Everyone experiences transition, or change. It happens in our personal, career and business lives. We move on, or forward, from one job to another. We move on, or forward, from one phase in business to another. We move on, or forward, in our personal and business relationships as well.

Sometimes transitioning can be easy and sometimes it is much more difficult. What can we do to ensure we are successful in a new job or phase of business? I believe one key to your future success in any transition is “how you leave — is how you enter.”

How you leave one job, business, or relationship is how you enter the next one. If you leave a job, but you leave bitter and angry — you will enter your new job the same way. You may have those negative feelings and thoughts due to a boss, or specific work situations. You may feel happy you have a new job with a new start, but those same feelings and attitude will show up again at some point. On the other hand, if you leave a job happy, fulfilled and grateful, this is how you will enter your new one.

I can share and example with you that everyone can understand. Have you ever left work angry because it was a bad day? Sure, everyone has. What usually happens when we get home? We are still angry. We “leave” work angry and we “enter” our home angry. How you leave — is how you enter.

In most cases, simply changing the scenery to a new job is not going to solve all your problems. I am not saying getting a job without all the stress and constant conflict won’t help, but there is no guarantee similar things won’t happen again. If it does, then what do we do? Do we keep transitioning from one job to another? Do we keep trying a new business? Do we keep ending and starting and endless stream of personal and business relationships?

Regardless if the reason you are making a transition is based on positive or negative events, it is a great time to look inward. You can ask yourself if there are some things you can change about how you handle the stress, pressure or conflict. This does not mean you were at fault, or were the cause of the negative things which may have occurred. It is just a good time to reflect and see if there is something you can do to handle the negative things as they occur. Something negative will happen in our career or business life. It’s how we handle those negative things which make all the difference.

If you need to leave a job or a phase of business due to a large negative impact on your life — that’s fine. Take the time to learn from the situation. Don’t be angry, resentful and bitter. I can promise you it will not help as you move forward. It will actually harm you and keep you from achieving your ultimate success in the new phase of your career or business.

Instead, be grateful for the skills, relationships and life lessons you learned. You can now apply them to your new job or phase of business. Be thankful for an opportunity to have a fresh start and look forward to the future with optimism. Remember, how you leave — is how you enter.