How to deal with career anxiety when you have no clear plan

If you feel career anxiety right now, you are reacting to uncertainty with high stakes and low perceived control. That is normal. The goal is not to wake up tomorrow with total clarity. The goal is a repeatable process for your next career move, even when you have no clear career path.

That is the core idea in The Uncertainty Advantage. Careers are messy, and the people who do well are not the ones with the cleanest narrative. They are the ones with the best decision process when things are unclear. I learned that building Venture for Canada, I watched thousands of early career people do fine when they stopped searching for certainty and started building options.

Start by identifying which kind of career anxiety you have

Career anxiety usually shows up in one of two forms.

One, you do not know what you want.

Two, you do not know what to do next.

Most people think they have the first one, but they actually have the second. They want one answer to “how to choose a career path.” When they cannot find it, they spiral and conclude they are behind.

Here is the reframe. Clarity comes after action, not before it.

Step 1, stop spiraling about your career in ten minutes

When you are anxious, your brain produces convincing stories. If you try to make a career decision in that state, you will choose whatever reduces discomfort fastest, not whatever is best.

Tool, the two column reset

Open a doc.

Column one, facts only, what is true right now.

Column two, the story your anxious brain is telling.

Here's an example:

Facts

I have been in my role for 14 months.

I have not been promoted.

I applied to three roles and heard nothing.

I feel stuck in my career.

Story

I am behind in my career.

Everyone else is moving faster.

I will never figure out what career I want.

Now write one sentence that replaces the story with something neutral and accurate.

Neutral statement

I am in a normal early career uncertainty period, and I need better information, more reps, and a clearer process for my next career move.

That sentence is not a motivational poster. It is a stabilizer.

Tool, the next right action rule

Pick one action you can do in 15 minutes that improves your situation even if you still have no clear career path.

Examples

Send one message requesting an informational interview.

Update one resume bullet with a measurable outcome.

Apply to one realistic role.

Write a short post describing a project you shipped and what you learned.

You do not need confidence, you need data. Action creates data.

Step 2, treat your career like a portfolio of bets

A lot of career anxiety in your twenties comes from forcing yourself to pick a single identity too early. Instead, treat your career like a portfolio of bets.

Create three lanes.

Safe bet, something you could likely land soon.

Growth bet, a stretch that forces learning.

Wild bet, high uncertainty, high upside, maybe a long shot.

List two options in each lane. This is how to figure out what career you want without pretending you can predict the future. It replaces “I need one answer” with “I am building options.”

Step 3, run career experiments instead of identity level decisions

Your brain turns a simple question into a life verdict.

“Should I explore product” becomes “Should I become a product manager forever.”

Shrink the decision until you can test it quickly.

Tool, the career experiment template

Hypothesis

I think I would like X because Y.

Test

One low stakes action I can do in seven days.

Signal

What would convince me to do more, and what would convince me to stop.

A quick real example.

Say you are in marketing, you keep feeling pulled toward product, and you are tempted to quit your job and do a full pivot. Do not do that first. For the next seven days, run a small test. Pick a product you use daily, write a one page teardown, what is working, what is broken, what would you change, how would you measure success.

Then ask a PM for a 20 minute call and send them the teardown. If writing it energizes you and you find yourself wanting to do another, that is a signal. If you dread it, that is also a signal, and you just saved yourself months of stress.

This is antifragility. You turn stress and uncertainty into learning by collecting evidence.

Step 4, reduce career change anxiety by building transferable skills

Career anxiety gets loud when you feel trapped. The fastest way to feel less trapped is to build skills that travel across roles.

Pick one skill from each bucket.

Communication

Clear writing, presenting, running meetings.

Analytical

Spreadsheets, basic finance, research, structured thinking.

Execution

Project management, follow through, stakeholder updates.

Relationships

Outreach, being useful, asking good questions.

Now choose one skill to build for 30 days and define proof of work artifacts.

Proof of work artifacts

One one page memo each week.

One simple dashboard that tracks a team metric.

One short presentation you deliver internally.

One portfolio page that shows three projects with outcomes.

Step 5, borrow certainty through people

Most career anxiety comes from guesses about what jobs are actually like. Many of those guesses are wrong. Get reality.

Send a short message like this.

“Hey, I am exploring roles in X. Would you be open to a 15 minute call? I am trying to understand the work.”

Then use this three question informational interview script.

1. What does a normal week look like

2. What do people misunderstand about this role

3. If you were in my shoes, what would you do in the next six months

End with, “Is there someone else you think I should speak with?”

Step 6, how to make a career decision using a rubric

When you are anxious, you will decide based on vibes. Vibes change daily. Use a rubric.

Score each option from 1 to 5.

Learning rate, will I grow fast here

Option value, will this expand future choices

Energy, will this give me more energy than it drains most days

People, do I respect who I will learn fromPracticality, does this meet my financial and life constraints

Add the scores. Pick the highest score for your next two week action cycle.

A simple seven day career anxiety checklist

Day 1, do the two column reset and one next right action.

Day 2, build your three lane portfolio.

Day 3, design one career experiment.

Day 4, produce one proof of work artifact.

Day 5, send three outreach messages.

Day 6, score your options with the rubric.

Day 7, commit to one next step for the next two weeks and schedule it.

What to do if you feel stuck in your career, FAQ

What should I do if I have career anxiety every day

Start with the two column reset, then do one next right action. If you do this daily for a week, your anxiety usually drops because you stop feeling powerless.

How do I choose a career path when I do not know what I want

Use the three lane portfolio and run one career experiment per lane. You are not choosing your forever career. You are gathering evidence about fit.

How do I stop comparing myself to others at work

Stop using social media as career research. If you need LinkedIn for work, set time limits and use it with intention. Then redirect that energy into proof of work. Progress beats comparison.

Close and next step

You do not need a crystal clear plan. You need a repeatable process that helps you calm down, create options, run experiments, build transferable skills, and decide with structure.

If you want one simple next step, do this today. Write your three lane portfolio and send one informational interview message. If you want the full toolkit, The Uncertainty Advantage goes deeper on each of these tools with more examples and scripts.