There’s never a shortage of reasons to leave your job. It could be a change in your personal situation, recurrent problems with management, a desire to branch out into something different or just plain boredom. But to know when it really is time to make the move, you need to step back and ask a few calm questions. Is there a way you could improve your job? A way you could get more out of it? Can it be changed to take account of the change in your personal life? Is it taking you where you want to go?
If the answer to these questions is no, it’s time to plan your exit, but not before. Quitting as a knee-jerk reaction to one specific problem is unlikely to help you in the long run. You need to stay calm about your situation, keep a clear head and work out which steps will get you from where you are now to where you want to be. When you’ve worked that out and made a plan, then you can see where in this timescale leaving your job comes in and work towards that. That way, instead of a short-term quick fix, leaving your job will just be one element in an overall plan to get you moving.
