You Do Not Need Permission To Quit Your Job

A resident physician I spoke with recently decided to resign from her residency program. Let us call her Hilda. She thought the working environment was toxic and it was not conducive to her training. It was not an overnight or hasty decision. Even though she made the decision to quit, she felt the tremendous need to ask for permission from her program director.

I asked Hilda why she thought she had to ask her program director for permission to quit the program. She was not quite sure. Legally speaking, if Hilda wanted to resign from her position, the institution could not say no. Hilda started to be unsure of herself, and she felt the guilt of leaving work behind.

She started to question if she really wanted to quit that badly. Oh, maybe she could stay for another few months just to complete her first year of residency. Yet she admitted that she was suffering mentally and physically. Although she did not have a Plan B, her immediate plan was to leave her job.

I asked Hilda to consider these questions:

Did you make the decision to resign while you were calm?

Are you at peace with your decision (to quit)?

Are you quitting because what you are doing is out of alignment with your values?

Are you committed to take action, whatever it is, to go toward your goal?

If you are in a similar situation to Hilda, I invite you to answer the questions above. If you get all “yes”, then leave your current position.

Avoid making a decision while you are emotional, full of anger, hatred or frustration – without thinking it through, otherwise you may regret your decision.

The only person you need permission from is you.

Give yourself the permission to quit your job, so you can move forward.

Give yourself the permission to offer your best in an environment that is compatible with your values.

Give yourself the permission to let go and leave work behind, when you find that your current job is no longer where you can serve your best.

Remind yourself the long term goals and the short term goals you set. Be clear on what you want. When you quit a job, it opens up another door for untold opportunities. You take your experiences and what you learned with you. You will get closer to where you want to be.

Quitting your job may be scary especially if you do not have anything else lined up. Momentum can be messy. If you do not make this move, you may never find out better opportunities ahead.

You do not have to ask anyone else for the permission to quit your job. Give yourself the permission to move toward the direction of your integrity.