You're the first in the staffroom for the Times Ed on a Wednesday. You scour the pages, finding nothing, and start to wonder, yet again, if teaching is really you. Maybe when you started out, you were drawn to the opportunity and reward of shaping young minds, helping them to grow. Maybe you saw the chance to put them on the right path. But now it's become a plate-spinning act: meeting seemingly impossible targets and then barely a pause (or a thank you!) before the goal posts shift again; policing the classroom; trying to make sure each child gets the attention they need; grappling with parents' and governors' expectations and, oh, good grief, the paperwork! And all this under the gaze of a public that feels it's qualified, nay, entitled, to comment. Still, there's always the long holidays ..... But then you spend the first two weeks recovering and the last two weeks dreading the return.

You may suspect that it doesn't have to be like that but it can sometimes be easier to stay as you are - after all, "Better the devil...." and all that.

Step forward in time 5 or 10 years and look at the cost to yourself of doing nothing: ask yourself how it feels still to be in that same job with the same limitations; to have watched another X children set out on a new life while yours is still the "same old same old".

For myself, I remember watching colleagues come and go for whom the job was a springboard to travel, enterprise and, in one case at least, fame and fortune. My self-esteem suffered badly at my "failure" to move on; a large part of my life was gone and I could never get it back again.

Maybe you don't know whether to go or stay: if you stay, could you be able to fall in love with the job (again)? If you go, where? And to what? It can be so difficult to know, among all the many options, which is the one for you. Even to know if you've actually considered all the options. There can be commitments - financial, personal - or retraining requirements that make the whole thing seem too daunting a prospect.

Imagine a world in which you wake up each morning and can't wait to get to work ...... how would it feel to have a job so rewarding you don't think of it as work? What if you could hear yourself say "I have the BEST job!"? Just supposing that's not a pipe-dream, what do you do next?

When I was in this position I thought at first that I ought to know the answers but then I thought, "Don't be stupid! You wouldn't try to pull your own teeth or fix the car yourself - you'd go to a specialist." An expert might cost money but they can save you time and confusion. And they can help you avoid making the same mistakes.

Maybe you're thinking of going to one such specialist, a careers advisor (or maybe you've already tried it) - I did. Any number of personality tests later they told me that people with my characteristics were "often found in professions such as cook, marine engineer, probation officer ....... ". Great, thanks...... BUT WHICH ONE IS ME?! With such a diverse collection to choose from, how could I trust what they were saying?

I realise now that what I actually needed was someone to help me find out if a move was necessary or how to revive the passion and deal with the day-to-day hassles or to get clear about what I should really be doing and how to make it happen. Someone to rely on for the moral support a friend would give and who also had the skills, experience and objectivity to help me see beyond the limits of what I knew. To help me extend my resources to find the time and money to achieve my goals. To help me deal with family and friends' objections and lack of belief. To give me the confidence to take whatever steps I chose. There are some excellent books available on how to choose the perfect career but, for me at any rate, it's important to have a person I can try my ideas on and see how they sound. For me it's the difference between, say, choosing clothes off the peg and having them tailored to fit: off the peg can be fine - maybe you just need to shorten the sleeves a bit, that kind of thing. In the same way, a book can suggest career sectors you might like to try. But a tailor works to your exact measurements, he can ask what you'll be wearing it for and suggest alternative materials, put in a convenient pocket, look at how you stand and move and make adjustments accordingly. And you can go back to a tailor when you change - for alterations or a whole new garment or wardrobe.

Career coaching is the "tailor-made" option: we work together to discover YOU - your personality, skills, ideas, likes and dislikes, personal circumstances - to discover exactly where and in which career you can be happy now and in the long term. We will:

You can take the first step now to a more exciting and rewarding career.

Call me on 01223 811913 or email me for a free initial consultation.

You'll also receive my free special report: "The 5 Worst Ways to Look for a Job - and the 1 Best".