Why I Left My Old Job and What I Could Have Done Better

I was starting to clear out my office when the CEO stopped by and said that they would have rather had me working 40-hour weeks for 4 years instead of 80-hour weeks for 2. Although the number was somewhat of an exaggeration, I appreciated the sentiment. To everyone else in the company, I had expressed an upcoming move as the reason for my departure, but my managers knew I was burnt out.

With every resignation, they would assure me that things would get better, but after a certain point, I was the one trying to reassure them.

But I was so desperate to leave that I did make one mistake: I was more focused on running away from a bad situation than running towards something better. Here are things I could have done to make the jump more intentional.

What I Could Have Done Better:

1. Take my PTO. If I had sprinkled one-off PTO days over my tenure, I would have been a lot less worn out and less desperate to leave.

2. Get in the habit of scheduling emails to be sent later. No matter what, I would have had to work nights and weekends to get everything done, but I wish I didn’t let other people know that. Because people saw late night and weekend time stamps on my emails, they thought I was always online and accessible, and were upset when I wasn't.

3. Eat lunch.

4. Not give a heads up that I was leaving until I was done with interviews. I know that there was plenty of work for me to do even if my replacement was quickly found, but it was pretty nerve wracking to have my job posted before I had received any job offers. My commitment to ensuring a smooth transition and the loyalty I felt towards my manager ended up lighting a fire under me to act fast.