Introduction
An action plan is a document that lists what steps must be taken to achieve a specific goal. It breaks down the goal into actionable steps that can be easily followed and tracked.
First let’s look at what’s not working
Why I hate New Year’s Resolutions
Most people try to force themselves to engage in person of development at the start of the year trying to be a part of the heard rushing towards those who complete their New Year’s resolutions.
I’ve been outspoken about my disdain for this practice. I’m not against the person taking advantage of a brand new year allowing the excitement to push them forward.
My problem is with those people who wait to do something that they should do immediately just to fit into the tradition of starting January 1st. They are doomed to fail before they even start.
They make a decision to do something they always needed to do, yet the phrase. “Once the new year comes,” Is taped onto the tail end of the resolution.
Pressure to keep up with the pack
One puts them in the pack of progressive hopeful Americans who want to make a change in their life. They get to post and advertise their mission on all social media platforms.
However, when life starts to get in the way of the mission, it is then that they realized they were never committed to the goal. They were committed to the tradition.
And by the second week of February, around my birthday, over 80% of these people drop their resolutions. Don’t fall into this mistake. Commit to the change not the tradition.
So in order to create an action plan you have to first commit to the destination. Regardless of what comes up or what other people are doing. Search within and confirm with honesty and integrity. Make sure that you are committed to making the change or Improvement that you seek.
Then and only then do you move on to the next step of creating that action plan.
So what if you are committed to the change and not just the tradition?
Great question. Even after you determined that you are sold out and determined to increase your sales, improve your life or scale your business,you still have another battle to fight. Most people struggle with where to start.
Taking the first step of the action plan
Taking the first step. This can be frustrating. Imagine a balloon tied to a faucet and the water is just filling continually. There’s no hole for the water to leak out of.
What will eventually happen to the balloon as it continues to fill with water? It will burst. When you plan and dream about accomplishing a goal, that excitement and anticipation builds.
Sometimes it builds so much that the person doesn’t even know where to start. You can imagine that this excitement and anticipation building and growing without any way to take the first step will eventually lead to frustration.
My solution to this big problem
This happens all the time. It’s one of the main reasons why I created my best year ever video course . My program features a proven system to ensure you never have to worry about taking the first step. This system helps you to understand the process of creating an action plan, giving you at the end of the program:
A 5-year Vision plan– to help keep you focused on the priorities that will keep you successful
A 12-month action plan – Giving you a clear path for the year ahead with Checkpoints along the way to measure your progress and keep you focused.
An immediate action plan – Based on the questions you answer, My system will give you the easiest right now goal To help you take that first step and get a win to build the momentum and confidence
Top down approach
Like any great story, you start from the end and work your way back to the beginning. This has two main benefits:
- It helps you to get an overall vision for where you want your life to go. It’s sort of like your true north. Your compass bearing that your magnetically attracted to regardless of what comes up in your life. This is basically the foundation for what you do tomorrow.
- The second benefit is that you can plan in this future space without feeling the pressure of today’s responsibilities. You’re basically giving yourself permission to dream without having to think of any of those day-to-day dream Stealers. It’s actually fun to think about where you want your life to be in the next couple of years.
Here’s what I want you to do right now. Take some time to give yourself permission to dream. Think about where you want to be in the next few years. Embrace it.
Of course, you’re going to feel those day-to-day worries of responsibilities and limitations try to creep into this intimate moment you are having with your dreams. Know that this is a real thing.
Don’t feel guilty if you think about why you can’t do or have what you are imagining. Just know that you have to push past it and resolve to let the dream stand.
My system takes the guesswork out of this process by first teaching you why it is important to dream. Once you understand this, giving yourself permission to dream will become second nature.
Work your way back to where you are today
Now that you have your foundation it’s time to build upon it. When it comes to a plan however, you’re not building up. Instead it’s as if you are starting from your destination and building a road back to your feet.
So imagine you discovering where you want to go. Once you lock eyes on that sector of the horizon, you start trying to build. What would happen?
What would you inevitably think about? You’d think about all of the concerns that naturally come with building a road to somewhere you’ve never been.
On the other hand, if you’ve already traveled to the destination ( in this case it’s locating that place in your dreams) then you can construct a road from the destination back to where you are.
The difference is that now you have a better understanding of how far of a distance you have to cover with your road. This means you now know how many bricks you need to complete this road.
It also means you have a better understanding of the winds and turns that you will have to incorporate into your pathway to avoid certain obstacles. When you look at it this way you’ll see that building a road back to yourself is a better way to build when trying to make a plan.
What do I need to do today?
The next step is to think about the things that need to happen today in order for you to achieve your goal tomorrow. For example, if your vision is to start a nonprofit in the next few years, then your immediate action step would be to start the paperwork.
Additionally, If you’re vision is to be married in the next few years, your action steps for today would be to start taking classes in the areas where you are quite frankly unattractive. I mean no disrespect but if you want to be married and you don’t like people or you don’t like sharing, you’ve got a bit of growing to do.
This part is simple enough to do. It makes sense when you look at it this way. The idea I want you to keep in mind as you think about your today goals is actually one of my favorite quotes.
“How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”
Give yourself a break
You want to take your huge vision and break it up into bite size goals. This is the key to winning in the game of creating an action plan.
This is another reason why it’s important not to buy into a fat or tradition but to actually commit yourself to the change you’re looking to make. When you follow the herd to make a New Year’s resolution, you put yourself under a lot of unnecessary pressure to keep up with the pack.
When you choose to start your change in the time that you decide is best for you, even if it’s in the middle of the year, you only do what is in the best interest of you accomplishing your goal. You do it for nothing and no one else.
So, although we are most likely meeting in this time because you are doing a Google search at about the New Year’s resolution season, what I’m sharing is relevant in my system is effective any month of the year.
When you start off this way by freeing yourself from the pressure of trying to keep Pace with the New Year’s resolution crowd, You give yourself the freedom to take as long as you need to.
There’s no one to impress. No one has to sign off on their opinion about your progress. This will help you to avoid one of the biggest obstacles to taking action on your action plan.
Don’t be afraid to break your goals down into smaller goals
This is one of the most common mistakes I see when people try to create action plans. Some people think that they are taking the world and seizing the day by creating huge goals.
This does more for your ego than it does your chances of success. If your goals are too big, they will actually work against you. Let me explain.
The psychology behind
We are wired psychologically to avoid pain. We naturally only want to do the things that we are familiar and comfortable with. Anytime you try to do something new or push the boundaries, you will experience some internal resistance.
It’s not that your goal isn’t a noble one. On the contrary, you are just trying to keep everything close secure and comfortable. I don’t know if you guessed it by now but we don’t like change very much.
Of course, some people have learned to discipline themselves and overcome this desire to fight change. However, we aren’t always this disciplined when it comes to Stepping out and trying new things.
We’re usually weak in areas where we have low confidence. So, whenever you start a new project or endeavor, it’s best to work with your nature. Give yourself a little break. Break your big goals into small goals.
Case study
Do you know how many people have delayed one simple goal in life: to get their driver’s license? This is a perfect example of a goal that is too big. That is also the reason why many people fail to take the steps to get their license. If you had this goal on a sheet, it would have one check box next to it:
[ ] get driver’s license
However this one goal is too big. You’re probably thinking, “No it’s not.”
Yes it is And that settles it. I did not write this blog post to argue.
Anyway, This one goal can be broken down into bite size goals:
[ ] Get the driver’s manual
[ ] Take the written test
[ ] Sign up with a driving school
[ ] Take my 5 hr test
[ ] Take my road test
Now you tell me which action plan would be easier to execute? Did you say the plan with:
- step-by-step sequence
- Smaller goals
- multiple checkpoints?
If you did I would agree you are right. Breaking your goals up into smaller goals is the only way to tip the scale towards guaranteed achievement. You’re most likely to do the things on your to-do list if you actually believe you can do them.
This is human nature. It’s called being confident. Did you catch the first goal in this second expanded action plan?
Easy to hard
The first item is to actually get the driver’s manual. Think about how easy that is. It’s literally just finding your way to a location or a website where you can download a document.
Why in the world would we break down a goal to be something so easy? Confidence and momentum. When you start your action plan practically tripping over the first goal, You’re success rate is basically 100%.
Don’t forget to celebrate that victory. Once you accomplish that goal, You will enter the next goal with 100% confidence and enthusiasm.
It’s okay from this point to make the goals progressively harder. As you build your confidence you can build the difficulty of the goals. Only make sure you avoid goals that are too big at the very start.
This is where the 80% get discouraged frustrated and abort their action plans.
Conclusion
Now you know the best way to create an action plan. You first have to detach it from the pressure to keep up with thoughtless traditions. Commit exclusively to the change you’re trying to complete.
Working backwards from the destination to where you are is the best way to build your roadmap. Remember to break down any big goals into smaller goals.
If you’re like me, you’re thinking, “Thanks for the information, but I need more than that.” I’m the kind of person that needs to be guided through to breakthrough. Self study is great.
There are things that I can do by myself. On the other hand, I know how powerful it can be to go through a life change with other people.
If you’ve wasted years of your life being stuck, watching precious time go by, while others are living the dream, the dream that you know you should be living, and the only reason you’ve been scared to take the leap is because you either feared that you could fail down the line or you were confused about how tot take the first step, I want you to sign up for my next group training where I help 6 Entrepreneurs:
- discover their 5-year vision plan
- create their 12-month action plan
- guide them into their first action step and win
- 4 weekly live trainings
- Q&A sessions
- Support and access to me and my team
To get started, simply book a call on my calendar. We will have a brief conversation to see if you are accepted into the program. Seating is limited to 6. I look forward to the opportunity to help you.
What would your action plan look like?
