Publish at November 12 2025 Updated November 12 2025
The future can be frightening because, by definition, it doesn't yet exist. The unknown generates a natural fear, and in these more uncertain, muddled and constrained times, projecting oneself into the future becomes as tricky as navigating a labyrinth.
Yesterday, careers were "written". At the end of the 19th century in the United States, half of all men worked in the same job for the rest of their lives (1).
"The most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that in January 2024, the median length of employment was 3.9 years: 3.5 years in the private sector and 6.2 years in the public sector. Young working people in their twenties stay in the same job for an average of just over two years, while those aged 55 and over often stay for nearly ten years." (2).
Projecting yourself into 2030 today is becoming a real headache.
"According to a study recently published by the World Economic Forum, some 170 million jobs will have been created worldwide between 2020 and 2030. At the same time, 92 million will have disappeared, for a net gain of 78 million jobs worldwide. "Driven by technological development, ecological transition, economic and demographic change, the global labor market is being reshaped," points out the Future of Jobs Report 2025." (3)
Deciding on one's own future is akin to a permanent gamble on the path to choose, given the perpetual and profound changes taking place in the world of work. The example set by one's parents is no longer an example, and the example set by one's classmates even less so, so great is the disparity between professions. In this magma of possibilities, young people have to develop a capacity for decision-making that's sharper than that of their elders. "
The words of 18-24 year-olds reflect a feeling of disillusionment with the education system, but also a strong desire to play an active role in their own future. If 85% of them think it's normal for a high-school student not yet to know what they want to do after the baccalaureate, it's not because they lack ambition, but because they feel this decision is too early. In fact, just as many (85%) denounce compulsory guidance as a real scourge that deprives students of the opportunity to choose their path, to experiment, to make mistakes, and even to start again." (4) (5) .
Asking children to choose their path earlier and earlier seems to contradict these developments, but the fact is that it does. In this case, orientation becomes more submissive than chosen, reinforcing
It reinforces "the set of social, psychosocial and psychological processes by means of which pupils are assigned to certain training streams rather than others". (6)
Taking back control of one's future, even if options may change and the choice is only temporary
"Few choices are definitive, you can always change them, but with the right orientation, the right course, you can move forward with more confidence" (7).
Motivations for choosing a profession or course of study are evolving, and the right cocktail seems to consist of answers to one's aspirations and the promise of a career or profession, whereas for many decades it was the assurance of obtaining a stable job that predominated in one's choice. In other words, when making decisions about their future, pupils and students need to ask themselves the right questions, and neuroscience research shows that this needs to be done within a rational as well as an emotional framework.
In 2006, two American researchers, Monique Ernst and Martin P Paulus, published a fascinating article on the "Neurobiology of decision-making" (8). In it, they describe
"A temporal mapping of the key processes involved in decision-making, which consists of three stages 1) the formation of preferences among options, 2) the selection and execution of an action, and 3) the experience or evaluation of the outcome".
Describing this temporal cartography helps us to better master our decision-making processes, because it provides a framework that enables us to extend our reasoning beyond the factual data linked to planned or foreseeable developments in professions and jobs in the future.
Studies show that emotions are essential to the decision-making process. These are the emotions involved in decision-making, and those that the brain projects to optimize its reward circuitry.
The enthusiasm aroused by the discovery of a profession or field of study can lead to "love-at-first-sight" decisions, which we must be wary of. The fear that naturally arises when self-assurance or assertiveness is lacking can incline us towards maximum-guarantee options, diminishing our capacity to take risks. Anger can lead us to make decisions out of spite or rebellion. It's sometimes a good idea not to rely on your own judgment if an emotion is too strong, and therefore to postpone a decision or take advice.
Studies by Ernst and Paulus (8) or Bogacz (9) show that our brains statistically study the outcome of our choices in terms of "chemical" reward from neurotransmitters. Aligning the outcome of our decisions with our values is bound to be a factor in contentment, and therefore in our sense of success.
It's not uncommon to hear people who have chosen to become entrepreneurs consider that freedom was the main criterion in their choice, sometimes to the detriment of lower remuneration. Our values are our system for representing the world. How do we see the world? What do we want it to be based on? If we could recreate it, what foundations would we choose? Of course, these representations differ from one individual to the next.
Here are a few examples:
Evolving in an environment that advocates perseverance and discipline, or one that exalts freedom at every turn, obviously produces different results. Each person builds his or her own value system on the basis of more or less successful experiences, the reference points provided by family and close friends, the vision of the world transmitted by referees (teachers, mentors) or the environment in which he or she grew up.
Each person holds these deep-seated convictions that serve as an internal compass. Our personal values sometimes differ from those we've been taught: they correspond to what's really important to us, not to what's expected of us or what we should do to fit in with a prevailing model. Be careful not to confuse them! When we need to decide, our values come alive within us and guide us: they show us the way towards what is essential to us. In so doing, they guide us towards the choices we deeply desire.
Those who succeed in taking their values into account make effective and peaceful decisions. That's why the essential question to ask when faced with a choice is: "What's important to me when choosing a career path?
Intuition is a phenomenon described as a form of "direct and immediate knowledge that does not involve reasoning" (Petit Robert). Since the work of Damasio, we've known about the importance of emotions in decision-making (10). In 2012, researchers examined the link between emotions and intuition in predicting the future.
"The result was clear: in all cases, the "intuitive" made better predictions than the "rational". The difference was around 20%, all experiments combined: no mean feat! Hence the title of the study: "Feeling the Future: the Emotional Oracle Effect". In this study, intuitives are so named because they are more inclined to consider their emotions, rather than keep them silent, and more "capable of taking into account collective behaviors that can influence the course of events".
"Faced with a decision, the little voice of intuition whispers to us which way to go. But beware! Intuition is not instinct! Instinct protects us from danger: screaming when a python appears is instinctive. On the other hand, running to the right rather than to the left to escape it is intuition. Similarly, reacting to a verbal attack by raising your voice is purely instinctive. Sensing the best moment in the meeting to place one argument rather than another is intuitive." (11)
When it comes to career guidance, these intuitions can arrive at any time, at the start of the process to give us initial direction, during the analysis process or at the end to validate the whole. So it's important to listen carefully. There are ways of doing this if intuition is unfamiliar, or if we don't trust it.
Ikigai, for example, is a philosophy born in Japan, based on the principle of finding one's "reason for living" through deep, sincere and relevant reflection on oneself and the world around us. "Iki" means "life" or "living" and "gai" means "value" or "worthwhile".
"Ikigai" is generally described as the intersection of four main elements:
When these four elements come together, they create a deep sense of satisfaction and meaning, forming ikigai."
Ultimately, it's the cocktail of reason, emotion and intuition that allows us to build a future with greater discernment, especially when the environment is too complex or when the fog prevents us from distinguishing the options to choose from.
References
1 The changing importance of lifetime employment, 1892-1978 May 2008 Industrial Relations: Journal of Economics and Society 27(3): 287-300 DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-232X.1988.tb01008.x Authors: SUSAN B. CARTER
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229711096_The_Changing_Importance_of_Lifetime_Jobs_1892-1978
2 "When to change jobs: how often is too often (or not often enough)?" Forbes June 30, 2025-
https://www.forbes.com/sites/daisyaugerdominguez/2025/06/29/when-to-change-jobs/
3 "What will the job market look like in 2030?" Helloworkplace- January 22, 2025-
https://www.helloworkplace.fr/marche-travail-2030/
4 "For young people, school no longer gives everyone a chance" ZupdeCo- June 10, 2025-
https://zupdeco.org/blog/pour-les-jeunes-lecole-ne-donne-plus-sa-chance-a-tous/
5 "How and why do students choose their higher education?"
https://www.institut-f2i.fr/comment-et-pourquoi-les-etudiants-choisissent-leurs-etudes-superieures
6 "Orientation choisie, orientation subie - L'orientation, une juste mesure des facteurs scolaires et socioculturels" - Thot Cursus- June 5, 2024- Guilaine Bomba- https://cursus.edu/fr/31121/orientation-choisie-orientation-subie
7 "Avenir sûr - Orientation" - Thot Cursus- - June 2024- Denys Lamontagne-
https://cursus.edu/fr/dossiers/19035/avenir-sur-orientation
8 "Neurobiology of decision making: a selective review from a neurocognitive and clinical perspective" National Library of Medicine- August 10, 2005- Monique Ernst and Martin P Paulus https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16095567/
9 "Optimal decision-making theories: linking neurobiology to behavior"- National Library of Medicine- Rafal Bogacz- February 2, 2007- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17276130/
10 "Feeling & Knowing Making Minds Conscious" Antonio Damasio - Ed. Vintage 2021
https://www.fnac.com/livre-numerique/a14845931/Antonio-R-Damasio-Feeling-et-Knowing
11 "Les 5 clés pour prendre une bonne décision" - Yann Coirault and Pia de Buchet- Ed Dunod- Reissue 2024-
https://www.dunod.com/entreprise-et-economie/5-cles-pour-prendre-bonnes-decisions-0
12 "Ikigai et apprenance" Denis Cristol- Thot Cursus - June 2024- https://cursus.edu/fr/31116/ikigai-et-apprenance
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