[Quitting Series 1/5] The Economics of Quitting: Why Staying Is Now the Riskier Option
The economics of why loyalty to the wrong system drains you - slowly, quietly, completely.
Part 1 of a 5-Part Series: The Quitting Series
New drops weekly.
Welcome to The Quitting Series
In this series, I’ll break down why many of us reach a tipping point - and why quitting corporate life is a strategic choice, not just an emotional one. Each part dissects a different dimension of quitting through the lenses of economics, finance, game theory and psychology.
Here’s what’s coming next:
The Economics of Quitting: Why Staying Is Now the Riskier Option
(Time vs. money tradeoff, diminishing returns, fatigue modelling)[You’re here now]
The Finance of Quitting: How Simple DCF Revealed I'm Worth More Out Than In
(Using DCF + CAPM to show why staying is a low-return investment on yourself)The Game Theory of Quitting: How Corporates Incentivise You to Lose
(Nash Equilibrium, prisoner’s dilemma, why defecting is optimal)The Psychology of Quitting: Why I Can’t Quiet Quit Even If I Tried
(Personality wiring, ethics, and why some people are incapable of half-measures)The Stillness of Quitting: Where the Noise Ends and the Fear Begins
(The identity void, emotional freefall, and learning to exist without the scoreboard)
Subscribe to follow the series (still free for now) and get notified when each part drops weekly.
Let's begin with the economics.
Most people think quitting a high-paying job is emotional, impulsive, or reckless. For me, it’s none of these. It’s mathematics, economics, game theory, psychology, and systems thinking rolled into one stark truth: staying has become the riskiest option.
The Cost of Staying: Dreams Deferred
Imagine waking up one day to see someone else living your dream - launching the business idea you've been fantasising about for years. Painful, isn't it?
Each evening, after 8-14 exhausting hours spent firefighting corporate emergencies, there's nothing left - no energy, no motivation, no drive - to pursue your own ambitions. Health deteriorates, relationships suffer, and the nightly scroll on TikTok, meant to relax, further erodes sleep, compounding burnout.
Why don’t I stop? Because like many, I inherited world-class work ethic but not generational wealth. Add to that perfectionism - the relentless drive to exceed expectations - and a strong sense of responsibility - the inability to ignore tasks left unfinished - and you’re handcuffed to corporate duties.
A comfortable paycheck and rising commitments soon drain your spark. Before long, you’re a corporate automaton - and that’s exactly what most companies quietly demand, but whom I refuse to become.
In this post, I’ll explain why, from a pure economics perspective, I have to quit.
Diminishing Returns of Corporate Promotions (if you value time more than money)
Early in your career, promotions are sweet - more money, flashier titles, increased responsibility/opportunities. But past a certain point, diminishing returns kick in hard.
Each promotion comes with exponential unpaid overtime, normalised scope creep, and shrinking autonomy under layers of bureaucracy.
You exchange personal time for corporate “prestige” that rarely translates into true freedom.
The corporate ladder taxes your life with:
More "Yes" to corporate demands, and more "No" to family and self
A flattening of your effective hourly rate
A ballooning opportunity cost
Breaking it Down: The Hidden Cost of Climbing
Entry-Level Analyst: $80k p.a. pre-tax | ~$250/day after-tax
Senior Manager: $180k p.a. pre-tax | ~$500/day after-tax
On paper, seniority sounds rewarding. Some chase promotion for the power/authority, some chase promotion for self-proof, some chase promotion for a higher salary.
But the hard numbers - and your biology - reveal a very different picture.
Regardless of your motive, when you work 10-14 hours (often the reality in lean teams), your effective hourly earnings collapse.
Graph Insight #1: The Efficiency Cliff
In the first graph, we see the cold reality:
Your corporate pay “caps out” after your contracted hours (most people often don’t realised this).
For hours worked between 0 and 8, I assumed your effective hourly rate stays flat (because of your contractual obligations).
For every unpaid overtime hour after your standard 8, your effective hourly wage drops steadily.
The Senior Manager, once earning ~$500/day, sees their hourly rate collapse into entry-level territory if they regularly push past 12+ hour days.
By 16 hours, the pay gap between entry-level and senior positions shrinks to nothing.
Beyond the 8th hour, your time doesn’t just lose value - it starts working against you.
However, we are humans, not machines. Cal Newport suggested in his book "Deep Work" that that most people can effectively engage in deep work for around 3-4 hours per day before their ability to focus diminishes.
No ordinary person derives utility (finds real fulfilment) in grinding through long days for corporate KPIs. People might willingly push for 14-hour days on something they love - but doing it for spreadsheets, decks, and monthly targets? That’s a very different story.
So in the next graph below, I have added a fatigue factor to adjust for the decline rate after the 8th hour by baking in the following:
Cognitive & physical reality – in the real world, the perceived value of your time diminishes faster the longer you work unpaid hours.
Non-linear disincentive – humans don’t feel overtime pain equally so I have added an escalating discount (n × 10% for Snr. Manage; n × 5% of Analyst; n = number of hours past 8). The first or second extra hour may feel fine, but by hour 12 or 13, the mental and physical cost per hour feels like you’re paying to stay employed.
Opportunity cost – every hour past 8 is time stolen from personal investment (health, family, skills, side hustles, etc.), which compounds negatively. The n-multiplier mirrors that compounding friction.
Graph Insight #2: The Fatigue Factor
Here’s where it gets darker.
With fatigue modelled in, your productivity and perceived value per hour plummets after 8 hours - and the rate of plummeting varies by how each different individual perceives the cost and return of each overtime hour worked.
After the 8th hour, the value of your time declines exponentially - you’re working harder, earning the same.
Around 10-12 hours, your effective rate implodes, sitting well below what even an analyst makes at 8 hours (if the job doesn’t require him/her to work overtime).
The mental and physical drag after 10+ hours exponentially reduces the utility of your labour.
Some people unknowingly cross the “efficiency cliff” daily, trading value for nothing - quietly, daily.
While others knowingly march off it - because that’s just the job.
The Leverage Play
The real question isn’t “how much do I earn?” - it’s “what’s the opportunity cost of fuelling a system I don’t own?”
Whether that’s time to launch a side project, rebuild your health, or invest in relationships and skills that pay dividends later, every sacrificed hour compounds against you.
That’s time I’ll never get back - and neither will you.
What could you build if you reclaimed 1-2 hours daily? A side project, a healthier body, new skills?
If you have to and have the energy to put in 8-14 relentless hours a day, why not apply that to your own life? Experiment, iterate, pivot, and grow - rather than contributing unpaid hours to "corporate strategic initiatives" that vanish with the next management shuffle.
And that uncertainty is scarier than quitting itself.
I know I might fail. These words might come back to embarrass me. But I’d rather live with failure than with the question of what could’ve been for the rest of my life.
The Bottom Line: I HAVE to Quit
That said, I don’t view my past 6 years spent grinding in the corporate world a waste of time. I was hedging my risk and limiting my downside:
Proved time and again that what matters isn’t prior experience - it’s applying first principles thinking and having the discipline to execute with clarity and resilience
Built credibility and experience
Developed extremely strong resilience
However, remaining in corporate life now equates to slow mental, emotional, and financial death. The greatest remaining risk? Losing yet another year to inertia.
💌 To my first paid subscriber - you lit the fire.
That first notification will forever mean more than you know.
Thank you for backing me before the world does.
⚠️ Disclaimer:
All views and opinions expressed in this post are my own, derived from personal reflections and broad observations of market and career trends. They are not directed toward any specific company, employer, or individual, past or present. This content is intended solely for educational and informational purposes and should not be construed as financial, career, or professional advice. Always conduct your own analysis or consult with a professional before making significant career or financial decisions.
Coming Up Next…
In my next post, I’ll unpack the financial side: how simple DCF modeling revealed I’m worth more out than in.
And why quitting isn’t just emotional - it’s backed by cold, hard numbers.
Stay tuned - next week might just change how you value your time forever.
Great post! Unfiltered truth and as raw as it gets
This hits hard…