Being Rational During An Irrational State

Financial Samurai

I've turned in my resignation letter, and I've taken it back. Circumstances change quickly. I feel I've made the right decision to resign but the timing wasn't. What I'm trying to avoid is making decision in an irrational state. It's hard to know when you're being irrational, so I choose to go to the personal finance blog that I really trust, the financial samurai. The website has a useful tip of 15 things to consider before we choose to resign from our job. I'm going taking some of them off, so it will be 12 rather than 15.

1) What are you really unhappy about? 
Always the first question to ask but maybe the most hardest to answer with an honest heart. I am still trying to list the source of my unhappiness.

2) How large is your safety net?
Having a drought savings/emergency savings is essential. Prophet Yusuf a.s. had one because he knew a drought is coming. Quitting is a little bit different, because I am causing myself to face a drought of income. Do I have 12 months of savings? No. This is the easiest question to answer, and because the answer is no, I am not quitting now.

3) Calculate your monthly cash burn rate. 
I know how much I burn monthly, and I burn all my income in a month to pre-planned and some unplanned purchases. Financial samurai suggests finding that value and multiply it by 12 to 24 for an emergency of 1 to 2 years.

4) Calculate your passive income streams. 
It's possibly to be unemployed but still produce income if we have passive income streams. Passive income are income that are not produced by our main source of income. Usually it is described as income produced without doing anything. I don't like that description because there's always a certain amount of work that goes into an income. Whether it's renting properties or even royalties. There is an amount of work that goes into it.

5) List out all the things you plan to do. 
I have so many things I want to do during my temporary unemployment. Finishing up on my books. Maybe my unhappiness is due to the fact that I don't have time to do the things that I wish to do on the side...

6) Think about others. 
An unexpected whammy. My wife is pregnant with my third child.

7) Will a sabbatical do the trick? 
I'm considering asking for a sabbatical to get the kinks out of my system. I'll have to ask the human resource department for this.

8) How open is the Bank of Mom and Dad? 
I've been a burden long enough, no need to add more years into my account.

9) Are you willing to work at McDonald’s? 
It's better to be underemployed rather than unemployed. During the toughest time, Prophet Yusuf alayhi-salaam still had years of production even if they were poor. Because losing 100% of income will be one of the most difficult thing to live by.

10) Do you have something else lined up?
Yes, I do. Not final, but it's something.

11) Take your time to quit. 
I had a bonus coming and I turned in a resignation letter. A dumb thing to do, which made the cancellation justified.

12) Talk to as many people who’ve quit as possible. 
Any one quit their job recently?