6 month rule for big changes

As talk heats up about new year’s resolutions, I wanted to share a lesson from my first manager that has served me well over the years.

I have never one to be very patient and when I was working at my first company, I got a call from one of the biggest players in the natural language technology industry to come and join them. I had to make a tough decision. I loved my current job, but it was a small company and I was not really doing NLP work at that time. The company had loads of promise though and was just fun. The other company was the one everyone wanted to work for in Belgium and the reason why I had majored in computational linguistics. I was torn.

Not sure if he shared it in this context, but my manager shared with me that he always made tough decisions by a 6 month rule. If you feel frustrated about your job, give it six months and see if you still feel the same. Likewise, if you think about switching roles, give it six month and still see if you feel passionate about it then. And so on.

It protects you from making big decisions based on short term frustrations, the general ups and downs of your career & life or the infatuations of the moment.

It made sense intellectually but at the same time it felt excruciatingly slow as it all took place during the “internet bubble” times where it all felt about grabbing opportunities NOW.

I did wait however (as that company wasn’t going anywhere) and it was one of the best decisions I made. Not only because that premier company actually went bankrupt but because of the great opportunities I got in that smaller company that I may have never gotten in the bigger one.

Anyway, the lesson has always stuck with me. Be careful about those new years’ resolutions. See if there is some meat on those bones before making an important decision. The 6 month rule can serve you well too.

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