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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.

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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 i