You’re back from the summer vacation, and you get the Monday Blues.

Maybe you ask yourself if it’s time to leave your job. You ask yourself if you want to continue doing what you did before the holidays.

Its normal to struggle a bit with adjusting to the indoor office work after the freedom and the fresh air of the summer.

Sometimes it’s just the post vacation blues. But sometimes it’s time to get up and find something else.

Here are the five signs that will let you know that it’s time to look for the exit.

1. You Are Stuck in a Role   

We all get stuck in a role sometimes during our lives. The important question is if it’s a role you like.

Have you become the assistant receptionist despite a nice official job title? Or the expert on a subject that doesn’t even interest you?

Can you find room to grow within that role?

We sometimes get an embedded reputation at work. Maybe you made a mistake years ago – maybe the mistake wasn’t even your fault. Maybe you were part of a project that tanked. But somehow the air of it has stuck to your reputation, and maybe that is part of the problem with the role you find yourself stuck in. 

If this is the case, then it’s really time to move on.

2. Your Boss Doesn’t Support You  

This is a big warning signal.

You should work for managers whom you admire, whom you can learn from and who will support you, not suppress you.

A special note for the ladies here: be careful to avoid managers (male or female) who do not support women’s advance in the workplace.

Take a special look at how your boss or your workplace treat women who come back from maternity leaves. Are they still allowed to advance? Can they grow?

It will affect you one day too, even if you don’t have children. It says a lot about their attitude towards women.

3. The Work Environment is Depressing

If you only look forward to your lunch break, you have a problem.

You should feel excited at least about some aspects of the work you do.

The salary should only be part of the reward. The challenges and the community should be additional reasons why going to work is a rewarding experience for you. 

Life is too short to be miserable 40-50 hours each week.

4. You Don’t Like the Product  

Are you proud of the product or the service that your employer provides?

What do you think of the problem that they solve with their service or product? Do they even solve a problem?

Don’t ever work for promoting something you don’t believe in.

What is the meaning of life?

It’s the sum of all the things that we do with our time. So make sure you support good projects even when you are working. Spend your time well. 

5. You Really Want To Do Something Else

You just have this job until you find the courage to do what you really want.

Maybe your dream is to start your own business, write a book or travel around the world.

You’re treating your job as if it was the waiting room at the office of Real Life.

That might be okay a year or two after you have finished your studies. But is it still okay on year five? Or ten?

When are you going to take the leap into the real life you are dreaming about? How about right now?

You might say ‘Hey, I need the money’.

That’s where I tell you that you must make sure you have the money to live the life you really want to live.

You do that by saving part of your salary and investing it.

Don’t live your life as if you have eternity to redo it. Real life is right now, and time is the most precious resource that you have.

You can get more of almost everything – but not time. 

You can learn how to invest to become financially free right here.