Don’t build your plan around one big break. Build it so a lot of small breaks can add up.

A plan with a single door in it is fragile, because that door is usually controlled by someone else. One audition, one scholarship, one person saying yes: if everything hangs on it, a no takes the whole structure down. A plan made of many small openings bends instead of breaking.

List five modest ways forward instead of one dramatic one: a club, a short course, a message to someone doing the work, a small paid job. Start two of them this month. Keep applying for the big thing, and stop standing on it.