What's a sign that it's time to leave your job?

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John Coleman just wrote such an article for the Harvard Business Review. It's a publication I recommend you read regularly, if only to make you feel totally justified for showing up at job interviews wearing your Harvard hoodie and your Harvard beanie and waving your Harvard pennant.

If the idea of a job change resonates with you, it would make sense to get an expert's opinion on when it's time to pack up your crayons and go home. Or, if you're already working from home, expert advice on when it's time to leave home and find a nice office to go to.

Unfortunately, no experts are available, so you'll have to depend on me. Let's check the signs, shall we?

Sign No. 1: "It's no longer encouraging your growth."

If you've been working from home, there's no question you've seen growth. At this point, you've probably decided that, no, your sweatpants didn't shrink in the laundry and, yes, you really have put on all that weight.

But this is not exactly the kind of growth that Coleman sees as a sign. It's professional growth that makes a job satisfying, he writes, and, if this is lacking, it's time to "look to reinvention or some other kind of change."

I recommend you reinvent yourself as a spoiled labradoodle, but if this seems like a stretch, you could consider "job crafting," a process by which "reinvigorating your work can be as simple as seeing it differently and modifying it in small ways."

For example, try to see your manager as a brilliant businessperson who truly cares about you, and visualize your job as really important to making the world a better place.

Upon consideration, it would be easier to go labradoodle.

Sign No. 2: "You've achieved what you set out to achieve."

It was always your dream to be a grumpy malcontent. Congratulations on your success!

Sign No. 3: "You actively look for ways to avoid your job."

"A profession should be something we approach with curiosity and anticipation," John Coleman writes, "not avoidance." If you frequently get lost on the way to work, finding yourself in the wrong town, miles from your office, it's a sign that you are either in a very bad Netflix thriller or really hate your job. If you are working from home and, instead of arriving at your desk, you find yourself in the laundry room, it's even more serious. Remember: You don't have a laundry room.

Sign No. 4: "You regularly approach work with exhaustion, burnout, or dread."

Our author confesses he once had a job he so disliked that "it was hard for me to leave the house to go to work in the morning." This can be a real problem when you're working from home. If your home office has become so dreadful that you are spending your days at the nearby Starbucks or, worse, the nearby Jiffy Lube, it's time to take action.

Tomorrow morning, when you leave home, march up the street or down the hall. Knock on any door. You're likely to find a fellow work-at-homer who is equally full of dread and would be delighted to exchange workplaces with you on a daily basis. They'll probably have better snacks than you do and will keep your home office a lot neater. And when you've eaten everything in their cupboard, you can go home.

Sign No. 5: "It's causing you to develop bad habits."

Already happened, I'm afraid. You're reading this column, aren't you?

Sign No. 6: "Your workplace has become unhealthy."

Those dust bunnies under your desk? The green cottage cheese in the fridge? These are signs that the janitorial services in your office building are not keeping the high standards you demand and you should complain to management. If your office is at home, as are the dust bunnies and the green cottage cheese, just go with the flow. Dust bunnies can be collected, spray painted, dusted with glitter and crafted into a heartwarming spring centerpiece. Green cottage cheese? Perfect for St. Patrick's Day.

Whether you work at home or work at work, changing jobs can make your situation a lot better, but don't expect your life to be perfect. After the change, you'll have nothing to complain about, at least, for a day or two.

And that's a sign you should stay right where you are.

Bob Goldman was an advertising executive at a Fortune 500 company. He offers a virtual shoulder to cry on at [email protected]. To find out more about Bob Goldman and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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