It's that time of year again, when many of us "resolve" to do something different for the new year. But, most of the time, our resolutions don't take. Instead of a broken resolution, try an action plan. Here are the steps to creating an action plan.
Write down the goal you want to achieve. You must write an action plan down. No talking it out, although if you would like to discuss it or get feedback on it, that's ok. But you can't just say "here's my action plan, waddaya think?" You have to write it down. So, start with a goal.
Make the goal achievable. If you, like me, have some weight to lose, that's a good goal. Just be sure the goal is achievable by you in a specific time period. My goal is 10 pounds (5 kg) a year. That's it. I've been successful with small goals like that for losing weight. If your goal is to learn a new software language, you might have a goal of writing two small programs in a month, and a larger program in three months, and go from there. I like thinking of the acronym SMART when writing down goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-boxed.
Write down the first action you need to take. If your goal is something about fitness, maybe the first action is "Investigate several gyms in my area." You can't decide on one if you don't investigate several. Make sure that first action is something you can do in a limited time. If it's too big, you won't do it.
Write down the next few actions you need to take--just for the next couple of week. Also, be sure each of them is a small action, something you can finish within a day or so. It's best if you can do something small every day.
You want to have something every day for your action plan so you can't forget about it, and so you can achieve your goal by changing your behavior. As you finish those actions, write down more actions, keeping them small and achievable.
Monitor your results. After each action, ask yourself, am I getting closer to my goal? Did I do something in service of my goal? Does this action change my next action?
Now you're on the road to changing your behavior and having a resolution that will stick.
