We do our best work when we know we can quit. We can walk away…take this job and…well if you have heard the song, you know the rest. It gives us a certain type of freedom that we are not confined nor enslaved. If we don’t like the way we are being treated, or the job we are performing, we have the courage to walk out the door.
When we don’t feel we have the power to walk away from our jobs we can easily become diminished. We seek approval instead of self-mastery, we please others instead of bringing forth our values, creative suggestions, and feedback that might help the company. We pander to power and live in the fear that someday, somebody might just ask us to leave.
We all become a better employee, and a stronger person, when we embrace our ability to walk away. Even when we love our jobs, it’s a good practice to know what we would do without them. In many cases the answer will set us free, not to leave, but to engage more fully and really begin to bring our full potential into the workplace.