How to plan your life, when you can't plan your life

The mere fact that we have to ask that question is unsettling, scary and frustrating, because it is something we never anticipated we’d have to answer when we finished school.

Most of us prepared hard for the future we expected, and yet when it comes to our work life today things aren’t working out as we had planned. That’s true if you have been laid off; are a recent college graduate who is under-employed; a manager who feels that he is stuck in his current position, or a member of the C-Suite who has the very real (and probably justified feeling) that her company (and perhaps her entire field) may implode around her.

This is not how we were told it was going to be.

Growing up we were led to believe that the future was predictable enough and if we studied hard we could obtain the work we wanted in an environment we understood, and we would live happy and successful lives.

It hasn’t exactly worked out that way (even for those of us who are happy.)

Our careers today rarely move in a straight line and on top of that we are worrying that the line is going to be erased all together.

Why the disconnect between what we thought would happen, and what is actually going on? We think the answer to that is pretty simple.  The way we were taught to think and act works well when the future is predictable, but not so much in the world as it is now.

You know the steps for dealing with a predictable universe:

1. You (or your parents, teachers, or bosses) forecast how the future will be and how you can have a successful life in it.

2. You construct a number of plans for achieving that life, picking the optimal one, i.e. the one that will get you there in the shortest time, or with the least amount of effort or will produce the most pleasant journey.

3. You assemble the resources (education, money, etc.) necessary to achieve your plan.

4. And then you go out and implement it. 

We have become so indoctrinated with this way of thinking by our education (with the way they taught us to think) and our organizations (with the way they go about solving problems) that it is more or less the only way we approach anything.

But what is very smart approach to a knowable or predictable future is not smart at all when things can’t be predicted—like now. And that fact is at the heart of the frustrations—and fear—most of us feel.  Things simply aren’t as predictable as they once were when it comes to plotting out a superior (and satisfying) career.

It’s pretty scary when you can’t plan and control your way to security, let alone the job you want.

In a world where you can no longer plan your way to success, what is the best way to achieve lifelong security and accomplish the things you really care about?

Instead of picturing/thinking about what the perfect job or career would be and working backwards from there, begin with a direction, based on a real desire, in which you think you want to go.  Then complement that with a strategy to discover and create opportunities consistent with your desire.

In other words, you don’t search for the perfect job, you create it—either within an existing organization or on your own.

Why the radically different approach?  That’s easy to explain.

In an uncertain world you simply cannot come close to imagining what a perfect job might be. It’s unknowable, especially when you are trying to predict five or ten years out. The world can change radically in that span of time. But what is 100% known is what’s valuable and important to you. Who are you? What matters to you? Is it working in a specific industry? Managing people or not? Traveling extensively and moving every few years as part of your career in order to gain new perspectives and responsibilities or putting down roots?  The answers to these questions will point you in productive directions.

Having considered that, what are your means at hand, your talents and skills, who you know, what you know? And how do you get started on concrete actions that are consistent with these desires? Some of those may take the form of looking for a job, but others might simultaneously entail starting something of your own. In either case, as you act, different opportunities will present themselves.

So, the process from planning your future when you can’t really plan looks like this:  

1. Determine your desire

2. Take a small step toward it

3. Learn from taking that that step

4. Take another step

5.  Learn from that one

You follow this Act, Learn, Build Repeat model until you have a job, your own business, or have achieved your goal. It’s not career planning. It’s acting your way into a future you want.

How do we know this approach will work?  Because it already has.

You never want to reinvent the wheel, so when we set off to create our last book (Just Start: Take Action. Embrace Uncertainty. Create the Future) which was about the best ways to navigate the unknown, we went looking for people who had done it successfully.  And we found one group that was better at it than anyone else: Serial entrepreneurs, people who have started two or more businesses successfully. There is nothing more uncertain than starting a business and these people had done it at least twice with stellar results.

They used the Act Learn Build Repeat model to start their companies and we proved in Just Start that their approach to navigating successfully through the unknown would work for everyone everywhere, not just entrepreneurs who want to start their own company.

By Paul B. Brown, the Forbes, January 13, 2013