Seeing Yourself in a New Career When Teaching Is All You Know

Practical Steps to Envision Your Life Beyond Education

In my blog post Discovering What Exists Beyond the Classroom, we explored one reason why it's so hard to answer that nagging question: "What else could I even do besides teaching?" The answer: you simply don't know what options exist beyond the classroom.

But there's another equally powerful obstacle that keeps teachers stuck: You can't actually imagine yourself doing anything else.

The limits of your professional imagination

Unless you have a wide range of work or volunteer experiences beyond teaching, your brain simply won't have enough information to form concrete images, thoughts, or feelings about you doing anything other than teaching.

It would be like trying to imagine what Paris or Tokyo is like based only on your experience of your hometown.

Your brain does its best to fill in the blanks with what it has on hand (images, stories, etc.), but it's hard to truly envision yourself climbing the Eiffel Tower or exploring the Senso-ji Temple if you've never been anywhere similar.

You're not stuck, you're just working with very little info

Just because you can't imagine yourself doing anything other than teaching doesn't mean you can't do anything other than teaching! Your transferable teaching skills are valuable in countless other professions.

It just means your brain needs more information to work with in order to create a more complete picture.

This is where many teachers get stuck in their career transition. They try to make decisions based on incomplete information, then get frustrated when nothing feels right or clear.

Practical steps to bridging the imagination gap

Here are three effective ways to start imagining yourself doing something other than teaching:

1. Take a Digital Deep-Dive

Jump on the internet and research a career possibility using Google or AI to help you learn the basics:

• What does a ______ (e.g., Education Consultant, Operations Improvement Manager) actually do all day?

• What education or training is required?

• What teaching skills might be transferable to this role?

• What's the work environment like?

• What challenges do people in this role face?

This gives your brain the raw material it needs to start forming clearer pictures of what it would be like.

2. Have Coffee/Phone Chats

Find folks who have done the work you're learning more about. They'll give you the real inside scoop and describe their work in ways that the internet just cannot.

Plus, you get to ask questions that relate to you and your experience, skills, interests, etc. This makes imagining yourself doing the work much easier.

Some questions to ask:

• What's your typical day like?

• What parts of the job energize you most?

• What parts of the job tire you out?

• If you made a teacher career change yourself, what was your transition like?

3. Take the Job for a Test Drive

This is hands-down the best way to imagine yourself doing something other than teaching... because you're actually doing a part of the work.

Take a tiny piece of the work that someone does in the role you're exploring and try it out. For example:

• Organize a friend's closet if you're considering becoming a Professional Organizer

• Take an online course on color design if you're curious about Interior Design

• Volunteer to manage social media for a local nonprofit if you're interested in Digital Marketing

• Offer to help a small business with their operations if you're exploring Project Management

Your Next Step

Pick a career possibility that interests you (it doesn't have to be the "right" one—there's no such thing) and start gathering information.

Choose one small action from the three approaches above. Remember, you're not making a final decision—you're just collecting data to help your brain imagine new possibilities.

As you explore, be gentle with yourself. It's normal to feel conflicted, uncertain, and even a bit scared.

These feelings don't mean you're making the wrong choice—they're just part of the process of growth and change. For more about the emotional aspects of a career change away from teaching, check out my post on Understanding Grief in Teacher Career Transitions.

I'm Laura, a Career Clarity Coach for Teachers feeling stuck.

I help you explore career possibilities beyond the classroom so that you can make a confident choice about what's right for you, based on your strengths, values, personality, and what you want most for your life.