How to Action Plan
An action plan powers your dreams. It combines your to do list with a timeline and a goal. You are now taking action with a purpose and in a timely fashion. And I love them. So. Much. .
The first step in action planning is setting a goal.
In my experience, smaller goals are better. For example, “Minimize and organize the bathroom by January 31, 2021.”
When I think about my goals, I try to fit them into the vision I have for my life. Click here to read more about vision and how a strong vision can help you decide how to organize and minimize your home.
Second, list out all the steps needed to get this done.
I suggest making a list full of very easy to complete items. I like lists of things that take 15 minutes or less. Such as,
Throw out old medicines.
Re-arrange medicines.
Clean out under the sink.
Re-arrange items left under the sink.
This list could be two steps:
Clean out medicine. (Combining 1 & 2 above.)
Clean out under the sink. (Combining 3 & 4 above.)
However, I find it is better to have a longer list with smaller steps than a shorter list with bigger steps.
Consider this, if you don’t have a lot of time you can do the steps over time. For instance, one day you might find you have an extra 10 to 15 minutes, then you can quickly clean out the medicines. And the next day you might have another extra 10 or 15 minutes, then you can re-arrange the medicines that are left.
And, if you find yourself with a bigger chunk of time, you can always combine smaller tasks into a larger task and use the extra time to complete them. For example, if over over the weekend, you find yourself with an extra 30 minutes, you can both clean out under the sink AND re-arrange the items left under the sink.
Basically, with smaller steps, you make the project more manageable.
A quick note on steps one and two.
Steps one and two can be done in reverse order. For example, you might have a list of tasks to get done. I suggest you go through those tasks and see if they have a common them, and then you can use those tasks to develop a goal.
Third, decide who is going to complete the step.
In an ideal world, an action plan for organizing and minimizing your home will include all members of a household, and all members of a household will participate in the development of the plan to declutter.
Unfortunately, if you are the one reading this, then you are more than likely the only one completing the tasks. However, this can be a great way to delegate some of this to other people in your household, and have a concrete idea of how to ask for help.
Or if you are looking to declutter a shared space, like a game room or a living room, and one person needs to organize their items in a shared space, then you can assign that area to them. This step allows you to ask people to help you when they need to step up and do their part. (It doesn’t mean they will, but that is another post.)
Fourth, decide when you will complete this task.
This is where you are, essentially, creating a timeline of the steps necessary to reach your goal. I usually decide when I want to meet my goal, and then work backwards from there.
So, if we go back to my example of the bathroom that I want organized by January 31, 2021, I will make sure that all of my steps are done before then. If they are small, you might want to put one or two tasks on one day.
Other times, I make a list of the tasks I need to do to get to my larger goal, and I add dates to those smaller tasks, then I decide what date is best for completing my big goal.
The most important part of this step is realizing that these dates are not set in stone. Be opening to shifting and changing them as you need.
Fifth, if you need, decide how and where the projects will get done.
These steps may not be necessary. I always include them in my planning, but I don’t always use them. If we go back to our bathroom example, you might include purchasing containers to organize under the sink.
Action planning is an incredibly powerful tool. It elevates your to do list by giving your tasks purpose and a deadline. In 15 minute increments we can use action plans to bring us closer to the bigger visions and goals we have for our lives.
Click here to get an action plan template from M.O.M.
