Writer, Agilist, Elder Geek
I don't like the idea of plan B.
I'm the kind of person that has come to realize that it's better to take time making a good plan A, and revising it occasionally, than it is to have a bunch of plans distracting you. If you have too many plans, then you won't focus enough on them and may give up easy since you "always have a Plan B."
However, though I believe in this approach of "Plan A first", I do think that there's one thing your career does need: a Career Emergency plan.
I want you to imagine your ideal job, position, or personal business. What's it like? What do you do each day? Why do you like it?
Now, hold that image in your mind, with as much detail as possible. Write it down if it helps.
Now, I want you to come up with reasons you'd want to leave that job, position, sell or change the business, or otherwise alter your great, wonderful, perfect situation. Write down the reasons you'll eventually want something else.
Everything changes, and what we want may not satisfy us as we ourselves change. So take a moment to ask what will change your mind once you're in an ideal job – that way you can prepare for what's next.
– Steven Savage
I'm a big booster on the idea that you can use your hobbies to learn something – practice your accounting helping out a local con, practice your HTML making a website, practice your writing doing anime reviews. Hobbies are a great way to gain and improve skills.
However there's another thing hobbies do for our skill improvement that makes them even more valuable – they provide a kind of mental and emotional buffer to the stress of learning. This is very useful if you've got a lot of stress to deal with or had some negative experiences with training or education