The short answer
Steering your career takes more than a plan made once. It takes small, steady check-ins where you ask: am I still heading where I chose? Research on careers shows that people who stay active — reviewing, adjusting, acting — stay in the driver's seat far longer than those who plan once and coast.
You want to steer, not drift. Research on career sustainability backs this up: careers that hold together over time are built on ongoing reflection and small course corrections, not one big plan. The people who feel in control are the ones who keep checking in with themselves — not frantically, not lazily, but steadily. They also know that shocks will come — a layoff, a pivot, a door that closes — and they treat those moments as data, not disasters.
Marcus put it plainly: don't be slack, don't rove in your imagination, but don't furiously launch out either. That middle path is the skill. You want calm, consistent engagement with where you're going — not daydreaming, not white-knuckling. Steering a career looks a lot like that. You stay awake to it without obsessing over it.
This week, set aside 20 minutes. Write down three things: where you want to be in two years, one thing you did last month that moved you closer, and one thing that moved you further away. That's it. You're not building a five-year spreadsheet — you're starting the habit of looking at the wheel regularly so you notice when your hands slipped off.