Stephen Robbins here. Welcome to the Get It Done guys quick and dirty tips to work less and do more.

Today's topic is leaving a job gracefully. Belinda writes in,

How do I graciously leave the job I have loved for 22 years? I've been recently downsized in my county government job. Belinda, soulmate,

today is my last day at my dream job at Babson College, the number one college for entrepreneurship

in the world since 1993. First impressions matter, and so do last impressions. Whether you're

quitting, being laid off or retiring, you want people to remember

you as a responsible business person. You don't want their last memory of you to involve security

guards with trained attack dogs. It looks bad when your next employer calls for references.

Don't ask how I know this. Organize your office and create a transition document the next person

can use to sort through the stuff

you leave and get up to speed quickly. I'm going to pack a lot into this episode, so the transcript

will have a summary sheet you can print out for reference. Record your projects. In the transition

document, list your current projects with a brief summary of each and who your successor

should contact to get quickly up to speed

on the project. Even if your boss is clueless about what you actually did, some poor innocent

won't have to suffer for it. And if your boss was clueless, you really need to listen to my

episode on self-promotion. There's a link in this episode's transcript. Organize your files,

zip through your files.

Toss or take any that aren't relevant to the job.

I like to clip articles and file them neatly in my filing cabinet until I read them.

No one but me is going to be interested in an analysis of whether my aluminum foil hat

protects me against the mind control rays or actually makes it easier for the rays

...