Books to Read When You Want to Quit Your Job but Have No Plan

There comes a point when even Sunday evenings start to feel uncomfortable.

You're already thinking about Monday morning. The meetings, the workload, the same conversations and the familiar feeling that you really don't want to do this anymore.

Maybe you've even searched “hate my job don't know what else to do” because you can't quite explain what you're feeling any other way.

You want to leave. That much seems clear.

But there's one problem.

You have absolutely no plan for what comes next.

And when you have bills to pay, responsibilities to manage and years invested in your current career, simply handing in your notice isn't always a realistic option.

The good news is that you don't have to make a dramatic decision to begin moving forward. Sometimes the most useful first step is understanding why you're unhappy and discovering what alternatives might actually suit you.

These five books offer different ways to approach that decision.

1. Designing Your New Work Life — Bill Burnett and Dave Evans

Best for: Understanding whether you really need to quit.

When you're unhappy at work, it's easy to assume that leaving is the only solution.

But what if the problem isn't your career itself?

Designing Your New Work Life encourages readers to approach their working lives with curiosity and experimentation rather than treating every career decision as permanent.

Perhaps you still enjoy the work but dislike the environment. Maybe you've lost control over your schedule, or the responsibilities that once interested you have become exhausting.

Before deciding to leave everything behind, consider whether changing how you work might improve your situation.

A different role, new responsibilities or even a conversation about flexibility could reveal possibilities you hadn't considered.

This book is a useful reminder that changing your working life doesn't always require changing your entire career.

2. Working Identity — Herminia Ibarra

Best for: People who cannot imagine themselves doing anything else.

One of the hardest parts of leaving a long-term career is imagining who you might become afterwards.

If you've worked in the same industry for fifteen or twenty years, your professional identity can feel firmly established.

You know what you're good at. You understand the industry. People recognise you for the work you do.

Starting something different can feel unsettling.

In Working Identity, Herminia Ibarra explores how people reinvent their working lives through action, experimentation and new experiences.

Rather than waiting until you have a perfect plan, the book encourages you to discover possibilities by exploring them.

That might mean speaking to people in another profession, volunteering, trying a small project or developing a new skill.

You don't have to know exactly where these experiences will lead.

Sometimes they simply help you discover what interests you.

And that's a perfectly reasonable place to begin.

3. Pivot — Jenny Blake

Best for: Anyone worried about wasting years of experience.

Perhaps you've thought about changing careers but keep returning to the same concern.

What happens to everything you've worked so hard to build?

Your experience, professional relationships, qualifications and skills have taken years to develop.

Walking away from your current job can feel like abandoning all of it.

Pivot offers a different perspective.

Jenny Blake encourages readers to build their next move around the strengths and experience they already possess.

Instead of assuming you need to start from scratch, consider which abilities could be valuable in another role or industry.

Communication, leadership, problem-solving, organisation and technical knowledge can often be applied in ways you haven't previously considered.

The important question isn't necessarily what completely new career you should pursue.

It might be:

Where else could the skills I already have be useful?

That question can make a career change feel considerably less intimidating.

4. The Squiggly Career — Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis

Best for: People who feel trapped by the traditional career ladder.

Many of us grew up believing that a successful career follows a predictable path.

Find a good job, work hard, earn promotions and keep moving upwards.

But what happens when the next promotion isn't particularly appealing?

Or when a higher salary comes with more pressure, longer hours and less time for the things that matter?

The Squiggly Career challenges the idea that professional progress must follow one straight line.

Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis explore a more flexible approach to career development, where sideways moves, changing priorities and different opportunities can all contribute to a satisfying working life.

It's a useful perspective if you feel that leaving your current career would somehow mean moving backwards.

A different job doesn't have to carry a more impressive title to be an improvement.

Sometimes greater flexibility, more interesting work or a healthier balance between work and life is worth considerably more than another promotion.

5. I Can't Do This Job for Another 20 Years — Julian Merren

Best for: People who know something needs to change but don't know what.

There's a particular kind of frustration that comes from knowing you can't imagine spending another ten or twenty years doing the same work.

You may not hate every aspect of your job.

Perhaps you're reasonably good at it. Maybe the salary is comfortable and the security matters.

But something no longer feels right.

I Can't Do This Job for Another 20 Years: How to Find a Better Way Forward Without Starting Over by Julian Merren approaches career dissatisfaction from a practical perspective.

Rather than encouraging readers to quit immediately or chase an entirely new career, it helps them examine what actually needs to change.

Could a different employer make a difference?

Would another role suit you better?

Are you unhappy with the industry, or simply the way your current job fits into your life?

And what experience could you carry into something new?

For anyone thinking “hate my job don't know what else to do”, those questions can provide a more useful starting point than searching endlessly for the perfect career.

The aim isn't to make one enormous decision overnight.

It's to understand your situation and begin identifying a realistic way forward.

Explore I Can't Do This Job for Another 20 Years

Before You Hand In Your Notice, Ask Yourself Three Questions

Reading about career change can help you see new possibilities. But it's also worth spending a little time examining your own situation.

What exactly do I want to escape?

Is it the work itself, your manager, the hours, the pressure or the feeling that you've stopped progressing?

Try to be specific.

The more clearly you understand the problem, the easier it becomes to recognise a solution.

What would I want to keep?

Even an unsatisfying job can provide things you value.

Financial security, flexibility, friendships, useful skills or a manageable commute may all matter.

Knowing what you want to preserve can help you avoid exchanging one frustrating situation for another.

What's one thing I could explore this month?

You don't need to resign before investigating your options.

You could research another industry, speak to someone doing work that interests you, update your CV or explore how your existing skills might transfer elsewhere.

The purpose isn't to solve everything immediately.

It's to begin replacing uncertainty with useful information.

You Don't Need a Perfect Plan to Make a Start

Wanting to quit your job without knowing what comes next can be an uncomfortable place to find yourself.

But it doesn't mean you're trapped.

It may simply mean you're at the beginning of a decision rather than the end of one.

Each of these five books offers a different way to approach that uncertainty. Some encourage experimentation, others help you recognise your existing strengths, and others challenge the assumptions that keep people in careers they've outgrown.

You don't have to find your dream job tomorrow.

You don't even have to decide whether to leave just yet.

Start by understanding what needs to change. Then take one sensible step towards finding out what's possible.

That might be enough to make the future feel a little less uncertain.