Some great careers started with “I’ll just help out for the summer.”

Plenty of real careers begin as a favour with no intention behind it. You take the summer job to fill time, find out you are good at something you had never considered, and the temporary thing turns out to be the door. A low-commitment start is not a weak start, it is a cheap experiment.

So say yes to a few clearly temporary things. Help at the shop, the camp, the garage, the office. You are collecting data on yourself, and thinking does not produce any.