Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something—your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.– Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Speech (text)
I've never been much of a career planner. I just try to do work that interests or fascinates me for as long as I can. Once it starts to get boring or I start getting wanderlust, I look around for opportunities to seize or work on creating my own.
Sometimes, though, I get a little down on the distance between where I'd like to be and where I am. That Steve Jobs quote, from a commencement address that I listen to more regularly than I ever would have thought, reminds me to not worry about it and to trust that great things are afoot.