Should I stay
or should I go?

Use this simple test to help you decide if it's time to stay or go:

Reasons to stay:

• You can't clearly see what's next for you
• Your savings account is dwindling
• You have a good relationship with your employer. If your particular job is unsatisfactory but your supervisors like your work, you can negotiate with them for something more challenging and satisfying

Reasons to go:

• You are engaging in self-sabotage, destroying friendships with work colleagues, promising to meet deadlines and then not delivering -- basically destroying your reputation
• You have a clear vision of what you want to do next and you clearly can’t accomplish it where you are
• You're unhappy. Ask yourself, on a scale of one to ten, how much you love your job? Don't think: blurt out the first number that comes to mind. If it's four or less, think about moving
• Enormous tears fall from your bleary eyes on the way to work (this is a dead giveaway)

If you don't fall clearly into either category, try this: On a sheet of paper, write down no more than five things you most want to learn in the next three to six months and seal it in an envelope. In your diary, write the note ‘opening day’ three months from the day’s date. Open the envelope on that day and you'll see whether the job has done as much for you as you have done for it. If it hasn't lived up to your goals, go.

If it's time to go, follow the advice the great film, The Croupier: Hang on tightly, let go lightly. Just go. Be thrilled with your decision.

Why not chat to other iVillagers on the Life In The Work Place message board. Take a look at some of the LIVE discussions taking place on the message board right now: