Congratulations, you’ve just graduated with a degree in your chosen field. So what’s your next step going to be to launch your long-anticipated career? Like a young racehorse at the starting gate, you have tons of energy and determination, and are anxious to get out there and seize new career opportunities. But are you ready? Do you know what you need to do? Do you have a plan of action to turn those opportunities into a reality? If you don’t, you will need to get one.

I’m sure you’ve heard the old adage that the quickest route from point A to point B is a straight line. Well, launching your career is no different in terms of setting your job search goals and carrying them out diligently and methodically. You might have a few corners to navigate, but you should do your best to avoid deviating from your goal as much as possible.

One of the first things you need to decide is what type of job interests you the most. Depending on what your degree is, there might be many positions in your field to consider. For example, if you are a graduate nurse you can work in a hospital, clinic, nursing home, childcare center, school, private practice, or field setting. Then, within those settings you can work within various units such as medical-surgical, pediatrics, and maternity. Then there are transitional opportunities. Let’s say you tried your hand at nursing and realized it was not what you expected. You can always consider pharmaceutical sales as a new career. Some fields, such as business management, are even more flexible. The key is to decide which direction you are headed towards and learn as much about that field as you possible can.

As I have coached people over the years I have observed clients that have the following issues with organization:

1. No system or no effective system to plan their day or they have a system; however they do not use it effectively.
2. No established habit of taking 5-10 minutes of uninterrupted time to plan their day.
3. They don’t really write down all the tasks they have or want to do somewhere—they keep many of them in there head!

Fact: If you take 5-10 minutes to plan your day you will see an increase of over 20% in productivity—if you do it right! If you take 21 days to do this you will begin to change your habits!