Your twenties, thirties, forties, and beyond may want completely different things from the same life.

The person you are at twenty-five and the person you are at fifty may want almost nothing in common: intensity versus quiet, breadth versus depth, being known versus being left alone. Building a life to satisfy one of them permanently means locking in the preferences of someone who will not be there. That is why some people succeed exactly as planned and feel empty on arrival.

Build in some room to change your mind. Prefer choices that can be revisited, and check in every few years about what you actually want now. Loyalty to an old plan is not the same as integrity, though it wears similar clothes.