Hello Hive! This is @thegaillery back again after my first post from last week 😁 In my last post I asked if Hive had a place for me and the comments section gave me my answer ♥️ Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. Right now, I have yet another question you might have asked yourselves as well...

Should I just quit my job?

Before you get on ahead and actualize your answer to that, let me share a bit about how I quit my job to go pursue my side hustle full-time. I was a process engineer in a manufacturing company. I graduated with a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering. Almost two years in and I just couldn't imagine myself doing what I have been doing at work for the rest of my life! I got a good grasp of my growth there and I wasn't being effective in my position anymore. It was a really tough decision to make for me. Working in a job related to my major made me quick and tough but unhappy. From the quick and easy to the deep and hard assessments that I made, I talk about them here:

1. 'Before you Quit your Job' Checklist

I saw this checklist on @thebusinesshacks IG page. The thought of resigning was already in my head when I saw this on my feed and it felt like a sign from the universe (lol). I like this because it's quick, easy and practical. It emphasizes that before quitting, you have to be ready to support yourself and your dependents financially. It also implies that your side hustle has to be sustainable for you to make a living off of it. Contrary to what you have been led to believe, making a career off of your side hustle takes more work than your day job! Let's break down the items from the checklist:

• Emergency fund to cover one year of expenses
  You have to have a safety net. This is in the form of your emergency fund. Thankfully enough when I got my first paycheck, I made a deal with myself to build my emergency fund as well. Almost every month, I set aside an amount to slowly build it up. This checklist item recommends to have at least a year's worth of expenses coverage. I think this takes into account your first transition year into your hustle. Having an emergency fund allows for you to not worry about the expenses that you still have to pay even after cutting a stable income source.
  
  
• Enough earnings from your side hustle to cover 2x monthly expenses
  You have to set a target earning from your side hustle to make it sustainable. Of course, given the times that we live in right now, job security is an important issue. If you have a stable job right now and you want to quit from it in exchange for something else, there's a risk that you may not be able to earn as much as your previous job. To ensure that the risk is worth it, ensure that the reward you are going for pays off. It's good to ask yourself if the salary can at least cover two months worth of monthly expenses. If the answer is "no" you might want to reconsider your decision.
  
  
• Good education to excel in side hustle and make a good living from it
  Do your knowledge and skills of your side hustle/next job provide enough to thrive and succeed in the trade? In my case, I saw that I was exchanging 6 years worth of education to do something else. I definitely kept in mind that it would take the same amount of time and effort to learn the ropes of my new venture. Some say that experience is still a better teacher compared to hard core academic training, but I think theoretical and practical learning can't be directly compared. That said, I think that one needs both to truly be good in their field.
  
  
• Promise to put in the work and expect no get-rich-quick results
  You have to be prepared to work hard as you are starting a new venture. You will be starting over and the it's always the hardest part. It takes less work to continue what you have been doing for a long time compared to starting a new one all over. You may be tempted to think that just because a lot of people succeed in your new venture, you may also be in the same path effortlessly. There is no get-rich-quick scheme that works sustainably. If you want to get long-term results, give up thinking that you can get rich quick.
  
  
• Knowledge that you'll be working 14-hour days instead of 8
  You have to have this prior to pursuing your side-hustle or your own business. Aside from the regular 9-5 you exert to daily operations, you need to allot time for strategizing growth and cutting your losses too. Because you are your own boss, you own your time so you have the responsibility to make sure you're going the right way. You need to be making time for the stuff that your boss should be thinking about. You have to be willing to work the extra hours.

If you've ticked off most of the items above, I personally ticked off 4 out of 5, you can now proceed with your next course of action. But I suggest you continue reading on for more insights 😊

2. The Employee Hierarchy of Needs

We have needs as a human person and by extension, as an employee. I came across this neat hierarchy from Jonathan Yabut and I love it. It depicts the needs of the employee that corresponds to their level of engagement. This may hold the key to why more millennials are pursuing non-corporate jobs as means of earning a living. While I'm still not sure of this, I'm sure that we can get valuable insight from this tool.

• Right at the very base is compensation. Simply put, we work because we have to earn. We earn because we have to purchase our needs and wants. Nobody works for free. The salary and benefits you get from a job should coincide with what you contribute.
  
  
• Up next is tools. To get the job done, you need to have equipment, space and training to do so. While your academic education can give you the foundational principles of the job, your actual work could require a new skill in order to be successfully carried out. Your employer should provide you access to that.
  
  
• Above tools is relationships. We're humans and we thrive on connection. Though the main drive for jobs may be the financial aspect, connection also matters. Meaningful connection may be formed with our subordinates, co-workers and/or our seniors. Some of my friends say that they can still work well even if things are not okay between them and their subordinates but it's not applicable to me 😅 It's important to me that I have good working relationships with people because through it, I can operate well and grow.
  
  
  
• Right up relationships is recognition. It sucks if you always contribute to the organization but you never get anything back. It gives you no incentive to share more of your ideas and there is no drive to be better.
  
  
• Just like Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, we have self-actualization at the top. All teachers were once students and to close in the loop of continuous growth, you share what you know to those who are just starting out. The more you teach, the more people can grow thereby effecting growth in the overall organization as well.

If your needs are fulfilled, congratulations! You are in a position to become the most effective employee you can be. If you find that you're not, I suggest you reach out to Mr. Jonathan Yabut for a more thorough assessment as I am not an expert on the matter. You can reach out to him on LinkedIn.

3. Personal Motivations

I just finished watching 100 Humans on Netflix and I loved it. Learning about human behavior is something that interests me these days. I have read some criticisms with regard to the show's experimental design but their experiment on Fun vs. Rewards even got the interest of the critics.

In a nutshell, the humans in this experiment were divided into two groups the Fun and the Reward Group where each were asked to form their tallest structure where they will get fun and $400, respectively. The experiment was supposed to tell us which group would perform better. Interestingly enough, the Fun group produced a 25.5-inch structure compared to the 21-inch from the Reward group. Best-selling author Daniel Pink explained the results of the experiment.

Pink said that if-then rewards, "if you do well, you get a lot of money" is motivating in a certain way. The people in the Reward groups were focused on the goal, they were intense. The $400 motivated people to focus narrowly. This, he says, is actually a good frame of mind for cognitive types of tasks like, say, stuffing envelopes. But the task presented to them was of a creative nature. When faced with a creative task, the narrow focus won't give you your best ideas. You have to think broad and wide if you were to think of a creative solution.

What this means for us is, we perform better in a creative task when we are having fun at what we do. We perform better in a focused task if there is a promise of monetary rewards. For me, I place value in being able to express my creativity in the work that I do because it makes me feel good. You could say that I place more value in fun over money.

We're more effective when we do things for fun than when we do things for money.

I came across the concept of Ikigai around the time when I was about to quit my job (did the universe really want me to quit my job? 😂 ). It's a Japanese concept that means your reason for being. I love this so much since it highlights the difference between mission, passion, vocation and profession and that the intersection of the four is your purpose in life.

Let's break it down...

• Your mission is something that the world needs and something that you love. You have to figure out how to get better at this craft. For me, it's securing the future of Filipino families through life insurance. I really believe that no Filipino deserves to be poor.
  
  
• Your passion is something that you love and something that you're good at. You have to figure out how to make money while doing this. I love making an impact in other people's lives and I'd like to think that I can inspire people. I like to share my knowledge in finance and fitness with my clients.
  
  
• Your vocation is something that the world needs and something that pays you well. You need to constantly challenge yourself to get better at this. I do this by attending online lectures to improve my skills in selling and investing.
  
  
• Your profession is something that pays you well and something that you are good at. You need to try out new things and find something you love doing with this. As a chemical engineer turned financial advisor, to be honest, I still am finding ways on how to achieve this 😅.
  
  
  The intersection of your passion, mission, vocation and profession is your ikigai.
  
  
  As for me, I'm still validating if it's this path I'm in. I'm all for the ride. I don't know what the future holds but I guess I've enough experience to say that you could really suck at something that you don't want to do. Might as well find out if you suck at doing what you love. At the very least, you tried 😊
  
  
  If, after all these assessments that we've made you're convinced that you want to quit your job, that means you've already made up your mind about it. If you're still having doubts, give yourself time to digest all of these. Your job is not your life but it plays an important part. You spend half of your life doing it!