Quiet Quitting

Date: 07/03/2023

Title: What's the deal with quiet quitting?

00:00:00 Speaker 1
You're college graduate just got a job, and they're already talking about quiet quitting.
What are you supposed to do? Well, let's talk about that today on Tips on Teens. My name is Kent
Toussaint. I'm a licensed marriage and family therapist, and I specialize in helping kids, teens,
and families live happier lives. I lead two organizations teen Therapy Center and the nonprofit
501 c three organization, child and Teen Counseling, both here in Woodland Hills, California.
Every Wednesday at noon, I jump onto Facebook Live to answer your parenting questions. Let's
answer today's. My son graduated from college and is living at home, which I'm fine with. He
got a job which is related to his major, but unfortunately he doesn't seem to be too interested
in it. He was talking to me the other night about the quiet quitting movement, which I had never
heard of, and how he wants to do that. It doesn't feel right to me. How can I advise him and point
him in the right direction? Thank you for your question.

00:01:07 Speaker 1
I understand why this would be kind of alarming and concerning for any parent. For those of you
who do not know what quiet quitting is, it's a new social media movement where people at their
job do just enough not to get fired, do only civil what is asked, and no more, take no initiative,
and just kind of do enough to not get fired. Don't put a lot of energy into your work, and there's
many reasons for that. This is nothing new. It's always been with us. It just never had a hashtag
before. We've all been at work and new people who were just kind of skating through, just collecting
a paycheck, just doing with the bare minimum. This is not a new thing. It's just now a hashtag.
So now it's becoming a movement. People are feeling empowered by it because they feel like they're
taking their own power in that they are not trying at work. So what are the benefits of this? Well,
I don't think there's a lot. It impacts your coworkers, impacts the business, impacts your
connection with the team. I've

00:02:13 Speaker 1
been in situations where let me ask you this for your son. I would want to talk to him about why
is he not inspired by his job? Does he not like his boss? Does he see there's no movement forward
for him? There's no way to move up, there's no way to get raises? Is there just a dead end? If that
is, can he somehow change that in the environment, talk to his boss? If not, does he just need
a different job? Or is he realizing that the career path he's chosen doesn't speak to him? He
needs to make a career change, which is fine. People do it all the time. That may be scary, but
people do it all the time. And it's important to relook at your options and go, well, what does
fulfill you what is exciting for you because if you spend your day at a job that you don't like
that you're not putting effort in, the two things you can control right, are effort and energy.
Right? I'm sorry. Effort and attitude. If you're not putting effort or positive attitude towards
your work, it's a big chunk of your

00:03:15 Speaker 1
day that you're just miserable. It's not just the 8 hours you're there, it's the hour lunch break,
it's getting up early, getting ready for work, driving to work, coming home. That's like at
least 10 hours of the day, maybe more depending on your commute, right? So that's a big part of
your day to just be numb and bored and checked out and that's what can lead to things like depression,
anxiety and just a lack of belief in oneself. And these are the dangers of quiet quitting. So
what I would recommend is if you can't make a change for the positive at the current job, how do
you find a different job that can bring that inspiration? There's a famous quote by NBA basketball
legend Bill Russell and he says if you take a job and they pay you $5 a day, give them $7 of work.
Now, why would he say this? Why would he say do $7 work for $5 a pay? Many reasons. Number one, it
helps you take pride and ownership of what you do, which helps you feel good about yourself.
Also, if you're in a gig economy

00:04:17 Speaker 1
helps you get booked again, gets another job. And if you're in a job like corporate America,
people notice you. You'll get raises, you'll get promotions, you move up and get to the place
where you want to be. Now again, if you're not in the career path you want to be on, need to make
a change. But ultimately my worry for this young man is if he goes down this path he will feel unsatisfied,
disaffected and he'll blame everyone else and not himself. And it's important for him take
responsibility for himself so he can do what's best for him and find a career and a job that speaks
to him and gives him a sense of worth and value. Not from the boss, not from the paycheck, but by
what he's doing. Now, the paycheck is important, we all get that. But there's only way to move
forward and that's to make effort. We've all been in jobs, personal experience. I've had jobs
where I've given effort, showed up with positive energy and really done a lot and the bosses
didn't care. And what I had to do is

00:05:19 Speaker 1
I had to move jobs, had to change and find different jobs. And some is that's challenging and
hard, but that's life. And it's important for us as humans to build that resiliency, to step
into the unknown and get stronger and healthier for that. Anyways, that's your question today
on Quiet Quitting. Thank you for your question. If you have a question you'd like me to answer?
Kent Toussaint here at Teen therapy center and challenge teen counseling. Email us at tipsonteens@teentherapycenter.com.
com. Thanks again. I'll see you next Wednesday. Bye bye, guys.