No Action Steps Equals: No Action and No Results!
By Barbara Britt
I keep this quote by John Beckley in my calendar to help me make a conscious effort every day to Focus and Plan.
“Most people don’t plan to fail: They fail to Plan.”
Action Steps give you the oxygen you need to build out your vision, purpose, and goals. Think of action steps as the grains of sand that make up the beach, or another way of thinking about it is that action steps are the specific efforts necessary to reach the goals you have set. Action steps are exact details of your action plan.
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
Benjamin Franklin
To put it simply: No Action Steps, No Action, No results. The outcome of any vision is dependent on the Action Plan. You can visualize it, know your purpose, and set goals, but to attain those you must set up action steps that will lead you into the plan.
What do action steps look like? They first must be concrete and comprehensive, most importantly each step should explain:
- What will occur?
- How much, or to what extent, these actions will occur?
- Who will be responsible for carrying out these actions?
- Must answer: When, where, and for how long?
- Make a comprehensive list of resources: Money, staff or volunteers, non and renewable supplies.
IDENTIFYING ACTION STEPS, KEEPS YOU? From going in blind, or setting yourself or others up for failure. Knowing the obstacles you face, and preparing for them allows you to make contingency plans. Anticipating the future makes us feel in control, right? Some other reasons are:
- Focus on details – nothing is too small or insignificant.
- There is always more than one way to accomplish something.
- Utilize everyone in your group, using the strength of many increases success, and builds a strong foundation for all.
- Building your circle of influence on strength and on one value at a time insures you don’t get to the top alone.
- Revitalizing resources and strengths gives you optimum efficiency. People will join you when they see a plan they can follow and be a vital part of.
READY – SET – GO
“Anything can be accomplished with an action plan”
It is like asking someone, how to do you eat an elephant?
One bite at a time!
GO AHEAD, YOU CAN DO IT!
You would not go on vacation or be part of something major in your life without taking pictures, planning, sharing with others, would you? Well, now that you have set up your steps, let’s put the ACTION into your plan.
This can be done with a simple calendar; in fact, it is best if you use a paper form because then you have a record of what worked, when you veered off course, and your success. If you have just started putting your action plan into ACTION, start small. Here are 5 steps to follow, that not only will get you started immediately, but also allow you to have success and confidence to build out even bigger and better plans as the months go by.
- Take a blank calendar and use it only for your action plan at this time.
- Go to the bottom of the calendar and list 3 to 5 short, medium, and possibly, one long-term goal.
- Back track through the month making sure you have put in action steps that will allow you to meet these goals.
- Make sure to check off the steps when completed, and make adjustments as necessary.
- Write down your steps, share with others, and make sure to reevaluate and adjust each week.
INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW: Share some of your action steps with me @ [email protected] or go to my web site barbarabritt.com, and let me know.
