Yesterday I got an e-mail from one of my readers that read:
"...I found your blog last year when I was frustrated with teaching. I am a public school teacher and I teach middle school in Brooklyn...I feel like a textbook maker instead of a teacher sometimes. I feel burnt out and I dread Sundays because that means tomorrow is Monday! The new evaluation system means I'm always on my toes. I admit to shedding a tear when you admitted teaching has affected your relationships negatively. I don't see how I can't sustain this type of job for the rest of my career.
This is currently my second year teaching and I want an out...Unfortunately I don't know what I want to do for a career. I am jack of trades, master of none...I would take a leap if I knew where I wanted to end up..."
. . .
I know that 'two-years-in and I want out' feeling all to well. I also knew I couldn't sustain the type of lifestlye teaching (especially in the NYC public school system) caused me to lead. You can read about all that here, and if you're a long time reader of this blog, then you already have.
Yes, I get plenty of e-mails asked me why I left teaching, how I did it, and the pros and cons I had to weigh before ultimately committing to the decision. I've answered those e-mails best I could in this post.
But lately, I've been getting e-mails asking me a different kind of question. Readers, like the sweet girl in the e-mail above, what to know how I knew what else I wanted to do. I left teaching with a clear vision and goal that I wanted to go into graphic design. There is a short story as to how I got to this, and there is - of course - a long story.
The short story:
I've been into designing since forever, I just never let myself realize I could actually pursue it. In the past couple of years, the passion for it just took over, and I got out of my own way.
The long story is a little more complicated, and is probably rooted in my activities ten years ago with what I studied in college, but I'm going to explain it in the steps I took only since becoming a teacher. Perhaps you could try some of the same steps, and see where it leads you.
You're here because you have a gut feeling teaching is not what you're meant to do. No doubt, you're good at the job, and like me, you probably love the kids and got into the job for them, but now that you've become a teacher, you are consumed by the 'work' and didn't know feeling stressed, exhausted, anxious, and burnt out every single day is what you signed up for.
Sound like you? Keep reading.
STEP 1: Take a bubble bath. In this bath, I want you to picture in your head what it is about your day as a teacher that you enjoy, and what it is about your day as a teacher that you don't. Then, spend some time thinking about your life if you weren't a teacher. Don't worry about envisioning what job you'd have instead, but rather what would make you happy as a human. Would it be free weekends? ('Cause we teachers know those weekends are not really "off".) Then picture what you would do on those weekends. Would it be later mornings? Envision yourself sleeping-in. Daydreaming is your first step. It doesn't even have to be super clear or super focused. Your first step is to relax with your own thoughts and wishes.
STEP 2: Meet Marcus Buckingham. I feel like two men in this world saved my professional life, and the first of those men was Mr. Marcus Buckingham. His FREE online Career Intervention Seminar gave what I was feeling about my job as a teacher a vocabulary and an explanation in such a clear and vivid way. These videos were invaluable to my journey and decision to change careers, and watching all eight of them is your Step 2. Videos found here.
STEP 3: Complete his strength and weakness exercise. This will make more sense after you watch his eight videos and understand what he means by strengths and weaknesses. You must spend a whole Monday through Friday examining what about your day makes you feel strong and what about your day makes you feel weak. Here is what I ended up with when I completed this exercise back in January 2012.
STEP 4: Barnes & Noble research. My advice to anyone 18 to 20 years old, just starting college, and trying to decide what to major in is this: go to Barnes&Noble, plan to spend about 2 to 3 hours there, and pay attention to the section of the store you're organically interested to explore and read books about. THAT'S what you should major in, or at least consider becoming part of your job. Beware though. It's not as easy as well, I only like the magazine section at Barnes&Noble, so I guess I should write magazines. PAY CLOSE ATTENTION. I like the magazine section because I like short spurts of information. I don't do novels, and that says something about my personality and what I prefer in the work place. I like week-long, short assignments. Something I can focus on for a clear start and finish amount of time. Graphic design deals with deadlines, and those are something - I figured out - I thrive on. Teaching, on the other hand, never had a clear beginning and end to me. It was 10-months long of unclear checkpoints, and I never got a handle on any of them. You see what I mean? Your Barnes&Noble research exercise will make things clear in your professional preferences and personality if you pay close enough attention.
STEP 5: Register all the new info and let it marinate. My decision to change careers did not occur overnight. Over a two year period, every new gut feeling or internal career compass led me to the next one over time. Eventually, all of them led to me to where I am now - graduated from graphic design school and looking for a design job. I knew - and the ones closest to me knew - when ENOUGH was ENOUGH when it came to teaching. If teaching is not meant to be for you, then you will get to that point...but it definitely came after the steps were taken above, and I got out of my own way.
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The last thing I want to say on the matter is this:
To my sweet e-mailer above, as far as feeling like "a jack of all trades, and a master of none," I say so what?! The whole point of this post is figure out what you want to master. Don't you think if you pinpointed what is it that would make you happy each and every morning you woke up, you'd eventually become a master at it?
I've always loved design, I always knew it made me happy. Time and time again in the past ten years, I talked myself out of pursuing it. It took my severe unhappiness with teaching to crave design when I got home. I basically practiced it on my free time - all the time - and the passion for it took over. However, if I allowed my skill level at the start to dictate whether or not I should pursue it, well then HELL, I would have never pursued it. Don't let where you think you are skill-wise NOW in something you love deter you from getting better at that something IN THE FUTURE.
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That's all I have for you this morning, readers.
If you embark on the exercises above, I'd love to follow your progress or hear how it went. You can email me anytime at amandaroseblog@yahoo.com or we can chat about it in the comments below.
Good luck, and follow your heart! ♥
