1. You complain about or “defend” your job all the time… to everyone, and it’s annoying.
I first noticed something was wrong when teaching was all I ever talked about. And never the good things. I would trauma dump all over my sisters and friends when they called. My older sister is a CNA, and I noticed she would never complain about her job: Code Browns, being hit and spit on by her patients; if you’ve seen nursing Tiktok, you know it is not a glamorous job. But she maintained her glamour girl aesthetic and smile and NEVER complained. And when I asked her “how was work?” she would leave it at “good.” I didn’t care who it was you were going to hear all the reasons today wasn’t the best, but once I realized that I was the only person complaining about my job, I knew I had to leave. And you probably do too.
2. You are always tired.
You deserve sleep, peace, and prosperity. PERIOD.
3. You can’t make ends meet, so you try and “make it work”…. or talk about getting married.
Two-income families are the jackpot, but let’s be real, when you are joking about being married so that you can leave your contractually bound roommate for a legally and spiritually bound roommate is wildly toxic. Most teachers I know have had a part-time or second job at one point or another. Yes, you get summers off, but no, not really. You still have to check emails, lesson plan, etc., for zero pay. Sis, bro, and everyone in between you are broke or you want better. You will never be rich, and you are always gonna struggle until you make a change. Inflation is a bitch and a half, and a 3% raises is not more than 5.5% inflation. Love yourself.
4. You are still in your first job or your “finding your self” job
How do you know this is right for you if this is the only job you have ever had? The subway job in high school or the waitressing part-time doesn’t count. Teaching is an excellent place to park yourself, but it will always be there. Challenge yourself, see what else is out there…professionally. And if all else fails, come back, and they’ll likely embrace you with open arms. I have many friends who have taken years off and got hired almost immediately upon returning in the same jobs they had left.
5. You are always looking for experiences to grow and glow.
Teaching is not an environment where you get a lot of feedback, and it can be isolating to work in a silo. Do you really have to be smarter than a 5th grader to be a 5th-grade teacher? I don’t say that to be reductive. Learning is at the core of most teachers’ values. Stop starving yourself. After a while, when you catch your flow, where do you have to grow and glow? In teaching, I took professional development courses, interned at district headquarters, and did policy work. I need you to realize it’s ridiculous to take on three to five work-related extracurriculars to be fulfilled when a proper professional fit could scratch all those itches.
6. You sit in the car and pump yourself up to enter the building.
Your career ain’t a cage match.
7. You stay for every reason but you love your job
In education, we say, “I stay for the kids” I loved my kids too. But they will be fine without me. It takes a village, and they still had a village when I left. You have to take care of yourself to take care of others. So whether it’s I stay for the benefits, the flexibility, the perks, or cause they leave me alone, think bigger.
8. You don’t know what you would do if you left.
Uncertainty is scary. Do you know what is scarier; you no longer believe or can see a future outside of your current career. You are a great, awesome, talented, and powerful person with options. Find your confidence. Experiences are what make you a better teacher and/or professional.
9. You have talked about leaving in the past.
If you have thought about it, it might be time.
10. You are not alone.
If you see a restaurant with a three-star review do you go, you might. But if you are like most people, you look at how many reviews and the proportion of good to bad. Now let’s say you look closer, and 48% of those reviews are one-star, and they’ve got a robust sample size. No! You don’t go to that restaurant.
We need to stop invalidating the experiences of the dissatisfied. Now fam, it is not your responsibility to look into why. You wear enough hats. It’s leadership and HR’s job, and let’s be honest they don’t care about your job as much as you do. You are an instrument. If a teacher saw 48% of the class was failing, you would say, I really screwed up. I’ve got to reach in my teacher toolkit and use a different strategy. 48% of teachers are leaving because they were failed by profession, and leadership in many career fields has proven, over and over, and over they are NOT going to change their strategy. Stop arguing, protesting, enduring, and leave. I know there are a lot of analogies in this paragraph, but a bad job is like an abusive relationship, you can’t stay. Like my daddy says, “You teach people how to treat you.” What does it say to them and those kids you love if you are willing to lower your worth and self-respect like that. Say you have had enough and walk out the door. This ain’t like J.Lo’s enough. Most people change their jobs.
BONUS: there is another community out there that will embrace you for being a leader, adaptable, creative, a motivator, and if you are a teacher, a bomb public speaker.
Classroom to Corporate 