Should I follow the crowd
or listen to the still small voice nudging me to leave?
I used to struggle with trusting my inner voice.
Not because I didn’t know what it was saying. But because after a major decision - especially the unpopular ones, I’d second-guess myself.
I’d check what other people were doing, compare myself to them and wonder if I was making a mistake.
I’ve had a lot of “road less travelled” moments. And each one came with that same internal noise.
Then a couple of years ago, I started to actually listen.
In 2017/2018, I was in Greece for my MBA. Alone, for the first time in a long time - no parents, no colleagues, no mentors nearby. And that distance forced me to hear my own voice.
It started small. Getting out of a relationship that was going nowhere. And by the end of the MBA, it was me deciding not to go back to my Big 4 job - even though the door was still open.
For the first time in years, I felt like I had a window. Unsure about the eventual outcome. Yet, I knew deep down that I had to take it.
That’s how I think about career decisions now. They’re windows. You either open them or you don’t. And both choices have a cost.
The cost of staying.
We’ve all had those “is this the right move moment”.
The cost nobody talks about is the cost of staying when everything in you wants to leave.
Not just emotionally. Practically. Financially. In ways that compound quietly while you’re busy waiting for the right moment.
Here are the five costs of inaction I see most often:
1. The financial cost - quantifiable
This is the most concrete and the most ignored.
If you’re mid-senior with 5-10 years experience, you’re likely earning somewhere between $40K-$80K annually. Maybe more. Maybe less.
Research shows that the average salary increase when switching jobs externally is 10-20%. Staying put? 5-6% every year.
That’s a $4K-$16K difference - every year you wait.
Over three years, that’s potentially $12K-$48K left on the table. Not because the market doesn’t value you. Because you never made the move.
Every month you stay in a role that undervalues you is a month you’re paying a tax on your own potential.
2. The career trajectory cost - often invisible
The professional who moves strategically at year 5 versus year 8 ends up in a completely different place by year 15.
Two years of delay doesn’t just cost two years.
It costs the promotions, the network, the experience, and the credibility that compound from the new role.
The person who moved at year 5 is now a VP. The person who waited is still a senior manager wondering what happened.
The gap between where you are and where you could be isn’t closing on its own. It’s widening.
3. The mental and energy cost - the hidden drain
This one is hardest to quantify but most people feel it most acutely.
Every day spent in a role that doesn’t fit costs cognitive bandwidth.
The mental load of managing dissatisfaction - performing contentment, second-guessing decisions, running the mental simulation of “what if I leave” on loop - is exhausting.
And that energy has to come from somewhere.
It comes from your relationships. Your health. Your creativity. Your ambition outside of work.
You’re not just losing income. You’re losing the version of yourself that would have existed if you’d moved two years ago.
4. The opportunity cost - invisible but real
Every month spent unclear is a month not building the relationships, the visibility, and the positioning that creates opportunities.
The professional who has been “thinking about moving” for 18 months has spent 18 months not being in the rooms where their next opportunity lives.
Here’s what shifts when you get clear: the conversations start finding you. The introductions happen. The roles surface - not because the market changed, but because you’re finally visible in the right rooms.
Roles don’t come to people who are invisible. Introductions don’t happen for people who haven’t articulated what they want.
Clarity isn’t just a feeling. It’s an asset. And every month without it is a month your competition is building theirs.
5. The fulfilment cost - the one we don’t say out loud
There’s a version of your life that exists on the other side of this decision.
A version where Sunday evenings don’t feel heavy. Where you’re doing work that actually uses what you’re capable of. Where you’re not managing down your own ambition so the job title feels like enough.
That version doesn’t wait forever.
At some point the resignation sets in - not the resignation letter, the internal kind. The moment where you stop believing the other version is possible and start optimising for comfortable.
The longer you wait, the more you start to believe the wait is the answer.
Before you go - if you nodded at any of this, here’s what to do about it.
Next Saturday, June 20th, I’m running The Next Move Workshop. 90 minutes of coaching that works. And a clear direction for your next move, and a decision you can actually trust - not another thing to sit on.
Registration closes Tuesday, June 16th.
And one more thing.
I’m giving away one free ticket to someone in this community.
Not a random draw. I want to give it to the person who needs it most - the one who’s been sitting on this decision the longest and just needs someone to say: it’s time.
Someone who genuinely can’t make the investment right now - not someone looking for a discount.
To enter, fill in this short form and finish one sentence: “I need The Next Move Workshop because...”
I’ll read every single one. Winner will be contacted by Tuesday, June 16th at noon - which also happens to be the last day to register. If you don’t win, you still have time to grab a spot.
Takes 60 seconds.
One ticket. One person. Let’s get you moving.