Action Planner
The ‘Action Planner’ reminds us that sometimes our goals and actions need to adjust with changing circumstances. As life progresses, it’s natural that your goals change as you face challenges, overcome obstacles, and make progress. Sometimes we need to abort our plans and that’s ok. Completion is important to build trust. However, completing something at all costs is not truly supportive for anyone.
The Action Planner has application both in a business and personal setting. The overarching idea is to identify how to adapt to changing times. By simplifying and paring back what we do, and doing it well, we can often make a far more positive impact than trying to do more - or be all things to all people.
The Action Planner isn’t just for goals, it’s also useful in defining a ‘project’, ‘action’ or ‘focus’. In a business context, consider whether your One-Year goal to increase profit by 10% is still realistic after six months. Does it need to be adjusted to better reflect your current circumstances? Personally, the Action Planner may be used to refine your lifestyle goals. Your fitness goal of attending 3 times per week might need to be adjusted, or your focus on developing your fitness might require a longer time frame than first established.
By reassessing as your circumstances change, the Action Planner makes it easier to achieve goals in a way that doesn’t compromise other important areas of your business or life. Remember, rather than striving to achieve something unrealistic or irrelevant, you are aiming to achieve something that is truly worthwhile.
How to use it
What – Start by considering the ‘initial what’ of your goal, which is typically your ‘aim’ or what you wish to achieve. Is your goal still realistic, or do you have to adjust it to fit your current situation? Have you exceeded your expectations in business and want to increase the number of new clients you originally aimed to achieve? Or perhaps the goal needs to be modified as it’s not truly aligned with what’s important.
Who – Identify if your goal still involves the original parties or if you need to change the support crew. Do your current supporters still have capacity to assist, or might you need more help or different skill sets as things progress?
When – Reflect if your initial timeframe is still appropriate in the current circumstances. If this task can’t be completed now, or within the original timeframe, when can it be completed? Changing your timeframe isn’t a failure. Perhaps the scope has changed, or the situation and dynamic is more complex than originally thought.
Want to take it further?
At Traxiom, we believe that life and business provide an opportunity to think more deeply about what we do and how we do it. We support people to become more aware of the impact of growth, so they make more conscious choices that are truly supportive. Although the ‘Action Planner’ tool can be used as a personal reflection, we think it’s best used as a conversation starter. If you’d like another perspective, we’d love to support you in taking a deeper look.