Guest Author - Katie Byrd
You’ve heard the expression “Fail to plan and you plan to fail.” Well, it’s true. However, planning can also be a trap.
Although failure is often the result of no planning or poor planning, sometimes failure comes as a result of avoiding action by over-planning. It takes practice to know when to continue planning and when to stop gathering and analyzing information and move into action.
All planning must start with clarity of purpose – what do you want to accomplish? The clearer you get about what you want, the easier it is to plan how to get it. By asking yourself questions, writing down the answers and making lists, you can accelerate this clarity process.
Once you get clear on paper, it’s time to use your imagination. The more vividly you imagine the outcome that you want, the easier it becomes to make a good action plan.
As soon as your vision is clear and you feel good about the results you want, then you’re ready to start planning. There are two ways to plan - forwards (starting from where you are) or backwards (beginning at the final vision and systematically moving back towards the present).
Most people understand a forward moving action plan – “first I would need to do _________________. Next I’ll do _____________. And then I’ll have to _______________.”
A backwards action plan begins with the completed vision and keeps taking one step at a time back, until you get to the beginning. “The last thing before I reach my goal, I will have to ____________. Just before that, I will need to __________. And the step before that would be to ___________.” Continue step by step backwards until you reach where you are right now.
The great thing about planning backwards is that it forces you to start with a clear final vision. And backwards planning often keeps you from leaving out anything essential. But most importantly, beginning with a strong vision of the completed project inspires you to eventually take action.
After you’ve gone backwards, turn around and make a prioritized forward action plan with timelines. When prioritizing your actions apply the 80/20 rule (80% of your results come from 20% of your actions). Always plan to take the actions that will best produce the results you want.
Once you’ve got a good action plan in place, the next step is to TAKE ACTION. Remember, ACTION is the whole purpose of the action plan!
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