One teacher’s honest account of every job she’s had, every career she almost chose, and everything work taught her that nobody else would say out loud.

Stories. Strategies. The stuff they don’t cover in orientation.

For the teenager who has no idea what they want to do with their life.

For the parent watching that teenager and running out of useful things to say.

For the teacher who became a teacher and is now wondering what else there might be.

For anyone who has ever quit something and needed to understand why.

Other than a teacher, I was a lot of other things.

I worked at IHOP. I watched babies be born in a hospital OB unit and then went home and couldn’t explain to anyone what that had felt like. I drove a beverage cart around a golf course in the heat. I sold lingerie. I worked at America Online before it became a punchline. I shadowed a paramedic, a veterinarian during surgery, and a ski patroller — three entirely different ideas about what I might become.

I started college at sixteen. I earned two master’s degrees while working full time. I co-ran a tutoring practice in a loft in Northern Utah. I spent ten months on a major AI development contract — rating answers, arguing about sources, watching a technology get built from the inside — while simultaneously teaching high school English.

Seventeen years of it. Middle school and high school English. Title 1 schools and AP classrooms. Traditional, hybrid, and fully online. And somewhere along the way, I realized that every job I’d had — every career I’d almost chosen, every summer gig, every unexpected detour — had been teaching me something that I had never quite put into words.

Every job was a lesson. OnlyPlans.

This is not a career advice website.

Career advice websites tell you to follow your passion, network intentionally, and update your LinkedIn profile. They are written by people who have never had to figure out how to act human at a cash register at 7am.

This is something different. It’s a place where someone who has actually worked — at a lot of different things, for a lot of different reasons — writes honestly about what those experiences taught her. About what to look for. About what to run from. About how to figure out who you are by paying attention to what you do when you’re not particularly trying to impress anyone.

Not another worksheet about your “strengths.”

The Teach Me How To Quit career discovery workbook isn’t built from a career counselor’s theory about what teenagers need to think about. It’s built from seventeen years of watching teenagers figure out — or not figure out — what they want, and from a lot of personal experience doing the same thing.

It’s a six-module workbook that uses the blog posts as entry points.

Each module opens with a story — a real job, a real mistake, a real moment of clarity — and then asks the student to think about their own version of that thing. It’s not about the right answer. It’s about paying attention.

THE SIX MODULES

WHAT’S INCLUDED

• Six workbook modules with guided reflection prompts anchored to real TMHTQ stories
• Printable PDF + fillable digital version
• Career exploration activities, values card exercises, and goal-mapping templates
• Student-facing reflection prompts at the end of every TMHTQ blog post — so the workbook and the blog reinforce each other
• A companion teacher and counselor guide for classroom or advisory use

Kelly Culver earned a BS in Psychology with a minor in English at nineteen before moving to Texas, which tells you something about how quickly she has always moved. She began her teaching career at a Title 1 middle school, spent five years in 6th and 7th grade, then moved to the high school level — where she taught Dual Credit and AP English, worked with ESL and writing intervention students, served as an AVID Site Coordinator and National Honor Society sponsor, and was the person everyone asked to proofread graduation speeches and HR emails.

She has been journaling since age seven. She has been reading since first grade, because of Ms. Thorne. She is a non-believer yet full supporter of Santa Claus since age five, when she recognized the handwriting on her Christmas easel.

She has taught every version of the job — in-person, hybrid, online, urban, rural, AP, and intervention. She most recently worked from home for a year as an AI trainer and language analyst for a company she cannot name– ironically we all use its name as a verb. Ha. Anyway. She’ll return to the classroom in the fall; but will continue making, sharing, and growing online– for whenever the robot teachers render her obsolete or to set up her retirement gig– either way.

BAM! First person POV switch:
Writer is the one thing that could never feel like a job title, but deep down, that’s what all this is about. So I’m either experiencing the power of writing for myself, helping someone have that experience, or researching how to best help other teachers engage nascent writers– win-win-win for me. If that phrase– “win-win” can sum up your job search decision– then you’re on the right track.

It’s me. The win-win who won: I’m the quitter. I’m the teacher. I’m the writer. I’m so glad you’re here.