There are a number of things to take into consideration before quiting your job. Quitting your job requires a plan of where you want to be. The first step in quitting your job is to put your mind into thinking through the process backwards. Anyone successful at doing this knows, that you first need to know where you are going. So to start, start at the end.
As an exercise you can sit down with a pen and paper, and lock yourself in a quite place where you are relaxed, and won't be disturbed. I recommend grabbing your favorite beverage. Get focused, and then think what do I want. If that is I want to make $10,000 a month, and have 5 hours of free time with my family, write it down. One of things you need to put down, is that your residual income will exceed your take home income at your current job. Then take each are you wrote down, and drill it down into simpler steps. The process of breaking something down into smaller steps, is called Analysis. Anyone successful at doing this, already has done an analysis on some level. Now, break the steps down to something you can do everyday to reach your goal. What you have just created is a map. Very important in knowing where you are going.
The next step is critical, it is called action. Make yourself put the smaller steps into action. This is the key. Go pick up the phone, make a call, email or whatever the smaller steps are, and do it without thought or hesitation. The more you can get in the habit of doing this, the more it will happen in an automatic fashion.
Another important action item, is to take some time each day to begin thinking and place yourself in a state of feeling what it is like to already have achieved leaving your job. What does it feel like to have more time? To be around your family? To not be rushed in the morning? This part of the exercise is important because what we think, and more importantly what we feel, becomes the creation of our own reality.
Now, the hard line facts about leaving your job. Before you quit, make sure you save 6 months of living expenses that are not tied up in 401ks or retirement accounts. This is very doable, and it requires that before you pay your other obligations, you save 10 to 20% of your paycheck. Hold garage sells, take a part-time job, and do what it takes to get the 6 months of liquid money saved. Once you have the savings, keep your resume out on a job site. This will act as a saftey net, and keep in front of the curb, should you need to fall back into a job again for awhile. The reality is, you probabally won't need to, but these are reasonable suggestions to make in your transition out of the 9 to 5 world.
Start to change the way you approach work. Remember you are no longer an employee. Employees trade in there work time for a direct wage. You now need to make an essential transition in your thinking. This can take some time and practice, because the average person has been trained with the employee mentality since an early age. The key difference in your thinking centers around how you view your time. Your time is no longer looked at in terms of direct hours for direct pay, but rather in terms of how leveraged your time is. As an employer and business owner, you are looking to always leverage resources (time, labor, capital) to achieve your objective. Remember we said leverage, not taking advantage of. This is important, always treat your employees fairly and with respect, your customers like they are your only ones, and your business partners with integrity. Always try to give a little bit back in every transaction and you will win the leverage game.
Keep working at something every day. The more it puts you outside your comfort zone the better. No matter how big a tree is, if you take a swing at it everyday, it will eventually fall. I recommend taking a few swings a day at each of your end goals. By doing this, you will have ensured your success. In no time at all, you will have quit your job, and achieved all your other goals, using this simple, but effective methodology.
