Someone asked me the other day what my five-year plan was.
I gave an honest answer and watched their face change.
Because it didn't sound like a career ladder. It sounded like a lot of different things happening at once.
And I think that's what throws people off. Especially people who built their careers one step at a time, one company at a time, one title at a time.
That model made sense when industries moved slow and loyalty got rewarded. But that's not the world we walked into.
We watched people do everything right. Get the degree. Stay at the company. Follow the path. And then get laid off in a single quarter because the market shifted.
Our generation is adapting. We're building our careers differently.
I know people my age running a brand out of their apartment while interning at an agency while freelancing on the side. Not because they can't pick one thing. Because touching three different systems at once teaches you faster than sitting inside one for five years waiting for your turn.
That looks messy from the outside. But it's not a lack of focus. It's range. And range compounds in ways a single job title never could.
The traditional path says pick a lane, get good, move up. But what if the lane doesn't exist yet?
Most people ask "what do you do?"
Better question: what are you building across everything you do?
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