Ask any adult you admire how they got there. It’s almost never a straight line.

Finished careers look designed from the outside, because the detours get summarised out of the story. Ask directly and you nearly always get accidents, a subject they failed, a job taken for the money that turned into the thing they are known for. The straight line is a trick of hindsight rather than a route anybody walked.

Ask one adult you admire to take you through their actual path, including the parts that went wrong. Most people are glad to be asked, and the answer loosens your grip on needing a plan.