By Nick Kossovan — February 2, 2026
Long-term plans assume stability. Right now, stability is the one thing people can’t count on
Have you
noticed that nobody talks about the future anymore?
What’s there to say when hyper-technological change is wiping out professions and industries with no rebound in sight, geopolitical relationships once thought solid now feel like exposed raw nerves, and yesterday’s acceptable behaviour is today’s offence under the banner of “social progress”? Much of the angst I see and hear around me comes from not knowing what lies ahead.
A semblance of stability no longer exists. Government, employers and social values are changing faster than anyone can plan for, with no attachment to tomorrow and plenty of exit doors in sight. Everything feels short-term. As employees are increasingly viewed as liabilities, careers have become contracts with escape plans.
Marriages used to be understood as “forever.” Now they’re treated as pending, subject to a better option coming along. For people conditioned by years of marketing to confuse wants with needs, saving for retirement now feels like something that belonged to a time of company pensions and living within one’s means.
You likely think someone talking about future plans is naïve. Look at how the world has changed in just five years and consider what now dominates daily life that barely existed before.
ChatGPT, released on Nov. 30, 2022, is better at writing emails than you and I are. Relationships with longstanding American allies are being significantly damaged by U.S. President Donald Trump, contributing to higher consumer prices, labour-market disruption and deeper political divides. Social media platforms have become TikTokified, where fame comes from relevance rather than competence. Digital “stay-at-home” culture has reshaped work, socializing and entertainment, while worsening loneliness and eroding social skills. Even ordinary words like “peanut gallery” and “tribe” are now treated as suspect, making everyday communication anxious and exhausting.
In just five years, technological change has outpaced most university degrees. Today’s innovations become tomorrow’s museum pieces, turning long-term planning into something like building a sandcastle at high tide.
All this supposed “forward motion” and “progress” raises an uncomfortable question: who benefits from constantly shifting paradigms and moving goalposts while the rest of us are left operating in survival increments?
We expect the rug to be pulled out from under us at any moment, so we stop dreaming about what the future might hold and focus instead on making it to Friday still employed. We no longer assume that those who benefit, intentionally or not, from constant flux will slow things down long enough for people to adapt or find their footing. Right now, “the future” looks less like a destination and more like a series of steep cliffs we keep falling off without warning.
Industries, professions and companies disappear overnight. Rules change mid-game, often without notice. Education, credentials, skills and experience lose value faster than fruit left in the sun. Institutions contradict themselves without embarrassment. Effort no longer reliably leads to outcomes. Promises made in good faith are quietly abandoned as conditions shift.
We no longer say, “In five years I’d like to be doing [whatever].” We say, “Right now, I’m doing this.” Plans evaporate with the next update.
Talking about your future starts to feel like tempting fate, like painting the walls while the roof caves in. Long-term plans, at least for those with a romantic view of life, feel risky. Having a clear vision and sticking to it is treated less as a strength than a liability.
Long-term planning depends on predictable cause and effect, and that predictability is gone. Mapping out a five-year “hope for the future” plan feels pointless when the last few years resembled a software update nobody asked for. Bringing dreams to life requires spare mental energy, and most people are already running near capacity, bombarded by notifications that never include a decline button.
Not long ago, life was built around consistency, progression and delayed reward. Now it’s built around interruption, volatility and sudden resets.
Timelines no longer matter. Formulas like A + B + C = D for “guaranteed outcomes” belong to another era. Writing love letters to your future self makes little sense when your future isn’t writing back. Dreaming about what comes next, let alone preparing for it, feels futile.
The assumption of stability—stable careers, permanent relationships, linear progress—has largely collapsed. We’ve been trained to stop asking where we’re going and focus instead on where we are. Purpose gives way to paycheques and algorithms, and long-term thinking shrinks to whatever gets us through the moment.
That’s not a failure of imagination. It’s adaptation.
Nick Kossovan, a well-seasoned veteran of the corporate landscape, offers advice on searching for a job.
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