Your career is not something that simply happens to you
» Series: ‘The career stuff nobody tells you series’
By Vanessa Belleau
There is a lot of pressure early in your career to have everything figured out. The right role. The right next move. The right five-year plan. The right answer when someone asks, ‘where do you see yourself going?’
The truth is, most careers are not that neat.
They are shaped by opportunity, timing, people, mistakes, pivots, confidence, curiosity and sometimes complete randomness.
But that does not mean you are powerless.
You do not need to have your whole career figured out.
You do not need a perfect 5-year plan, a dream title mapped out by a certain age, or a brilliant answer every time someone asks where you see yourself in the future. But you do need to start taking increasing ownership of where you are going.
Your career will always be influenced by things you cannot completely control:
The economy
Organisational structures
Your manager
Your team
The company culture
Opportunity, bias, timing and luck can all play a part.
So when people say, ‘You are in the driving seat of your career’, I think that needs a little nuance. You are not controlling every road, traffic light or detour. But you are not simply sitting in the passenger seat either.
A useful place to start is by separating 3 things:
what you can control
what you can influence
and what you need to navigate.
You can control how prepared you are, the effort you put in, the questions you ask, whether you seek feedback and whether you follow through. You can influence the relationships you build, the opportunities people think of you for, how visible your contribution is and the type of exposure you receive. Then there are things you may simply have to navigate because they sit outside your direct control.
That distinction matters because career ownership is not about blaming yourself for everything that happens. It is about recognising where you do have agency and using it. There is very little power in spending all your energy fighting something you cannot change, but there is equally little power in convincing yourself you have no influence when you actually do.
One of the biggest career myths is that if you simply work hard enough, someone will notice. Maybe they will. But I would not build your whole career strategy around ‘maybe’. Doing great work matters, but so does helping people understand what you are contributing, what you are learning and where you want to grow. That is not showing off. That is communication.
You can be brilliant and invisible. You can also be very visible and not particularly brilliant. The sweet spot is being good at what you do and intentional about how you show up.
Questions to ask yourself
What part of my career am I currently waiting for someone else to manage?
What is fully within my control right now?
What could I influence if I became more proactive?
What am I spending energy worrying about that I cannot actually control?
What is one conversation, skill or opportunity I could take ownership of this month?
Career ownership does not mean controlling every outcome. It means noticing where you have agency and choosing to use it.
You may not be able to control the whole journey, but you can control much more than you think about how you prepare, how you communicate, how you learn and how you respond.
Final thought
Pick one thing you have been waiting for someone else to do for your career and take the first step yourself this week.
Ask the question. Book the conversation. Put yourself forward. Learn the skill.
You do not need to control the whole road. Just stop sitting in the passenger seat.
Light,
Vanessa ⭐️
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Thank you for reading! Check the next article if you want more tips to better yourself and your mindset 👇.
