What’s your action plan?

 

Many people have an action plan for their future, but seldom do they act on it. Champions not only have an action plan, but they also have a great intent of executing those plans and aims. 

You must have seen many people claiming to achieve greatness in future or achieving something extraordinary. But do they really work on their plans or do they have a blueprint to achieve their goals? In most of the cases, people claim big things but fail to put enough efforts to attain their them. 

You don't want to be someone who has great dreams but lack the courage to pursue them. You don't want to be one of those who desire of being the best but can't work hard enough to pull off greatness. You want to be a person who commits to his words and his own dreams and not cheat on them. 

You've got to be disciplined and focused in order to follow your action plan. It is not an easy task to do. Because when you plan great things, you must be ready to sacrifice great things as well. When you are in pursuit to achieve the best, then you can’t have a luxurious and comfortable life. You’ve got to put in hard yards and be patient for the results to come.

Your action plan can only suggest you the direction but to reach your destination, you must work on your goals every day. Making an action plan is one of the easiest things to do in life. For an instance, you want to become a singer and you’ve made an action plan for that. You’ve written things that you want to attain in a certain time period. But the bigger question is whether you will work according to your plan or not? Many people who make action plans are not true to themselves and their plans. They will follow it on some days and not on other days.

This is not how you achieve the greatness. You must work everyday on your plan and expect the things to fall in place. But if there is no persistent effort, then expecting the things to happen your way is foolish.

How should an action plan look like?

Daily Action Plan

5AM - getting up in the morning

6AM – practicing Yoga/exercise

7AM – reading a book

8AM – getting ready for work / college

2PM – 10 minutes meditation

6PM – walk in the woods

7PM – dinner and spending time with family

8PM – reading/study time

10PM – time to sleep

Weekly Action Plan

Monday – set an action plan for the week

Tuesday – taking up any work that wasn’t completed last week

Wednesday – complete the assignment/project

Thursday – call associates/colleagues

Friday – review the weekly plans

Saturday – pursue dancing/singing/writing/reading

Sunday – bar-b-que with friends/family

Monthly Action Plan

Date 1 – 7 – learn guitar in the evening

Date 8 – 12 – finish all pending chores

Date 13 – 19 – complete the book reading

Date 20 – 25 – watch all the documentaries

Date 26 – 30 – review all tasks and do what’s incomplete

 

Yearly Action Plan

2021 – complete xyz course/ have at least $40,000 in savings

2022 – go on a 30-day trip to a secluded island/ plan to start a master’s degree

2023 – save $100,000/ buy a new car/ buy a new house

 

So, you should be clear in your mind about the things you want to achieve in future. The action plans must be broken down in months, weeks and days so that you have daily tasks in your hands. For example, you wish to earn 100,000 a year according to your yearly action plan, but you are unsure of the fact whether you will be able to achieve it or not. The reason you are unsure is that you are thinking too ahead.

Just plan for this month, then this week and this very day. You will feel that you have more confidence in your plans when you break down your plans in days and you will be able to achieve what you have desired for. Breaking down your targets will make you believe in them. They will look less daunting than yearly plans.

100,000 a year means around 8300 monthly, 2080 something weekly and around 300 every day. When you have a smaller target, you can work it on daily basis. You will have daily analysis of targets and your margin of error will also be small. Even if you are not able to achieve your targets for a couple of days then your pendency will not be greater. This way you will put less burden on you, and you will work more freely. Even if you commit mistakes in your goal setting and attainment, you still have time to change your tactics and work better than before. On the other hand, if you only set targets for the year and months then you may face the heat of performing according to them.

So, the basic nutshell of this article is to work on your action plans smartly. And not merely setting an attractive looking action plan will bring you glory but working on it will.

Love and power to you

Darshan