 15 minutes with your manager and pitch one stretch idea you could own. This is exactly how my first career pivot started to unfold.

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4. Change your circle.

There's that saying that we're the sum of the five people we spend the most time with — and that applies at work too.

Mix up the circle that you spend time with. If they're also hating their job or the organisation, it's pretty easy to feel "me too" about it. Go and get yourself either a sponsor or a mentor for work.

A sponsor is someone more senior at work who's an active advocate for you; they also have the ability to create opportunities that could advance your career at work.

A mentor is someone who has generally done the role you want or taken a career path you want to travel; they'll provide direct advice, share ideas, teach you things, based on their own skills and experience.

Either one of these is a game-changer to have in your corner as you work through the "should I stay or should I go?" feelings at work.

5. Fix one friction point.

Spot something that bugs everyone — the clunky onboarding doc, the meeting that should've been an email, the tool nobody uses properly — and make a small, better version.

Test it with a few teammates, get feedback, then roll it out wider.

Why? Because fixing friction is visible. People notice it. And it reminds you that you can make work better right where you are.

That's an instant spark of motivation, plus it gives you a story you can take into your next role: "Here's a problem I saw, here's how I fixed it, here's the impact."

Now, you might be thinking: "This sounds great, but why bother?"

Because re-igniting motivation and learning does two powerful things:

Number one, it gives you energy now and helps work feels less rinse-and-repeat. But secondly, it gives you data for later — you'll know whether growth where you are is possible, or if it's time to move on.

Sometimes that tiny spark is all you need to see the next step clearly. Either way, stay or go, the real risk isn't leaving too soon — it's waiting for something to change instead of taking control.

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