Work in progress...

What no one tells you about your career as an adult

Hey hey, dear one,

I trust you are well.

I want to take a moment to celebrate women all over the world. You are incredible in every way. Happy International Women’s Day!

We are still in our Fearless Series, and this week we will go one layer deeper in our conversation about doing the things we wrote down to accomplish in 2026, especially as it relates to our careers.

One of the biggest sources of anxiety in your twenties is the pressure to “figure it all out.” Society almost makes it sound like there is one perfect career decision waiting for you somewhere. But most meaningful careers are not discovered in one moment. They are built through intentional exploration or, I dare say, intentional experiments, as researcher Anne-Laure Le Cunff puts it in her book Tiny Experiments. I highly recommend you read it.

When I look back at my own journey, I did not sit down one day and decide, “I will work with teens, write books, build communities for women, design products, and teach the Bible.” None of that came as a fully formed plan.

It happened through small steps, filled with a lot of doubts, crying, and fears.

At different points in my life, I experimented with music (please don’t try to picture it in your mind… lol), writing, working with young people, building programs, designing learning experiences, and creating faith-based resources. Each step showed me something about what I cared about and what I was naturally drawn to.

Sometimes we are waiting for clarity before we start. But clarity usually comes after we start moving.

Instead of asking, “What is the perfect career for me?” a better question might be:

“What can I explore consistently in the next few months?”

And yes, it is okay to experiment.

A lot of people think career exploration means making a dramatic move. Quitting a job. Starting a company overnight. Going back to school immediately.

Not at all.

For example, before DreamCode became what it is today, it started with a simple desire in my heart as a teenager: helping teenagers see possibilities for their future. That did not begin as a full organisation with programs and structure.

It started with private tutorials for my classmates when I was in secondary school. It grew into volunteering with organisations whose reality looked like my dream. I took teaching opportunities, and gradually I started designing learning experiences for teens and young adults.

The same thing happened with my writing. Before my book and newsletters, there were simply ideas I wanted to share. I wrote on cardboard papers and pasted them on my church’s notice board. Later, I wrote for my university bulletin and shared a few thoughts on social media. Over time, my writing became clearer the more I practiced it.

Sometimes the best way to understand a career is to simulate the work on a small scale.

You might:

• Volunteer to teach summer classes with teens before deciding you want to become a teen educator.

• Record five short videos sharing your ideas before deciding you want to become a content creator.

• Write consistently in public before deciding you want to pursue writing seriously.

• Offer to babysit regularly for a few families before deciding you want to start a childcare service.

• Help a small organisation document their processes before deciding you want to work in operations.

The point is to try your big dream in a small way and see what it feels like, and whether you are willing to commit to it fully.

Remember, time spent exploring is not wasted time if you are strategic about building publicly and tracking your experiences. When done well, your experiments will help you build a portfolio of things you did not just talk about, but actually executed.

Stop waiting until you feel completely certain. Start small. Try something. Learn from it. Then take the next step.

Thank you for reading to the end.

Plan your week on paper and remember, I love you and I am rooting for you.