Agreeing what the year has to produce

Ask for two or three concrete outcomes and a date to review them, and let them define what those outcomes are. Money saved. A qualification finished. Six months in a real job. A portfolio piece. Time actually spent inside the field they are unsure about, which is the most valuable one of all if the year is really about doubt.

Then agree what happens at the review, including the honest case where it is not working — a deadline for a decision, or a return to applying. This is not surveillance. It is the structure the year needs in order to be a year rather than a gap, and most young people are quietly relieved when somebody helps them build it.