Voluntary quits and job openings are elevated despite layoffs. A new report from LinkedIn states more than half of U.S. workers — 61% — are considering leaving their jobs in 2023.  Perhaps you yourself are ready to step on board in search of greener pastures and fulfilment. And many vibrant changes may be in store for you!

I’m now publishing this cautionary column about making big leaps like this. Of course, I am a massive proponent of change. Change makes you more resilient. It exposes you to new stimuli and circumstances that grow your skill set and confidence in being able to conquer obstacles. It allows you to move into conditions that better match your needs and mold a better reality. Perhaps most importantly, change keeps things fun and interesting. I am also a big advocate of following your passion, and I coach people toward their true north in their careers. And with that, I also know how much time it can take to find that true north, and even more, to leap. So before embarking on a life-changing journey, it sometimes pays for people to examine the virtues of where they currently are.

Money aside, when making a career change, Gen Z, Millennials, GenXers, and Baby Boomers want an opportunity to help others or be their own boss. So why do so few people succeed?

Now, I am not categorically discouraging anyone from changing jobs. After all, an average salary bump of 30% can certainly be necessary. But be careful not to improve one tangible aspect of your professional life only to carry other long-standing albatrosses with you–lack of interpersonal and business skills, destructive self-talk dynamics, and poor time management just to name a few. In our experience, leaving behind tangibles for a new job can clandestinely be well worth more than that 30% salary bump.

Here are our three most important questions to ask before making a major job change to ensure that you do what is appropriate for your situation:

Do you want to be your own boss because you cannot seem to get along with yours? They say people don’t run from a job. They run from a manager—that is, relationships gone bad. And bad relationships are often fraught with incorrect assumptions. People think that cleaning up bad assumptions is a messy business. I think it’s an opportunity. Consider the power of saying, “I know things have been uncomfortable between us for a while. I would like to understand what you have been observing so that I can take full responsibility for the situation and can move forward.” If you are thinking that accepting responsibility for a highly visible dispute will compromise your reputation or worse, get you fired, there is great power in it. How admired, capable, and possibly ready for a big promotion could you become in the eyes of your superiors by showing this type of good sense and boldness? Better yet, taking responsibility for the bad relationship will put the actions required to clear it up within your sphere of control. This also gives you power. According to former Navy SEAL and leadership author Jocko Willink, “There is no one else to blame. The leader must acknowledge mistakes and admit failures, take ownership of them, and develop a plan to win.”

How are you spending your time?

How many times have you seen others make a job change because their work overtook their personal life? A Microsoft Corp. survey of global workers revealed 48% of employees and 53% of managers say they are burnt out.  And how often does this turn out to be a “same problems, different day” situation?

Your time is yours. No one can take it unless you give it away. Your time allocation paradigms evolved over years or decades and are likely now deeply ingrained. Rather than going on a dubious quest for more personal time in another job, consider using an energy chart to discover work-life integration. You may even try creating (1) a life energy chart, (2) a work energy chart and (3) an integrated life-work energy chart. Jobs don’t overwork people. People overwork themselves. Look inward at what behaviors you are taking with you to your next job.

What will more money do for you?

Now, maybe you took all the proper steps to determine that an increase in pay is essential. Still, a matching exercise would further validate your hypothesis:

  1. Who you are: In one column, list your core values.
  2. What you want: List the things you would do with a 30% extra salary over the next year.
  3. Match them: Match your list of financial outlays with your core values. This is a moment when you will be subconsciously inclined to force matches, so it may help to show your results to someone you trust for a second look.

Having a list of items that do not match is common, so consider finding replacement items that truly map to your core values. If you have a high-dollar inventory of unmapped expenditures on your list, you would likely be better served staying where you are, making deliberate tweaks to improve your standing.

Decided to go? Then go… on vacation.

I have published a satirical plea for people to use their vacation days, and thankfully this may be the year people will take advantage of vacation time and even take a sabbatical.

If you are leaving a job, you have a golden moment — a moment when no one can deny you a well-deserved getaway. If you have been burning the candle at both ends, looking to your upcoming salary bump for a much-needed break is just what the doctor ordered.

So, if you’ve read and done all this and are still convinced now is the time, then now is the time, and an exciting time it can be. For those of you who like to just read and not do, a few simple exercises might lead you to think like Michael Beckwith, who says, “If the grass is greener somewhere else, start watering your own lawn.” Just don’t use vacation days to do it.