No one tells you that after your mortarboard has hit the floor and you’ve dumped your graduation gown in the rental bin that not much really happens immediately.

During my bachelor degree, I totally thought that when I was finished with the studying part, companies would be flocking to my LinkedIn page and throwing salary offers at me left right and centre.

Unfortunately, unless you’re one of those over-achievers who miraculously finds a full-time position in the last semester (or study nursing), you kind of just…stop going to class.

Those who go far, plan far (put that on the front of your day planner and send me $5). All those weirdly successful graduates are organised AF. I’d bet that most of ’em have some semblance of a five year plan. As soon as I put one together, FYI, my hives cleared up and I stopped having spontaneous nosebleeds every other day. I also weirdly grew about 14 inches in my hair, but like, whatever. Make one. Do it.

#1 You Can’t Make Plans Without A Plan

This sounds like something that doesn’t mean anything, but really, without a five-year plan you can’t make actual, tangible plans. If you have a vague, “I wanna move overseas”, let’s be real – its probs not gonna happen.

If you kind of want to work somewhere doing something in the *insert industry* realm, it’s probs not gonna happen either, if you’re speaking my language. If you want to move to Canada by 2020 however, you can take the apropes steps to achieve that. This trickles down into like every single thing you’ll ever wanna do.

#2 Motivation

If, like me, you’re a pathological organiser then these plans are gonna make your panties wet and sticky. When your five-year plan is all stuck together and smoothed out, you can set small goals and motivate yourself to get what you want.

Write it down on a fancy piece of cardboard and stick it to the ceiling. Stick it on the bathroom mirror and the back of the front door. Stick it to your forehead so you see it when you take selfies. Knowing what you want, how to get there and what you gotta do to get it is the ultimate form of motivation. Think of it as a proverbial carrot on a stick.

#3 You Can’t Chip Away At Your Goals When You Don’t Have Them

If you want to work at X by Z, you can take those steps in advance to achieve them (when you have a five-year plan). Like how when you move into your first big boy rental without housemates, you gotta buy all the furniture and cutlery and cleaning products and shit in advance so you don’t end up some crazy person in an empty house with no money because you spent everything you got on bond. Knowing what you want means you can pop your checklist off and have a fighting chance at stuff. Like how the tortoise won that race.

#4 Commitment Is Gonna Help

If you commit to something, and put real live and spitting effort into it, I can bet ya fifty bucks it’ll come to fruition. To quote Nas, if you work hard at it, you’ll be where you wanna be. Make a five-year plan, commit to it, get it done. You star.