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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is that you shouldn't leave the workforce when

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Speaker 1: you just hate your job. While leaving the workforce is

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Speaker 1: one way to solve that problem, it is entirely possible

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Speaker 1: that there is a better job out there if you

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Speaker 1: choose to leave the workforce. That should be something you

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Speaker 1: are running to. You don't want to be running away

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Speaker 1: from something else. So I have heard from a few

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Speaker 1: parents recently, generally mothers who had left the workforce for

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Speaker 1: a while to stay home with their kids. They had

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Speaker 1: been miserable in their jobs and had young children, and

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Speaker 1: so staying home seemed like a reasonable and socially acceptable option.

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Speaker 1: A few months into the gig, they realized they didn't

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Speaker 1: really want to be stay at home parents long term.

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Speaker 1: They turned out to have big professional ambitions. The problem

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Speaker 1: was the old job, not paid work. In general, I

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Speaker 1: have seen the same thing in the past with people

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Speaker 1: going to graduate school. Someone in a career rutt decides

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Speaker 1: to go back to school, only to realize that school

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Speaker 1: is a long and hard project. Now, don't get me wrong,

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Speaker 1: I am all for going to graduate school or staying

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Speaker 1: home with your kids. If that is what you want

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Speaker 1: to do, maybe you can picture the exact career you

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Speaker 1: want in the future and you know for sure that

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Speaker 1: a certain degree is necessary to get there. Maybe you

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Speaker 1: have been dreaming of being a full time parent for

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Speaker 1: years and it is finally a financially viable option. If

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Speaker 1: that describes you, amazing. But if you are contemplating grad

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Speaker 1: school or staying home with your kids primarily as a

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Speaker 1: way to have a legitimate sounding explanation for why you

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Speaker 1: are leaving your current job, well maybe time to think

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Speaker 1: this through. Grad School tends to be expensive, especially when

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Speaker 1: you consider what you pay intuition and the loss of

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Speaker 1: your previous salary. Grad school is often stressful as well

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Speaker 1: as for staying home with your kids again, you are

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Speaker 1: losing income, and, as any professional child care provider or

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Speaker 1: stay at home parent will tell you, taking care of

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Speaker 1: kids all day is hard, unrelenting work. If you are

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Speaker 1: choosing these paths, you want to truly be choosing these

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Speaker 1: things for their own sake, not as something that just

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Speaker 1: seems better than what you currently have. Because here's the thing.

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Speaker 1: If you hate your current job, you have a lot

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Speaker 1: of options besides leaving the workforce altogether. For instance, and

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Speaker 1: I know this seems obvious, you can get another job.

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Speaker 1: Very few people have truly optimized on the job front,

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Speaker 1: so don't assume that you will need to trade off

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Speaker 1: something you value in order to get something else. It

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Speaker 1: is entirely possible that you will find a better paying

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Speaker 1: job with more flexibility or work life balance if you look.

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Speaker 1: If you could find the time to apply to grad school,

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Speaker 1: you can find the time to research and apply for jobs,

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Speaker 1: have informational interviews, do career counseling, or whatever it takes

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Speaker 1: to figure out your next steps. If you would be

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Speaker 1: willing to quit entirely to stay home, maybe take some

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Speaker 1: PTO or even unpaid time off first to figure out

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Speaker 1: all the options that are out there. If you are

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Speaker 1: desperate to leave your job immediately but haven't found the

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Speaker 1: right new job yet, consider getting a temporary job or

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Speaker 1: take short term contracts while you look for your next

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Speaker 1: full time gig. Just be sure you think through health

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Speaker 1: insurance and have a solid emergency fund. Even if you

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Speaker 1: earn less in your transitional work than in the salary

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Speaker 1: job you leave, you are still pocketing a lot more

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Speaker 1: then if you left the work force altogether. Before you

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Speaker 1: decide to leave your job, you might also consider job crafting,

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Speaker 1: particularly if this isn't a good time for you to

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Speaker 1: find a new job, or if you've struggled to get

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Speaker 1: a new job that's the right fit. Try reframing your

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Speaker 1: current job. Can you focus on the aspects you enjoy

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Speaker 1: most and spend less time on what you don't like?

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Speaker 1: If you are working really long hours and experiencing a

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Speaker 1: lot of stress, is there a way you can dial back?

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Speaker 1: Pay attention to how colleagues with similar jobs who seem

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Speaker 1: less pressured navigate your workplace and see whether you can

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Speaker 1: learn from their examples. In many larger organizations, it might

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Speaker 1: be possible to move to a different department or team,

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Speaker 1: or to work with a different manager for a while.

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Speaker 1: You keep your seniority in benefits, but you might be

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Speaker 1: able to change your day to day experience a lot. Again.

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Speaker 1: If you want to go to grad school or be

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Speaker 1: a stay at home parent, those are wonderful choices, but

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Speaker 1: both can be challenging. If you want to take on

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Speaker 1: those challenges, be sure that you are actively embracing them.

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Speaker 1: You are running towards them, you are not choosing them.

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Speaker 1: Because that seems like a good story to tell for

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Speaker 1: why you are quitting your current job. The world of

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Speaker 1: work is larger than your current job, and if all

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Speaker 1: things consider, you'd like to continue to work for pay,

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Speaker 1: then no doubt you will be able to find something

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Speaker 1: amazing in time. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks

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Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the moves of our time. Hey, everybody,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod

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Speaker 1: that's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.

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Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: podcast at iHeart media dot com. That before Breakfast is

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Speaker 1: spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I

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Speaker 1: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a

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Speaker 1: put action of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from

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