HOW TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN LIFE Step #4 – PLAN
HOW TO CREATE A PLAN OF ACTION
WHERE TO TURN
You know where you are, where you want to be, and the passion that will drive you there. Now it’s time to figure out how. You need to know where to turn so you don’t get lost along the way. Create a plan of action to map the way.
PERSONALLY
I used to write stories growing up. I loved to write. The problem was that I had no idea where the stories were going. I would come up with a great idea that I’d be so excited about and just start writing aimlessly.
Unfortunately, I scrapped story after story because I didn’t create a plan of action at all. I had no idea where each chapter was leading or the roles characters needed to play to facilitate my great idea.
I would write endlessly, without a real destination or an exciting way to get there. The story got lost in the writing, and eventually grew bland and I got bored. I lost my excitement and drive. So I threw them out… regularly.
DREAM LIMBO
Pursuing your dreams works in much the same way. It’s not enough to know you want to do something. If you just blindly go about trying to achieve it, you will get lost. You might even lose sight of what you were trying to do and not know what to do next.
When this happens, it’s easy to set that dream or goal aside. You might lose your inspiration for pursuing it. Ultimately, you’ll be squandering your most precious resource—time.
For most of us, our dreams end up in limbo when we don’t know how to achieve them or where to even start.
This could be the reason it takes some of us years to finally get started. People who don’t start on their goals are often the ones who did not take the time to create a plan of action.
They couldn’t see the first step. The path was not clear.
It seemed like such a far-off distant future, and those future selves felt like a stranger. Just a mirage in the distance.
WHAT IS THE PLAN OF ACTION
Some of us do make some semblance of a plan but we don’t break it down into the smallest possible steps. Therefore, we still end up straying from the path.
A well-thought-out plan of action shows you the path clearly. It is your guide through the maze.
I know some people cringe at the word plan. It’s not as cool as a word like passion. But it’s one of your most powerful tools for life success.
With a plan, you know the first step, so you’re more inclined to take it. It no longer feels so distant and blurry. In fact, every step brings more clarity and a sense of purpose.
It’s not a leap of faith; it’s just putting one foot in front of the other. A plan can mean the difference between your success becoming a reality or remaining a dream. You need a plan of action.
“Plan is a four-letter word that doesn’t give a damn about anything other than winning. It’s systematic and unrelenting in nature. It wasn’t designed to consider failure. It keeps going with only one end in mind.“
GrindPolicy #14
HOW TO WRITE A PLAN OF ACTION
A plan of action is a detailed daily schedule that guides you to your desired goal.
You should know exactly what you need to do each day, week and month, with milestones set throughout.
“A great plan doesn’t stop at the achievement. It also answers the question of what to do with that achievement.“
GrindPolicy #15
This is important to remember while making your plan. Whether you’re planning for a milestone along the way or for your ultimate life goals, the why needs to be front and center.
Why is it important to reach that goal? This gives you a chance to revisit your idea of happiness and success. What does this achievement do for me? The more you keep these ideas in mind the better off you are when creating your plans and taking action.
WHAT IS A PLAN OF ACTION AND MILESTONES
Milestones are defined as an important point in the progress or development of something: a very important event or advance
Know where you are going by determining the major milestones between these two points:
- where you are in life right now
- your vision for life success
Be sure to have your full plan written out. Make sure it reflects your goals and aspirations and leads you to your exact vision of life success.
Don’t know where to start? Don’t know your milestones?
TRY THIS
Take your vision and work backward. Simply ask yourself “how successful does my passion have to be to lead to my vision?”
Write down your answer. This will be one of the last major milestones in your process. Then you’ll take that answer and break it down further. Simply ask “How do I get to this milestone?” Or “What do I need to get here?” Think in terms of resources, funds, influence, etc. Whatever measures are necessary for your particular vision.
Each answer to these questions becomes its own milestone in your process. Rewrite them as an achievable milestone.
You also take each item you wrote and break them down in turn. Keep breaking each milestone down into smaller pieces by repeating the question, “What do I need to do to get here?”
Each of these breakdowns can be rewritten as a milestone. Keep repeating this process until you can’t anymore.
Once you have questions that you don’t have answers to, you’ve worked backwards to your STARTING POINT.
PRIORITIZE
You just need to prioritize those final questions based on importance. Which questions will enable you to take the most immediate and lasting action toward your goals? Those are the most important.
Your next tasks will be figuring out the answers to these questions. The one question you prioritized as the most important is your FIRST STEP. Congratulations!
Set up your daily schedule with time to work on your passion, starting from that first task.
You have to know what the task is each day as you progress toward your milestones.
Just like tasks, milestones should be prioritized based on which ones have the most immediate and lasting impact for achieving success, and of course which milestones must be achieved first to enable you to achieve others on your path.
Each milestone is a success marker lighting the path to your greatness.
If you broke down each item on your list and did not end up with any questions left to formulate your first steps, then congratulations! You already have all the necessary knowledge you need to pursue your success. All you need to do now is prioritize and take action toward your milestones.
LEARNING CURVE
Achieving our dreams usually comes with a learning curve. It requires us to learn how to do certain things, as well as learning where to look to find the information we need.
Following our passion requires us to understand or master skills and tools we need to accomplish our tasks. We may need to figure out how much money it takes to delegate tasks to other professionals, and ways to get that money.
For many of us, our first step is adapting to this learning process. It’s not just about learning the skills themselves, but also doing the research to even know where and how to do that learning.
This is why our first steps can feel so daunting, and it’s what makes our dreams feel so far away.
However, once we take the time to figure out what to look for and where to look, we can be more comfortable taking the time to learn the skills we need. And once we learn them, we can apply them to our goals. As we apply them, we master them, and build on that progress.
“GrindPolicy #16 Success doesn’t just happen; it’s by design“
GrindPolicy #16
PLAN OF ACTION STEPS
Let’s take a look at a hypothetical.
First, I establish my vision which is about being recognized for being one of the most physically fit people in the world. I want to be famous, influential, and well-traveled.
Secondly, I work backward from here. I ask myself how my passion can get me there. Is my passion working out my body? I need my passion to equal the caliber of my vision.
So how do I turn my vision into a reality? I continue working out, regularly building my body to be one of the best while making a living being a model, training others, and creating my own recognizable world-famous brand. I can then star in movies, appear at conventions, and travel the world.
Finally, there’s the bigger picture. Now I continue to break it down by asking “How do I do all those things? What do I need to do those things?”
I would break down each of those items separately, but also recognize and note where they help each other.
HYPOTHETICAL
To be a model I need:
- Tons of photoshoots
- Video advertisements
- Clothing
To build a recognizable brand I need:
- Content,
- Logo and branding,
- Website,
- Videos,
- Merch,
- Social media presence,
- Marketing knowledge
To be an actor I need:
- Acting classes
- Roles in various productions
To be a trainer I need:
- Gym membership
- Bodybuilding experience
- Certifications
- Clientele
EXAMPLE OF A PLAN OF ACTION
Once you’ve broken down your plan fully, you can make your daily schedule. I recommend including everything—waking up, the time it takes to get ready and commute, eat and shower, etc. Accounting for all of your time will ensure that you reserve time every day to work on your passion.
Build your schedule around the time you need to pursue your passion, once you’ve accounted for other necessities. If you end up with only an hour a day to work on your passion, so be it. As long as you stick to the plan, you will get to the end of the road. If you enjoy working on your passion and have unconditional love for your own success, you will find the time to make things happen.
WRITING IT DOWN
Let’s get back to our example. I add steps to my schedule on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. Monday through Saturday are workout days. After I get home from work, I’ll make content from 7 – 8pm.
My monthly milestone is to learn how to build a website. I’ll spend time on this from 8-10 on Saturdays. Once can start applying my knowledge, I’ll use that time to actually build the website.
Remember to take the time to rewrite your questions and breakdowns as milestones.
Question: How do I make a website?
Milestones:
February – learn how to make a website
March – complete website built
Once I have a website and am creating content regularly, I can start marketing myself and spreading my content. All this helps me get closer to my goal of being a recognized figure. This in turn will help me land roles after I’ve taken some acting classes.
In this example, we went through the steps of breaking down your vision to be able to see everything you need to learn and apply in order to get to the next step in your journey. I went through just a few breakdowns for this hypothetical, but remember that it’s best to ask yourself lots of questions, find the answers, and break them down in as much detail as you can.
Keep going until your entire vision for life success is supported.
TAKE THE TIME
Remember that time is our truly limited resource. Once it’s gone we can never get it back. We need to spend it wisely.
Taking the time to create an effective plan of action will make accomplishing your tasks every day, every week and every month much more efficient.
The investment of time it takes to make a good plan will pay huge dividends, saving monumental amounts of time as you progress toward your goals.
It took me ten years to take my first step, all because I never took the time to really make an effective plan of action. It goes without saying that I could have already become the person I’m trying to be in that amount of time.
CONTINGENCY PLAN
When I say you need a plan for life success, it’s singular. It’s one plan.
A plan written backwards is plan A. ALL your goals are part of plan A.
There is no plan B.
We’re talking about your dreams, passion, and your happiness. Don’t sell yourself short on any of those.
There are dangers with plan B. Doing something other than what makes you happy will leave room for things like unhappiness and regret in your life. When these are prolonged, they can be a real detriment to your well-being.
Stick with plan A.
JUST AS PLANNED
You understand why you need a plan. You understand how to make a plan. You’ve broken down your journey into simple steps as much as you can, and you’ve given yourself a starting point.
This is the journey. The path is clear. Your dream is in front of you. You just have to take these steps in succession to get there.
Is it smooth sailing from here?
We all know life isn’t that simple. Having a plan is incredibly important, and it’s the most overlooked step in trying to achieve success.
Even when we do have a well-thought-out plan, we have to remember that nothing is perfect. We will encounter not only obstacles but also new information that may help or hurt our plan.
Don’t worry! That’s expected, and it’s okay.
After all, you didn’t chisel your plan into a stone tablet! There will be times you need to tweak your plan so that it adapts to the current circumstances. Each day, you may have to re-prioritize tasks, and it’s important to regularly review your weekly and monthly goals and milestones as well.
The plan is still going to take you where you want to go. It’s still going to be the base for your everyday pursuit and accomplishments. Sometimes you need to take a detour, but the plan is there to make sure you don’t lose your heading.
Remember…
“Not everything goes according to plan, but without one, nothing does“
GrindPolicy #17
CONCLUSION
Take the time to create a plan of action. This will save you time in the long run. A plan will also help you pick up where you left off at any time.
You will see your path with clarity, giving you the focus and ability necessary to take action.
Start with your vision for life success and work backward, making a plan that will take you all the way to realizing that vision. Break down what you need to do to reach that vision and create milestones. Break down what you need for each milestone to formulate your daily tasks.
Make sure your tasks are clear and enable you to work toward your milestones.
Each day, review your plan for the next day. Each week, identify your next week’s focus. Know what the goal is for the end of each month.
Revisit your plan often and make adjustments where it’s necessary. Remember that plans are flexible so that you don’t break.
