The Grass Isn't Always Greener: Before You Quit Your Job, Understand What Motivates You
COMMENTARY
It’s been more than 18 months since this pandemic began, and since that time it seems that nearly everything has changed—in our relationships, our hobbies, our commitments, our emotional and physical health, and in our work. Some changes have been hard or disruptive; some have been for the better.
Either way, Covid-19 has forced all of us to reflect deeply on our lives. We’ve reprioritized hobbies and relationships and how we spend our money. We’ve reconsidered what community looks like and church looks like, and of course, what work looks like. We’ve made changes—some minor, and others more extreme.
When it comes to work, many are choosing the latter, with record numbers of people quitting their jobs in pursuit of more pay, better mental health, and more flexibility. It started with “the great reshuffle” and more recently has left many people considering what a new occupation might look like.
In fact, nearly half of working Americans are rethinking the type of job they want post-pandemic. Perhaps you are one of these people. You have plodded through the past year and a half hoping, waiting, for things to get better at work. You’ve felt isolated and disconnected. Perhaps you’ve felt as though your skills weren’t being fully utilized or you spend too much time doing things you dread and not enough time doing what you love. Maybe your relationship with your boss or your co-workers has changed.
The bottom line is that you just feel things are off.
This desire for movement and change is not bad if it is birthed from a place of contentment and bathed in prayer. The problem is, many of us don’t know what brings us contentment or joy. Too often, we allow ourselves to, as scripture says, be “tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there” ( ). We are led astray by the lie that better is always out there and that contentment and joy will only come when things change.
Sometimes change is necessary. But what is more necessary is understanding how God has wired each one of us. When you shuffle a deck of 52 cards, how many possible orders are there? Mathematicians will tell us a number that is beyond comprehension—52 factorial. That’s a 52 with 68 digits in it. How much more are the combinations of ways human beings are motivated and reflect the complexity of God! When we begin to understand that we hold the complexity and intricacy of our Maker inside of us, we start to understand why, after 18 months, we may want a new job if we are not finding fulfillment in our current one.
God has wired us all with a purpose, and he guides us through intrinsic motivations that drive our behavior and our desires. If we aren’t in a job where we see those motivations coming to fruition, it is understandable we would seek change. But before we quit, we must ask, What motivates me to be the best person I can be? Where is the sweet spot in this world that I am uniquely made to fill?
Passion vs. motivation
A number of years ago, as I was considering my own next career step, I noticed that my resume had “zigs and zags,” looking like someone had fallen asleep at the wheel. I had worked in PR. I had gone deep in statistics. Both were fine, but neither brought me to that sweet spot. But there were parts of them I loved, and these were the parts where stories were told.
Realizing that I was motivated by focusing on narrative and storytelling helped me move towards data journalism—a blend of communication and statistics that embodies my motivation to understand people more deeply and tell their stories.
Passions come and go. In one stage of life, we may get really into baking, whipping up new creations with our sourdough starter each week. In another stage, we might plunge into healthy living, tossing aside our carb-laden hobby. But in all stages of life and in all interests are things that stay constant. These are our motivations. Some of us are motivated by doing things right or finishing well. Others find joy in fixing what’s broken or seeing people work together. Still others love to express their unique ideas or to be in a position of leadership.
Having studied Christians’ attitudes and patterns around work for many years, Barna Group has consistently discovered that those people with a clear sense of calling in their work are more than twice as likely (as someone without this clarity) to be thriving in all areas of their life. Therefore, we have recently partnered with TruMotivate, a resource that identifies 27 motivations commonly found in people of all types that point to why we do what we do. Through personal narrative, this resource helps us focus on our five top motivations in life, and in the context of vocation, helps us discover the types of jobs and roles in which we will thrive.
Before you leap … listen and learn
In his masterful little book Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation, author and leadership expert Parker Palmer writes, “Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am.” He continues, “Before you tell your life what truths and values you have decided to live up to, let your life tell you what truths you embody, what values you represent.”
God is wanting to tell you more about how he has made you if you take the time to listen and learn.
The grass isn’t always greener on the other side. In fact, it can be the greenest if we just understand how we are seeing and walking on that grass. In his book With Reimagining the Way You Relate to God, Skye Jethani writes, “A great many of us have come to believe that hope and significance is an external construct—something contingent on our circumstances. As a result, we fail to believe that the Christian life, at least in its fullest and most abundant form, can be lived anywhere.”
Eighteen months into this pandemic, it is clear that many of us are discontent. Some of these revelations are completely new; some have been festering for some time.
But what isn’t new is how God uses times of trial and testing to bring clarity concerning his purpose for our lives. Maybe the organization you are working for isn’t a good fit for you. Or perhaps your role in your current organization just needs to be tweaked.
Before you follow the wind, take the time to reflect on how God uniquely made you and how he might fulfill his purposes through you, using a tool such as TruMotivate and conversation with people who know you well to help you discern some possible next steps.
Contentment in our work begins with understanding what motivates us. It’s not just about what we like doing, but about understanding why we like doing what we do. You will always find joy and contentment if you are living in the sweet spot where your motivations and your vocation walk hand in hand.
Brooke Hempell is Chief Growth Officer at TruMotivate, an assessment tool offered through Barna Group.
