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Last week, I heard the same idea expressed by two different clients. It was a version of, “This shouldn’t be the way a career change happens. I’m supposed to have a plan and know my way forward. It’s not supposed to be accidental.”
For one, a search for an executive job had unintentionally evolved into a full-time consulting business. For the other, an outside passion had sparked a different professional direction.
We are advised to climb the career ladder and create 10-year plans, leaving chance out of the equation. But chance is precisely how many long and fulfilling careers unfold. Because modern career advice often skips this part, people with “accidental” careers can feel like they must have taken a wrong turn.
As a career and executive coach for mission-driven professionals, I believe that we should be intentional about what we want from work: what lights us up, what problems we want to solve, and what we need. At the same time, we need to leave space open for possibility.
Our paths are shaped by circumstances we don’t control, starting with where and when we are born, and who raises us. It may seem counterintuitive to plan for randomness, but there is actually a name for it: Planned Happenstance Theory. The idea is that curiosity, flexibility and persistence help us turn unplanned events into opportunities.
What I told my clients is what I’ve learned from personal experience and research: that having a career shaped by accident is perfectly normal and more common than you may realize.
The key is recognizing that the opportunities in front of us, the ones we didn’t plan for, are just as valuable (or more) than the ones we did. So if your path looks different than the one you mapped out, get curious. When something didn’t work out as you expected, what new door opened up for you? And what did you learn from the experience?
Sometimes the path rises to meet you. When it does, notice it and take the next step.