I was listening to the Life Coach School podcast by Brooke Castillo, whose topic was Quiet Quitting. It was not about the ever-present social media buzz about workers who refuse to do more than their job description. Her take was on those people who set a goal for themselves and quietly quit it.

When Brooke talks about quietly quitting, she is referring to a goal you have had that you quietly abandoned. It is not a specific decision you have made that the goal is not what you really want to do. It is more about no longer going for what you stated you wanted and, likely, not even realizing that you made that decision.

This brought to mind those people who decide to leave their present jobs, but one month goes by, two months go by, and so on, and nothing happens.

They have quietly quit on their goal.

So, I need to ask. Have you quietly quit on one of your career goals?

Why do we quietly quit on our career goals?

One of the reasons people quit is because these goals are often not easy. Making a career change can be challenging. Leaving a company that you have been with for many years is hard. It is easy to throw one’s hands up in the air and decide that the easier thing to do is to stay put. Even if your situation is not ideal, you may believe there is less work involved in staying where you are and with what you know than making a change. While I might argue that there is more work involved (mental and emotional) in staying in a situation that does not work for you, many people believe the opposite.

Pursuing your career goal may mean moving out of your comfort zone. You will need to take new actions (hello, networking!) that may not initially sit well with you. Learning new things or starting at a lower proficiency level may be jarring.

Another reason people quit is that life is complicated, and unexpected things always happen. Births, deaths, weddings, vacations, health issues. Some life events are planned, but many are not. And it is easy for these to take over your life and cause you to decide to quit on your career goals quietly.

What Are The Signs Of Quiet Quitting On Your Career Goals?

Here are some signs that you have quietly quit your career goals.

• You don’t admit that you had the goal in the first place. People around you may have heard you talk about quitting your marketing job and going into software development, but when they ask you about it, you deny that you ever wanted to do that.

• Something always gets in the way. You need to plan your daughter’s wedding, or you will get to it after the school year starts. There is always a reason why now is not the right time to pursue your dreams. Often, the reason you tell yourself you can’t move forward is not related to the goal itself.

How Do You Stop Quiet Quitting

Do you really want to make your career pivot or get out of the toxic work environment you find yourself in? Then set yourself up for success and not failure.

• Ask yourself honestly if you consciously decided to give up on your goal. Sometimes a goal is no longer important to us, and it makes complete sense to stop pursuing it. So ask yourself questions about the goal.

  • Is the goal still in line with your values?

  • If achieved, would the goal have the impact you want on your life?

  • Is this goal the most valuable use of my time right now?

If you ask yourself these questions, you consciously decide your goal is not appropriate, which is okay. Often when you do this, you realize you are not abandoning the goal. You may, instead, alter the goal or approach to reaching it.

• When you make a goal, think ahead about what problems you might face when trying to achieve your goal and brainstorm ways you can overcome it before it happens. For example, find an accountability partner if you are a people pleaser and find that you put others’ wants and desires before your own. That way, when it is tempting to set your goals to the side, your accountability partner will challenge you on this. 

• Permit yourself only to quit the goal if you are in a specific situation and figure out what this opt-out option is ahead of time. That way, if the situation does not appear, you have told yourself that you will not quit, even if you want to at the moment. It puts more accountability on yourself. So you may say that I allow myself to quit this goal if my boss leaves the company, and I want to give myself three months to see if the situation improves. But you don’t allow yourself to quiet quit because doing the work to reach your goal makes you uncomfortable.

Conclusion

Many goals, especially career goals, can be challenging because they often take time and effort. While most people will take easy over hard, achieving the more difficult goals is what propels us forward and makes transformational changes in our lives. So do not quietly quit your career goals. 

Hear the full podcast episode.

Shelley Piedmont is a job search coach. She wants to help job seekers put their best foot forward by providing the tools for a successful job search. If you need career coaching, resume preparation, interview skills assessment, or LinkedIn profile assistance, she can help. Schedule a 15-minute no-obligation consultation.