Slowing down can speed up your career change

How pause and reflection create the clarity you need for a successful transition away from teaching

If you're asking yourself "should I quit teaching?" or frantically searching "how to leave teaching" at 11 PM on a Tuesday, take a breath.

I know it feels counterintuitive, but the fastest way to make progress on figuring out what you want for your career might actually be to SLOW. DOWN.

Think of it like this: Imagine you're hiking through dense woods, 🌳 lost and desperate to find the trail that leads home. You could keep charging forward, crashing through branches, getting more lost and exhausted with each step. Or you could pause, climb to higher ground, and get your bearings so you can see the path clearly.

Making a meaningful career change is like finding your way through those woods. The clarity you're seeking won't come from doing more—it comes from pausing long enough to see where you actually want to go.

The "Doing" Trap That Keeps Teachers Stuck

When you're considering leaving teaching, it's natural to want to do something. Update your resume. Scroll LinkedIn for jobs for teachers leaving education. Research career alternatives.

Because doing feels productive, right?

But here's what I've learned working with hundreds of teachers at a career crossroads: all that frantic doing just keeps you running in circles.

When you are go, go, go, your brain is constantly spinning through problems and to-dos, and there's no space for insights to find their way into your consciousness. The mental chatter drowns out your inner wisdom about what you truly want in your career.

You know those moments when you suddenly have a breakthrough thought in the shower, or while you're walking quietly, or sitting with your morning coffee? That's not a coincidence. Insight arrives when you create space for it.

Be Still and Know: The Wisdom of Slowing Down

So much of the work of making a positive, thoughtful transition out of teaching happens not in the doing, but in the pausing to reflect and notice.

In her book Untamed, Glennon Doyle shares about her transition away from the life she thought she was supposed to have to the life she really wanted. At one point in the book, a friend writes her these four words to help guide her decision-making: Be still and know.

Doyle goes on to write, “It didn’t say “Poll your friends and know” or “read books by experts and know” or “scour the internet and know”. It suggested a different approach to knowing. Just. Stop. StopMovingStopTalkingStopSearchingStopPanickingStopFlailing.”

A meaningful career change is fundamentally about:

• Tapping into your head and heart for information about what you want

• Learning about yourself and who you are at this point in your life

• Following your curiosity and excitement about new possibilities

• Processing any grief or fear about leaving behind your identity as a teacher

These are not things you can just do, or just check off your list. You can't force insight and clarity by working harder or faster.

When I work with teachers who feel stuck in analysis paralysis about leaving teaching and what's next, they are often caught in the chaos and confusion created by constant doing. They're so busy researching alternatives to classroom teaching, making pros and cons lists about the good and bad, working on their resume, etc...that they never pause to ask themselves what they actually want from their next chapter.

The Power of Present-Moment Awareness

Here's another "walking in the woods" metaphor to help illustrate what slowing down offers you. It's a video of me taking a pause on a trail run and noticing all that jumps into focus when I stop running and walk, and then when I totally stop moving.

You don't have to be in the woods to get clarity! Here's something you can try right now—it's something I do with my kids occasionally when they are spinning out and trying to regulate their big feelings, but it can work to bring you back in the moment too.

Notice five things you can see around you.

Four things you can hear.

Three things you can smell.

Two things you can physically feel.

And then we do one big squeeze hug ❤️ (but you could take a deep breath instead)

Did you notice how your mental to-do list disappeared for those few seconds? When you're fully present and using your senses, your brain literally cannot multitask by engaging in the anxious thought spiral at the same time.

This is why insights often come during quiet walks, or while you're driving alone, or in those peaceful moments before the day gets busy. Your nervous system settles, the mental chatter quiets, and suddenly you have access to wisdom that was there all along.

Creating Pauses in Your Career Exploration

If you're feeling overwhelmed by a possible career change, and don't feeling like you're getting anywhere, I invite you to build intentional pauses into your process:

Daily micro-pauses:

Sit quietly with your coffee (and without your phone). Go for a walk without podcasts or music. Sit on the couch for five minutes doing nothing. Notice what thoughts or feelings arise when you're not trying to solve or do anything.

Weekly reflection time:

Set aside a short time each week to journal about teaching and your career ideas. What felt energizing this week? What drained you? What are you curious about? What questions are you wrestling with?

Seasonal sabbaticals:

Does your school district offer sabbaticals? If so, that's amazing, and something to consider, especially if it's partially or fully paid. If not, use your summer break or a leave of absence to truly step back and gain perspective on what you want for your life and career right now.

The career nap (it's a thing!) doesn't get enough airtime, which is no surprise given how obsessed capitalist culture is with productivity, progress, and doing.

How Reflection Accelerates Your Career Transition

Unhappy teachers want to fast-track their transition out of the classroom— I understand why! But rushing through a career change is like trying to drive through fog with your high beams on—the harder you push, the less clearly you can see and the more likely you are to do damage.

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When you slow down enough to:

• Process your feelings about leaving teaching

• Identify your strengths, skills, values, and interests

• Explore your career alternatives without pressure

• Listen to your authentic desires rather than external expectations

  
  

...you make decisions from a place of clarity rather than panic. And decisions made from clarity tend to stick, because they're a better match for you.

A major bonus to the clarity you get through pause and reflection is that you'll go into the job search with laser focus. A transition can happen much more quickly when you know what you want and are ready to get it.

Your Next Step

The teachers I work with who embrace this slower, more reflective approach often end up in jobs that are a better fit for them, because they've tapped into something deeper than just their fear and panic—it's a well of confidence, clarity, and knowing that comes from pause and reflection.

So if you're teacher considering career change, your next step might not be updating your LinkedIn profile or researching jobs for teachers leaving education.

Instead, it might be taking a quiet walk and noticing what thoughts arise. Or sitting with the question "What do I really want?" without immediately jumping to solve it.

Sometimes the most productive thing you can do to make a career transition is absolutely nothing at all.

Because in that space of not-doing, in those moments of pause and presence, the clarity you've been seeking finally has room to emerge.

Want Help Pausing?

Pause and reflection are built into my Teachers at a Crossroads course, a spacious six month journey to transform your career uncertainty into a clear, energizing path forward. You'll meet once a week with other teachers who also want to make thoughtful career decisions that are right for them.

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.

Reflect in the Teachers at a Crossroads course