#7 Taking the leap from lawyer to primary school teacher.
Lessons on learning about yourself, paying attention to your interests, your strengths, what brings you joy... and all the opposite! Also about the mental steps to take to make a career shift.
Greg talks to Rob Firth who transitioned from a well-paid and clearly laid-out profession as a solicitor in the City of London to become a primary school teacher.
As a teenager Rob decided to pursue a career in Law after a short placement working with Barristers in the City. The vibe, the suits and ties, and the wit of the people he worked for attracted him.
But a few years later, when it came to actually doing the job as a solicitor, he did not enjoy it. Instead, reading law papers over the weekend to get ahead of competition felt like mental torture.
Recognising his situation was difficult because he was not sure what he wanted to do. He was also scared of losing what he’d invested into becoming a lawyer, of looking like a failure and of giving up the financial comfort.
After trying different areas of law, different partners, different departments and different law firms, he finally decided to pursue what clearly appealed as his vocation.
Listen to the full story here or on your usual podcast player or read the key learnings below.
Key learnings
Pay attention to your pleasant thoughts and emotions - they guide you towards your interests and strengths
“What I find with teaching is that once I get going, I feel in my flow and it feels natural. So after the first 10 seconds [on my first day] of being a bit nervous and perhaps mispronouncing some names, it just felt natural. And it progressed nicely.”
“When I was a lawyer I would do pro bono work. Wednesday lunch times some people went to the local primary school and taught math and English. And that was the highlight of my week. And I remember saying, I love this. And I said why don't you do it full-time? why don't you become a teacher? I already knew I didn't enjoy it or I just would never admit it to myself. When I knew I was doing this podcast, I was talking to my wife about it and she was saying, it's just being honest with yourself and trying to tap into yourself and know what you truly want.”
“I enjoy reading about education, about learning. It doesn't feel as much like work in my spare time. It's enjoyment. if I find a subject that I'm interested in, then I will do that naturally. And that subject just wasn't law for me. I didn't find a niche within law. I wasn’t willing to put in that extra effort in, whereas with education, I just find it fascinating. It just feels more natural and it's more relaxing. Whereas with law, it felt like a burden and not feeling good at doing your job. It is an emotional stress.”
Look for and observe people who inspire you. What about them inspires you? This is usually a useful cue as to what you want more in your life.
“I started going out with my girlfriend who became my wife. And she loved her job. She's a self-employed artist. And I saw that enjoyment that she got from it. And I thought you can obviously do it. And I would quite like a piece of that. So it was seeing someone who'd actually done it because speaking to a lot of my friends from university and from school were lawyers, accountants, bankers working in London, very similar. And so this was something new and refreshing.”
“It was fortunate that I saw a person who could get a real sense of enjoyment from their work. And I thought I should try and find that as well.”
“Having that firsthand account of someone who has that true happiness in their job and, their career, I just thought, if I can see this, now someone's done it, I want to try. I owe it to myself and to her, to try to find it as well.”
Be curious and accept your unpleasant experiences - they also serve you as a guide away from your energy drainers!
“I remember going into my first review with a couple of partners and they were discussing how I was getting on. And part of me wanted them to almost say, you're not good enough. We don't want you here. You're fired. Essentially part of me wanted that and then it will make the decision for me.”
“I just wasn't happy. I just didn't enjoy it. There wasn't a sense of flow, there wasn't natural enjoyment. There were definitely people who were similar to me and didn't enjoy it. It was like a slug. I was going through the motions I suppose, but I did see people who did get a buzz out of doing these deals who liked the late nights. I just didn't find it interesting.”
“Not only did I not know what to do. I was also at this stage thinking I've invested so much time into this, surely I need to try and make it work or put a bit more effort into it and maybe I’ll enjoy it. So I took some tax books home and tried to make notes on them in my spare time and try and understand it and delve into it. That lasted a couple of weekends and I thought I can't do this. I did make an effort just to try, but I think I was just kidding myself, essentially.”
“We both came up with the fact I should become a teacher but still parts of me wasn't willing to accept that. And so I thought I've only been in this law firm. Why don't I try another law firm in a different area of law? So then I had a few interviews at different law firms.”
“And it felt like a relief to figure out in my head that I didn't enjoy law, being honest with that. I just couldn't take that jump then there was a part of me that had to try something else first within law. I was talking to a colleague and she said, you're just delaying the inevitable by moving into another role. You're going to go back to teaching. But if it makes you feel happier than try it in a different area of law.”
Create the time, space and expose yourself to diverse experiences to learn and test your interests, your strengths and what you enjoy.
“The most important thing for me was just being honest with myself because when you're making these decisions about what career and you're choosing your subjects at 16, you don't know a lot about yourself.”
“When I was training, what I really enjoyed to do was to go into other classes and watch other teachers teach and I haven't had that opportunity. And I think that's a fantastic way to learn from it. Who have got more experience than me, or perhaps teach in a different way or different style and then try and take bits that I like from that.”
“Initially when I thought of teaching, I initially thought of secondary school. So I hadn't even considered primary school at that stage. I was thinking I can't make the same mistake as I did with law. I want to try and get plenty of experience and to know what I'm getting into. So then I organized placements at schools. Week-long experiences at different schools just to get a feel of those schools.[I ended up teaching in a primary school!]”
“I never properly sat down and thought about what I want to do. So it's just giving yourself that time and space to think, and then try and get as much exposure as you can.”
Proactively consider your (alternative) career options however attractive your financial future looks like.
“Another partner came along, so they were trying to expand the tax team and he came along and he was very different. And there was a different dynamic within the team. I didn't enjoy that as much. And I found it a lot more challenging and not as enjoyable. And then that's when I was really starting to consider is law for me, I have already changed within six months. It would have been about two and a half, three years.”
“Because I knew then I wasn't enjoying it, but I didn't know what else there was. I'd never properly sat down to think about what other options are there.”
“At that stage, money becomes a factor though. Because you're getting well-paid and you know every year your salary is going to increase by a certain amount. And it's quite nice to have that.”
“I was just thinking, will it get better? Well after a few years, will it become more interesting? Will I just enjoy it more? I didn't get a buzz from it.”
“I do think law is a career that if you do find that niche that you really enjoy, it's an amazing career. But I hadn't found it and I tried a couple of different variations and still hadn't found it. So I thought I've had my go here. I should try something else. I just thought there's got to be something else. I should just try something else while I'm still young. It didn't have children at that stage, so I thought, take a risk now rather than get even more embedded into it. Something was obviously telling me I should try something else.”
“It would be a lot more convenient if I'd done that before, before choosing to go into a training contract. But it's so tough within the system of work experience. You never know what the true aspects of your job will be until you're there, so it's quite hard to know. It was perhaps naive of me not to try other careers and thinking at that stage, what am I passionate about? And try and forge your career after that.”
Projecting yourself into the future is a powerful tool to assess whether to pursue a career
“I worked in the tax department and I was just thinking, could I see myself? Where's the next step? Is it continue here, try and make partner. And I was saying, I'm not enjoying it at the moment. How can I do this for another 5, 6, 10 years, however long it is to become partner. So that made me start to think, maybe you need to see what else is out there.”
“I could just see myself, had I continued in law. I'd just be a miserable old man. It just wouldn't be that fun to be around.”
Considering making a jump is often the scariest bit. Analyse your fears - what are they about? Be careful of the fears that relate to how others perceive you!
“By nature, I'm quite risk averse. I'd invested all this time in law. So why would I then go into teaching? It's almost a status symbol, with law and I think, oh, would it be seen as a failure if I then went into teaching? So I think all of these questions are going through my head. Obviously pay as well, having the salary of a lawyer is a lot more than a salary of a teacher. There were just a lot of factors and I scared myself out of it. it was essentially just being too afraid to make that jump, not having the confidence to make it.”
“I didn't have a plan at that stage. What I wanted to do was go into teaching and assess my options. So I felt I needed an income and I thought tutoring would provide me with an income. And it's also something that I've identified that I enjoy. So that was like a safe bet. And then I'd set up little goals, of what I wanted to do during that next year, because that's officially left law.”
“My parents were quite worried. You’ve got this mortgage you need to pay, will you find the money? you've obviously got accustomed to a certain style of life, will you be able to afford and just a lot of questions. It's a good thing because I need to address them myself. But now they can see that I do really enjoy teaching and it was a good decision and that's another thing, even though it's my decision, I was still thinking about how they would perceive it.”
“To make that initial leap - and I delayed it a little bit - I knew that's the route I was going down. And just thinking about what steps I needed to put in place beforehand, and you can't put all the steps in place, but for me, it was having that little bit of financial security. So as soon as I got that job with the tutoring I thought it would work its way out in one way or another, follow a path and an interest.”
Greg: “What's been the most difficult part of making that leap?” Rob: “It was the initial bit, just to know, is this a mistake or not? And when I handed in my resignation letter afterwards, I felt really like relief and joy. So I knew that was it. The correct thing to do. So that was like a big tip, but it was before that, not is this the right thing? There is still that financial doubt, but it does just seem to work out.”
“The hardest thing was admitting to myself that this is what I need to do. And then taking the plunge to do it.”