Ever had a sudden spike of panic about where your career is going — or whether it’s going anywhere at all? You’re in good company.

A recent TikTok about the concept of a “meandering career” has gone viral, with creator Alexa discussing her experience of swerving through jobs, industries, and career goals in her twenties. In short, she articulated what it seems so many of us feel: that it no longer feels realistic to follow a straight, predictable career path.

To understand why this idea is resonating now, it helps to zoom out. For most of the 20th century, work was framed as linear progress, with success given to those who studied, landed a job in a related field, and gradually climbed the corporate ladder. This is what Harvard researchers Todd Rose and Ogi Ogas refer to as the “standardisation covenant.” Their work on the Dark Horse Project, which examined hundreds of high achievers who took unconventional paths, challenged that narrative. Instead of tidy progressions, they found careers full of pivots, resets, and unexpected leaps. The common thread wasn’t discipline or charisma, but the decision to pursue fulfilment over convention.

The common thread wasn’t discipline or charisma, but the decision to pursue fulfilment over convention.

Today, that standardisation covenant model feels increasingly incompatible with reality. In 2025, industries transform overnight, entire fields emerge from nowhere, and university degree rarely predicts the work you’ll actually do. So, how can we reframe our mindset to better fit the current state of the job field?

Alexa suggests viewing your career path as less of a map, and more of a compass. A map assumes a predetermined route, which rewards those who stay on course, and avoid deviation. A compass, by contrast, doesn’t tell you where you’ll end up — only what direction feels true in the moment. “In a compass career,” she explains, “you focus on what’s energising you, what you care about, what you can’t stop thinking about right now.”

She also addresses why, historically, so many of us have chosen to pursue a career map. “As humans, we are so wired to always be seeking certainty… Our brains hate the feeling of the unknown. In the unknown, our brains cannot predict danger, which is often why we react with things like panic, fear, self-doubt, shame and anxiety. It is literally our biology just reacting to a state of unpredictability.”

“Our brains hate the feeling of the unknown. In the unknown, our brains cannot predict danger, which is often why we react with things like panic, fear, self-doubt, shame and anxiety.”

Importantly, Alexa says, meandering has value, particularly when it comes to . “Jumping between roles, launching something new, leaving it… shifting industries, shifting cities — it can feel chaotic. But every pivot is a data point. Every experiment teaches you what excites you, what drains you, what you value, and what you want no part of. That kind of data cannot be replicated,” she says.

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