Ditch Your Five-Year Plan

Here’s a question scarier than that creepy clown in It: “Where do you see yourself in five years?” [Insert bloodcurdling scream.] You’ve probably heard it a kajillion times—from your parents, your friends, potential employers, and ugh, lame first dates. And even if you typically deflect with a corny response, chances are high that, inside, you feel a mounting panic that goes something like this: SOS! Everyone else has their life figured out and I have no clue....I’m so effing screwed. Permission to stop spiralling, granted.

- Dayna Evans

The truth is that the five-year plan isn’t relevant anymore. Thanks to warp-speed globalization, automation, and innovation, experts say it’s nearly impossible to predict what the economy—much less your part in it—will look like in the future. Five years is now all it takes for entire companies to be created and shuttered, big industries to thrive then dive, or new jobs to emerge seemingly out of nowhere.

These days, you can safely bet your professional life will take unexpected twists and turns. In fact, a recent LinkedIn study found that more than one-third of 25- to 33-year-olds have changed careers at least once. So embrace a more modern way of preparing to rock the work world, starting with this advice.

Enter the Flex Zone

“The career path that most women take is no longer a straight-up ladder,” says Carrie Kerpen, cofounder and CEO of Likeable Media and author of Work It: Secrets for Success From the Boldest Women in Business. “Women who have the best stories and who are the happiest are those who’ve tried different things. They didn’t end up doing what they set out to do when they were 21.”