The Non Linear Career

One of the most liberating realisations I've had in my career is that very few people actually know where they're going.

From the outside, it can look as though careers unfold according to a carefully considered plan. Promotions happen, businesses are built, opportunities appear, and it all seems wonderfully intentional.

But beneath the surface, many of us are simply following our curiosity, making the best decision we can with the available information we have at the time, and discovering the path as we walk it.

Perhaps one of the biggest shifts in modern working life is the recognition that careers are becoming less and less linear, and I’m all for it.

I’m generation X and come from a place where the traditional career model encouraged us to choose a path early, study for it, work hard for it and stick to it. For many of us, that narrative no longer reflects reality and it doesn't necessarily suit all personality types either. Today's professional landscape opens up a world of opportunities where we change industries or even work cross functionally across a few, develop new skills, pursue side projects, start businesses, return to study, and redefine success at different stages of life — enter the portfolio career.

Rather than climbing a ladder, today's landscape means having the opportunity to generate multiple streams of income around our unique skills. The portfolio career which was perhaps once viewed as unconventional and even transient is now much more attuned with todays shifting professional landscape.

Today's careers are less like ladders and more like winding paths — shaped by curiosity, opportunity, unexpected detours, and sometimes the courage to start again.

I've been reflecting alot on this recently as I think about my own professional journey.

On paper, it might not make much sense to some.

I've worked across a range of industries including FMCG, apparel and advertising before spending the last decade in Media & Real Estate sales. The last few years saw me move into studio ownership, and most recently the continued evolution of L'Atelier Flow while returning to corporate alongside freelance teaching services. Each chapter has appeared differently from the last, yet I have always followed a common thread:

Connection.

Culture.

Community.

Creating experiences that bring people together.

Variations of Success

We're often conditioned to believe that successful people have a clear plan and know exactly where they’re headed.

That every decision is deliberate and every career move strategic. We all know these people and they’re amazing in their own right, they’re not however the only versions of success. When you listen to founders, leaders, creatives, and entrepreneurs speak honestly about their journeys, a different story emerges. Many discovered their path simply by exploring it. They followed interests before they followed certainty, and tested ideas before they knew the outcome. They allowed themselves to evolve.

The reality is that careers are often built through experimentation rather than prediction. You don't always know what you'll enjoy until you try it. You don't always know what no longer fits until you've outgrown it or it becomes more uncomfortable to stay than it is to leave. You certainly don't need to stay committed to a version of yourself that no longer reflects who you're becoming.

The Power of the Pivot

For a long time, the word ‘pivot’ felt loaded, as though changing direction somehow implied failure or a lack of certainty.

I've come to see it differently over time. A pivot is often a sign of growth and evidence that you've gathered new information about yourself. Perhaps you've developed new skills, perhaps your priorities have shifted, and perhaps success looks different today than it did ten years ago.

None of that is failure. It's evolution.

The modern professional is no longer defined by a single title or career path. We are increasingly multi-dimensional, and the world today demands it. A consultant who teaches yoga, a lawyer who runs retreats, a marketer who starts a wellness business, a corporate leader who pursues creative passions alongside their profession.

The future of work is not always about choosing one identity.

It's about creating space for all the parts of who we are.

Experimentation as a Career Strategy

One of the most valuable lessons I've learned over the last two years is that experimentation doesn't require dramatic change. You don't need to quit your job and move to the other side of the world, sometimes experimentation looks like enrolling in a course that sparks your curiosity, saying yes to a project outside your usual remit. Perhaps it looks like starting a side venture, attending an event where you know nobody or exploring an interest you've been quietly putting off.

Small experiments often create the greatest momentum; they allow us to gather information without needing certainty.

Instead of asking, ‘how do the next five years look?’

We can ask:

‘What would I like to explore next?’

One question feels overwhelming. The other feels exciting and full of possibility.

Creating Space for What's Next

In a world that celebrates productivity, it's easy to become attached to momentum, to keep moving simply because we've always been moving. Yet some of the most meaningful career shifts begin with a pause, a moment of reflection, a willingness to ask whether the path we're on is still aligned with the life we're creating.

Modern careers require adaptability and texture, but they also require self-awareness and the courage to recognise when something is no longer serving us. The curiosity to explore what might come next.

A Beautiful Work in Progress

Perhaps the greatest gift of a non-linear career is that it reminds us we are never finished. There is no final destination and no perfect title. No moment when we suddenly arrive and have everything figured out.

There is only the ongoing process of learning, evolving, experimenting, and growing, and maybe that's exactly how it's meant to be.

Because careers, much like life itself, aren't linear.

They're a beautiful, textured work in progress.