Task #59 - Leave a Job You Hate

Here is one of the biggest tasks that I managed to complete over the last few years (but it is not the biggest - I will leave that story for another day). This task was successfully completed at the very beginning of 2010....

At the time I was working as a Sales Assistant for WH Smiths in Manchester Airport, and had been doing so for nearly 7 years. I had gone into the job as a means to earn some money on the weekends while I was studying at college, and then also during University. When I graduated in 2007 I decided that it was time to look for a job relating to my Computer Science degree, but after a few months I hadn't had any interviews so decided to go full time until something came along. Over time though I got lazy and the job hunt died off. I was comfortable in the job, and the people I worked with made it worthwhile getting up at 4am every morning to start the early morning shifts. As the months went by though these early shifts, and the feeling of being overworked and underpaid, wore me down to the point where I couldn't stand going in to work every day.

Anyway, come the end of 2009 a job came up at a school around the corner from where I lived. It was working in the IT department, but it still wasn't exactly the kind of job I was looking for. I decided to apply for it anyway because what was the worst that would happen? The evening of the interview I received a call back to inform me that I hadn't been successful in the interview. However, the next day I received another call to ask if I'd be interested in a temporary 6 month contract, with the possibility of it becoming long term after a probationary period. Of course I was interested! It wasn't exactly the area of employment my degree was aimed at, but it was a foot in the door in my eyes. The difficulty in the decision was that there was the possibility that 6 months down the line I'd be looking for work again, but I ignored that concern for the sake of getting some work experience in the area I'd studied 3 long years for. It was hard to say goodbye to most of the people I had worked with, but I couldn't stand working there any longer.

As it turned out I was offered a full time position in the job, but I was only in that role for a further 6 months before another opportunity became available for the same employer. I stayed in that job for around 3 and a half years, and in November 2013 I moved jobs again for a promotion to where I am now. I did enjoy the job I was in but the long commute, and feeling unchallenged at times meant I had to move on.

So what did I learn from all of this? To take a leap of faith every now and again! If I had stayed in my original job, I would have been driven insane. I was feeling slightly depressed at the thought that I'd wasted 3 years of my life studying only to be stuck in a job where I wasn't using any of the skills I'd learnt. Don't get me wrong, the work I was doing was enjoyable at times, and the people I worked with were great, but it wasn't enough to make me happy working there. Now, because of that initial decision 4 years ago, I'm in a job where I am challenged, and have more responsibility so I am a lot happier.

So that's my little lesson learnt, and even more importantly....Task #59 completed!

Ahem.....Long Time No See!!

Hello again....I'm back!! It's been almost 5 years since I last updated this blog, and in that time many things have happened, some of which are relevant to my Quest and some of them not. I will be posting updates for the things relevant to the list in the near future to kick start the quest again.

Now, I would like to apologise for being a bad blogger! According to the blog stats, in the time I have been away I have had an amazing 1500+ page views. Just who is viewing my blog exactly? I haven't been advertising or promoting the blog in any way...I had even stopped using my twitter account, so it's not as if people have been visiting from there. Just what is it about a dormant blog that attracts so many people? I can only attribute this to a growing number of people being interested in having a "Things To Do" / "Bucket" List.

Curious to see just where in the world my readers are from I looked further into the stats. My biggest audience has been the Americans, with the Brits coming a close second. Surprisingly though, my third biggest audience have been the Russians! So привет to you all! (Translation taken from Google Translate, so if that's a rude word blame them.)

During my absence from this blog my Quest has often been in the back of my mind, yet I have neglected to post updates. So "Why return to your Quest?" I hear you ask. Well I will soon have a BIG task to tick off, so keep an eye out for future posts to find out what it may be. It's also a fun project to have so why not? I will begin by revisiting my original list, making alterations to it where I feel they are needed. I'm 5 years older now and some of my original goals on the list seem pointless now, so I will be updating the list with new challenges I wish to set myself for the future.