Regretting Taking the Job

If we’re feeling regret over a recent job decision or considering whether we just committed "career suicide," we might want to ask ourselves four questions.

April 04, 2023

Florida Atlantic’s season ended in agony with a buzzer-beating loss in the Final Four over the weekend — but the team left an indelible mark on college basketball over a remarkable five months.

The best year in school history may well have never happened, though, had Coach Dusty May acted on impulse after accepting the job in 2018.

Hours after May had signed the contract making him the Owls’ next coach, his return to the hotel was not filled with champagne or excited phone calls to family, but with tears and panic over what he felt might be a fatal mistake.

“I just committed career suicide,” he told his wife. “I’m not good enough. I can’t do this.”

May essentially agreed to take over as head coach without seeing the school’s gym, weight room or locker room — and now he was experiencing serious buyer’s remorse, according to CBS Sports.

The decision to stick with it and not immediately resign, though, obviously paid off — and it has some key lessons for us.

We often set lofty career goals, get presented an opportunity, and grow incredibly eager about fulfilling our lifelong ambitions.

Sometimes, only after we put pen to contract, though, do we begin to consider why this might not be the right place for us.

Before we jump the gun and resign in embarrassment, there are four key questions we may want to consider:

1. Is this new position really as bad as I may think it is?2. Are my present feelings based on facts or emotion?3. How could I make the most of this opportunity?4. What’s my fallback option?

May credits his wife and former boss, then University of Florida Coach Mike White, for supporting him through it and helping him overcome his relative imposter syndrome in his early years as a head coach.

But the most relevant takeaway for us is that if we’re feeling regret over a recent decision or considering whether we, too, have just committed "career suicide," we might just need to let it play out.

The decision we’re currently second-guessing ourselves over could actually be one that changes our lives for the better.