STEP 4 – JACK IN THE JOB

OVERCOME YOUR FEARS AND LEAVE YOUR JOB

Paradoxically this is one of the hardest things to do as well as one of the easiest things to do. It’s hard because:

Very few people do it
You don’t know many people that have done it
You’ve never done it
It results in change
It’s the unknown

Its easy because:

It makes sense!

Hopefully if you have understood the previous chapters you are a mug if you do stay in employment! If the preparation has been done then the risks you face should be manageable. However if you are a normal breathing human you still have that thing called – FEAR! Lets examine this fear and see how best we can eliminate it so you can ultimately leave your job.

The Fears Involved In Leaving Your Job

They’re a number of fears that people have which are fully justified. They are not dissimilar to what business people face when appraising a potential investment. These are called risks. The difference between the ordinary person and a business person is that a business person:

Identifies all the risks involved
Mitigates each risk as best he or she can
Considers the overall risk based on how well he or she can mitigate each individual risk
Makes a decision based on the overall risk

So to leave your job you need to:

Identify all your fears involved in leaving your job
Think how you can overcome each fear involved in leaving your job
Consider the overall fear factor based on how well you can overcome each individual fear
Decide whether you want to leave your job or not based on the overall fear factor

Fortunately for you I’m not going to ask you to think up all the fears involved (even though you may know most of them), how to overcome these fears and calculate the overall fear factor. I am going to tell you this!

Unfortunately for you I am not going to decide for you whether to leave your job or not because I am not you! However, I will present a very strong case to you and I will recommend that you leave - but the ultimate decision rests with you.

The Fears and How To Overcome Them

The fears and their descriptions are as follows:

	Fear	Description
1	Default on your financial commitments	I think this the biggest fear of them all. When we start work we start to get a taste for material things. When we cant afford the things we want we buy things using not only the money we have now but with the money we will earn in the future – basically, we buy things on credit. Things like houses, cars, furniture and other expensive items. We get used to these items and think that we could never do without these items.The thought of doing without these items is such a fearful thought that it keeps you working till you are at least 60. It is only natural that the mental picture you associate with leaving your job is the loss of your material goods. It threatens you and your family’s place in society, expulsion from your current social circle and exposes you to less than desired situations such as an increased risk to being the victim of crime.
2	Loss of social contact	Time spent with work colleagues may dwindle to nothing as the majority of the time you see them is at work. You may be able to maintain relationships but you feel left behind as the others still spend time at work together.
3	Disappointment from family and friends	No matter if you are in a dead end job you will still have the disappointment from certain family members and friends. They will question your attitude and responsibility to yourself and your dependants. They will wonder what the hell you are doing!
4	Loss of status resulting in the loss of respect and sexual appeal	If you’re a manager, director, doctor, investment banker or any other job that gives you creditability, responsibility or status then leaving your job will take this away. You will miss the control, power and respect you command over others which all contribute to your self-esteem.
5	Loss of security	The security of future income is lost. The money you will be earning in the future is unknown. Its this unknown that fills you you with fear and insecurity. With a job your future income can be charted with some degree of accuracy.
6	Going without normal life’s luxuries	You fear you will lose out on your leisure activities, good food, stylish clothes and nights out with your friends as you wont be able to afford to. Having a job allows you to have a certain degree of freedom when it comes to spending money because you have money!
7	Unable to mentally cope	The stress that comes with leaving your job, running a business and being totally responsible for the amount of money that comes in to the household may be too much to cope with.

With every fear you can take what I call Countermeasures which overcome each fear. A countermeasure is an action you take to counteract each fear. No countermeasure is fool-proof otherwise the fear would not be a fear purely by its definition as it could be fully overcome.

There will still always be an overhang of fear albeit a lot less than the starting fear. This is what I call Residual Fear. The residual fear is therefore still present even after the countermeasure and thus is a real fear. You can take further countermeasures to reduce this residual fear but it depends on how far you want to go.

There will always be residual fear however. An example of residual fear that cannot be eliminated is that you ultimately go bankrupt. This fear is faced by every business in the world as this is the very nature of business. If this fear never existed we would all be self-employed! But remember that your employer faces this fear too and if they were to go bankrupt then you would be out of a job and you too also could go bankrupt.

The fears, countermeasures and residual fears in leaving your job are:

	Fear	Countermeasures	Residual Fear	Further Countermeasures
1	Default on your financial commitments	If you’ve followed the previous steps you would of: Minimised your financial commitments to a manageable level Arranged suitable finance to maintain these financial commitments for a period of 12 months	The finance you have arranged to maintain these commitments runs out	You have arranged emergency finance to access if your 12 month funding has run out from: A willingness to work part-time Friends and family Loans, overdrafts and credit cards
2	Loss of social contact	A willingness to maintain the friendships you have with your work collegues. This means making the effort to see them when it suits them.	The friendships still dwindle away even though you make the effort.	Being open minded to making new friends that may lead a similar lifestyle as yours.
3	Disappointment from family and friends	Explaining to each person who you fear their disappointment exactly what you are doing and why.	They still do not approve.	Realise that you are the most important person and that living the 9-5 rat race will lead you to an early grave. You will muster up the confidence within yourself to do this for yourself and understand that the others around you will understand when you succeed.
4	Loss of status resulting in the loss of respect and sexual appeal	Understanding that status is really all about self-importance and if you rely on it then is masks a deeper insecurity about yourself.	Still feel less respected and sexually appealing.	None!
5	Loss of security	Understanding that life is unpredictable even if you have a job! If you’ve followed all the steps in this book you will make your business work and the only thing that is unpredictable is whether you make a lot or loads!	You feel secure about the near future but worry about the mid to long term future.	You understand that you will as hard as you can to ensure that you have enough investments to look after you in the long term.
6	Going without normal life’s luxuries	Understanding that if you go without now you will have 10 times more in the future.	You are left wondering what its all about if you cant even have a few little luxuries.	Allowing yourself a planned treat every now and again as long as it doesn’t blow your budget!
7	Unable to mentally cope	Try and really remember what its like to get up early in the morning and drag yourself to work for 8 solid hours and knowing that what you are going through doesn’t compare.	A residual stress still remains.	Understanding that nothing lands in your lap. You have to undergo a degree of stress to free yourself from stress.

Overall Fear

To calculate your overall fear is to gather all the residual fears that remain. To do this you:

Decide which fears listed above 1 to 7 are fears that you actually have
Decide what countermeasures you are willing to take for each fear
Calculate the residual fear for each fear applicable.

So for example if you had the following fears and were willing to take the following countermeasures then your overall fear is all the contents of the residual fear column:

	Fear	Countermeasures willing to take	Residual Fear
1	Default on your financial commitments	Minimise financial commitments to a manageable level prior to leaving your job Arrange 12 months finance to cover these commitments Willingness to work part-time if need be	You default on your financial commitments when your 12 months finance runs out and you cant get a part-time job that is sufficient to meet all your costs.
3	Disappointment from family and friends	Explain to all what you are doing Knowing that staying in the rat race will kill you	None
4	Loss of status resulting in the loss of respect and sexual appeal	Realise that status is all about self-importance but concerned that you will not meet a member of the opposite sex who will appreciate your status	Loss of sexual appeal.
6	Going without normal life’s luxuries	None	Going without normal life’s luxuries
7	Unable to mentally cope	Willingness to work hard Having the constant reminder that leaving your job is better than staying	None

So the overall fear is the total of the residual fear column being:

You default on your financial commitments when your 12 months finance runs out and you cant get a part-time job that is sufficient to meet all your costs
Loss of sexual appeal
Going without normal life’s luxuries

You have to make an estimation of how likely these fears will materialise and are the rewards in starting your own business are compensatory enough. If you are happy with this overall fear then you will leave your job and start a business. If you are not then you won’t. If you are not happy with the overall fear then I suggest you take more countermeasures so that your overall fear is reduced. Once you reduce it to a level that you are happy with then leaving your job becomes a simple and obvious thing to do.

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