Four Years Ago
This time four years ago was a tough, tough time. I was working full time as a senior commercial manager with four days out of five in Paddington, a hateful 1 hour 15-minute commute from where I live in Hertfordshire. I was in a job that was incredibly stressful and challenging and I was hating it. The weeks returning to work after the Christmas period were just awful.
I would jump off the tube one stop early every morning and walk from Edgware road to Paddington. It was a pretty walk along the canal, spotting ducks, swans and geese and the occasional trolley thrown into the canal. I was trying desperately to install some positivity, exercise and fresh air into me. It didn’t work.
Crunch Point – Tears in the canteen
I have a clear memory of sitting in the work canteen for lunch, mid-January, with my wonderful friend Anita, crying. I simply didn’t know what to do. My job was going badly. I had a dotted line boss (not an official boss but I was a business partner to her team) who had been making my life very difficult for months. The words ‘Lynn choose your career or your family’ still ring clear every time I think of her, yes, a woman said this to me!
The treatment was impacting on my performance at work, I was feeling unappreciated, being told constantly of my faults and mistakes, which impacted by making me care nothing for my job. My performance did indeed worsen, the constant drum of negativity made its mark and I had to do something. But sat there crying in the canteen didn’t provide a solution.
What were my Options?
There had been a recentish round of redundancies, but my job was deemed to be required. Leaving the company wasn’t an option. Maybe I could look for a different job within the same company, although I had only been doing this job for around one year. Or I could simply quit and walk away (except for the three-month notice).
I just didn’t know what to do next, I was completely at a loss. The perfect solution was redundancy but that door had already closed or so I had thought.
For the time being I did nothing but made it very clear that I was unhappy, and redundancy should have been given to me. If you ask for something enough times, and think it enough, it can happen.
I functioned, just about getting my job done, hoping, wanting a solution to come along. My direct boss was a good guy and understood what was happening, and to be honest didn’t want to have to deal with a person who didn’t want the job.
The perfect solution happens
All things come to those who wait and ask for it. Four weeks later it was confirmed that I had been offered redundancy. I was sat in a meeting when the email arrived offering me the option to take redundancy. I could have jumped up for joy, I didn’t, I sent a secret WhatsApp to Anita saying that I had a solution!
The law of attraction is something that I really believe in. If you ask for something, visualise it and believe that something will happen it will. The universe will do its work and will give you what you desire. All provided you practise daily gratitude and surround yourself with positivity.
I had my solution and redundancy was agreed. Redundancy meant that I had a perfect financial solution to set up Mrs Mummypenny properly as a small business with the aim of making money. I had the funds to pay the mortgage and bills for the next 18 months whilst I built my business to a point where it was earning enough money to cover everything.
Redundancy is Agreed
My redundancy was agreed mid-February, but I still had to work until the end of June, this gave me some time to properly plan the next steps of setting up my own business. The day I could send out that email telling everyone I was leaving was the best day ever. I was leaving to do something different and exciting, people were really interested, and I had so many well wishes. And still when I share business updates particularly on LinkedIn, I get lots of support and comments from my ex-work colleagues.
If you are Unhappy do something about it
The point of this post I want to make is, don’t stay working somewhere that makes you unhappy, somewhere that you dread going to every day, or that makes you cry. Plan an escape route, move to a different job or follow your dream and set up a business like I have done. It might take you a year or longer to escape but life isn’t made working in a job that you hate.
Everyday that I might feel doubt or stress with my own business I will also reflect back to that day sat in the canteen and the despair I felt. I know that I will never feel like that again with my own business and being full in control of my destiny.
