A good thing can't last forever.
I love my job. Really! I like the people I work with day in and day out and I love what I do. There is nothing greater than being a developer to me. I love the daily challenges and the fact that there is no such thing as a repetitive task. The only issues I have are that I have been there for two years, I find that I am slowly starting to move away from development (NO!) and serving more as a mentor and/or advisor, and I am just not making enough money. So a little over a month ago I started somewhat actively looking for new opportunities. I started looking right about the time our temporary employee (who had been with us for a year and a half) became a full time employee elsewhere making more than I do currently. Now when you start to look for another job when you really like your job, you may have some problems finding a position that you like as much as your current one. You find that you can be pickier, so it's not exactly an easy thing to find a new job. Your motivation is to take your time and wait for the perfect opportunity to present itself.
Now while you are looking, say your whole world starts to crumble around you. Say when you are in the middle of looking, you find out that your boss is leaving. He has been there for four years and has been instrumental in shaping how you do business. You would describe him as a very competent person who knows how to work with people and is alot of fun to work with. Losing him is big, it would be very hard to replace him. You still see him around, and he remains a good friend. So you lose your boss, but that's okay, you still have some strong coworkers around you who are very competent. Or is your world crumbling further? Two days after your boss' last day, you find out your lead worker is moving on to greener pastures as well. He is one of the most intelligent and competent people you know. There is no one other than the boss that does what he does in your department. It is a major blow to your world to have both of them move on at such a close interval to each other. You have another coworker that is also looking for other positions, so there is a lot of change happening in your department. You are probably saying to yourself, “Three employees gone in 2 months, so what? It happens all the time where I work.” Well think about this. Your department is five employees large.
Well, my friends, I have to ask. How is that for motivation?!