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Decision Tools

30-Day Route Research Planner: Turn Four Weeks Into Evidence

One route, four weeks, one goal per week. The point is to end the month with evidence rather than more open tabs.

Verify a program After you choose a route
3

Best for

Anyone who has been researching for months without getting closer to a decision.

Not best for

Anyone with a deadline inside two weeks. Run the Program Red Flag Checklist on the specific program instead — this needs the full month.

When to use it

Once you've picked a route to test first. This plans the test; it doesn't pick the route.

When not to use it

Don't run it on three routes at once. Testing one route properly beats sampling three badly.

How it fits the route system

This comes after the scorecard, once a route is chosen to test. It feeds the Local Proof and Risk filters with things you actually verified.

Common mistake

Spending all four weeks reading. Weeks 3 and 4 exist because talking to one real person changes your picture more than another ten articles will — and that's the week most people skip.

The next thirty days should produce evidence, not more saved videos, open tabs, and opinions. One route, four weeks, one goal per week.

Route I’m testing: ______________ · Start date: ______________ · Review date: ______________

Week 1 — Clarify the route

End the week able to name what this route actually leads to, in job titles rather than categories. Find the local job posts that use those titles, and note what keeps coming up in their requirements.

Week 2 — Verify programs and proof

Compare at least two real options rather than one. Run the Program Red Flag Checklist on each. Check the full cost — not just tuition — and look up what the work actually pays where you live.

Week 3 — Contact real people

This is the week that changes things, and the week most people skip. Message two people doing the work or recently out of the program. Contact one program advisor. Contact one employer or apprenticeship office. Track who replies and what they said.

Week 4 — Decide the next test

Review what you found against the scorecard and the red flags. Then decide one of three things: continue, pause, or switch. Whichever it is, choose the next thirty-day action before you close the month.

By day 30 you should have

  • One primary route and one backup
  • One target job family
  • Ten or more local job posts reviewed
  • Three or more people or organisations contacted
  • A clearer view of cost, timeline, risk, and fit

Four weekly goals are enough to stop the drift and produce something you didn’t have before. What they don’t give you is what to do in week 5 — or how to run this again on a second route without repeating the parts that already worked. The Guided Route System extends it into a 7/30/60/90 plan with the weekly actions laid out.

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