It’s Okay to Not Have Things Figured Out

Have you ever had your entire career path planned out, right down to the titles? I did. I’d even match up milestones that hadn’t happened yet to specific years. 

 

I’ve always been a planner. But if life has taught me anything, it’s that sometimes, the best plan is having no plan.

 

Yeah, you read that right. 

 

I might be a serial planner, but some of my best decisions and career moves came from things that weren’t even in my original plan. 2020 reinforced this idea for me. 

 

Freelancing as a copywriter/content writer is something I’ve thought about more and more in recent years, but I was never ready to take the leap. Plus, it didn’t fit into my rigid plan. But after a layoff this spring, freelancing became a necessity for me. 

 

Freelancing made it possible for me to continue working in the communications industry while searching for a new 9-to-5 gig. It also gave me the creative freedom to pick the projects I wanted to work on and run with them. It’s funny, but letting go of a rigid framework for my long-term goals allowed me to do more of what I love.

 

Don’t get me wrong. I still plan out my daily and weekly tasks (my desk is covered in Post-It notes right now). But I finally recognize this universal truth: I can’t fully plan out the future. I can’t control what’s going to happen tomorrow, or the next day, or a month from now.

 

And that’s okay. None of us can. Because none of us really know what’s going to happen next in our lives. 

 

When people used to ask me where I saw myself professionally in five years, I always had an answer. In college, the answer was law student. But I when I followed through with that plan and ended up in law school, it didn’t feel like the career path for me (even when I tried to believe it was). 

 

After a little time off, I pivoted and found myself in grad school as an MBA student instead, working for the university. What did I see myself as, career-wise, in five years? The new answers were marketer or project manager. Then, I landed a job at a PR agency, doing both marketing and project management within my role…finally, the expectations I’d planned out met reality.

 

But was my plan actually the best plan for me? I’m a creative writer (and huge bookworm) at heart. College gave me a space to tap into that love of reading and writing, developing it into a body of creative work that I’ve been able to get published years after graduation. 

 

The communications field definitely provides a lot of opportunities for writing, but my past roles were more focused on project management and client services than writing itself. While I love working with clients, I felt like there wasn’t enough writing in my job. Even after I went to work at another PR agency, I still felt like I should be writing more. 

 

Being laid off provided the opportunity to do just that. Most of my freelance projects require writing SEO-optimized blog posts and articles for the web, so I write a lot more for a living now.

 

But I didn’t get here because of a concrete plan, and I definitely didn’t anticipate this year panning out the way it did. I got to where I am without a fully-formed plan—and this unplanned path has gone better than I could have ever imagined. 

 

So, if you have a rigid plan, take a step back from it. Create a loose plan, or commit to having no plan, instead. After all, it’s okay to not have things figured out yet. Some of the best stuff in life comes from a place of uncertainty—embrace the possibilities awaiting you, and be open to the new opportunities coming your way.