Action Plans
No matter what form you use, or what format you choose for your action plans, the process is the same:
- Define your goal clearly and make sure it can be measured.
- List the tasks you will take to reach the goal.
- Write down how you will measure your progress.
- Set target dates for the tasks
- Log your results.
Tasks are the key to your Action Plan. This is where you list the details of what you will do. The Action Plan process will help you learn how to get from one task to the next. It forces you to examine your thinking and make sure you are focused.
One of the easiest ways to begin writing tasks is to think backwards from the goal. Imagine what your world will look like once you get there. Now, imagine the path that you took. What happened right before you achieved your goal? What happened before then? And so on, all the way back to the present time.
Each task is a mini-goal in itself and there will be next steps involved in most of them. You can create mini action plans for each step that require multiple actions, or you can just keep up with your efforts on your original plan.
The next step in creating the actionp lan is to determine measurable results for each step. For example, how do you measure “research online auction options”? One way would be to find the top three auction sites and explore each for ease of use, costs, and so on. Your measurement would be “did you do that”? Your results then would be whatever you discovered (for example, TradeMe has more traffic, is easy to use, and seems to be best choice). Then, you can create a “next step” for this action, such as “sign up for TradeMe account by February 1”.
The beauty of using action plans is that they are flexible and can change with you. As long as you keep writing down your goals and measurements, setting deadlines and tracking your results, you will make definite strides toward your goals.
An added bonus is that you learn to think differently. You learn to think in terms of actions required on your part to succeed instead of just wishing things were different. You'll learn to evaluate your desires for their practicality. And, you will learn how to overcome obstacles by breaking them down into small achievable steps. Action plans are not only valuable for your business success, but many people use them effectively in their personal lives, too. You can use them to plan a renovation, improve your social life, lose weight, create an award-winning garden, whatever you want!
The secret is to actually do it. And keep doing it
