Keep Your Resolution To Become A Nurse in 2019

Resolutions are fantastic—self-improvement is always a good idea, and New Year’s provides the perfect opportunity to take on the challenge. Unfortunately, only 9.2 percent of people on average actually follow through with their plans. Those aren’t great odds!

With the promise of a competitive salary, a wide-open job market, and rapidly growing career prospects, the resolution to become a nurse makes a lot of sense. The combination of a dependable and dynamic career (plus the added bonus of genuinely helping people every day) makes nursing a very attractive “New Year / New You” option.

As with any resolution, there’s a right way and a wrong way to pursue it. Charge in without planning or, well, resolve, and you could easily join the 91.8% of failed resolutions.

But take a few simple steps to do it the right way, and the resolution to become a nurse could easily be the best you ever make.

Make Specific Goals – “Become a nurse” is too vague. “Enroll in nursing school” is better, but still skips a few steps. Your resolution is your ultimate goal, but to reach it, you’ll need to make a list of specific goals and milestones.

Your list can start as simply as “call admissions office to get a flyer” or “schedule a campus visit”. Start small, start specific, and move forward only as fast as you’re able.

“My goals may seem impossibly far-fetched when really they’re not,” writes author Richelle E Goodrich in her book Making Wishes. “Break them down into steps and see how I accomplish great things. I can easily reach from A to B. I can manage from B to C. I can then make it from C to D. And so eventually, I will find my way from A to Z.”

Prepare Your Life For Change – Nursing school means schedule changes for family and for your existing job. Look at your life and identify what needs to change to make the conditions as good as possible to pursue your goal. Get an idea of class schedule through the school’s admissions office, then figure out how to make that schedule work for your life.

Make It Public – You have a greater chance of success if others (friends and family) know your goals. This applies to all resolutions, from losing weight to spending more time with the kids to landing that nursing degree. The more people know your plan, the more help you have staying on track.

Believe – The most important person to convince of the validity of your dream is you. If you don’t believe in what you claim to want, you have little to no chance of success. If you want to be a nurse, you have to see yourself as a nurse. Do your research, do some volunteering, schedule a campus visit—know your potential future and see yourself in it.

Then (and this is the most important part) refuse to let anything stand between you and those scrubs.

Ready to make the leap? Or looking to gather some information for those first few specific goals? You already have help. Give us a call at Unitek College and we’ll make sure you have everything you need to know in order to make that big decision.

Good luck in 2019, future nurses! We’re rooting for you.