Planning secrets to help you achieve all of your goals.

1. Define your goal in writing
   Making an effective action plan starts with defining and documenting the end goal.

According to research from Dominican University, people who write their goals down accomplish significantly more than those who don’t.

Beyond increasing the odds of success, putting your goals in writing will also force you to consider the process required—not just the desired outcome.

2. Divide the goal into milestones
   Big goals are often so intimidating that people quit before giving their best effort.

By focusing too much on the desired outcome, they wind up feeling stuck when it’s time to define how they plan to achieve it.

But breaking a goal into discrete milestones helps the goal-setter worry less about the finish line and instead, treat each mini-goal as a necessary step towards realizing their plan.

When you have a roadmap that details what needs to happen, you’re more likely to stay motivated and committed throughout the process.

3. Identify the resources needed
   Any action plan that doesn’t account for resources is akin to a wish list.

Whether you’re embarking on a solo project or working as a team, identifying the resources needed to successfully act on your plan will enable you to make informed decisions regarding its implementation.

Here are a few examples of resources you might identify in an action plan:

People or knowledge resources
Technology and software resources
Financial or time resources

4. Prioritize and assign all related tasks
   Different goals can benefit from different types of planning.

If you’re planning a new initiative, you might start by identifying where you are currently in relation to where you’d like to be.

If you’re solving an existing problem, you might use brainstorming to analyze the situation and explore potential solutions.

In either case, your action plan is more actionable when you prioritize each task.

If you’re flying solo, prioritization will rely solely on effort and impact. When working in a group, you’ll need to both prioritize and assign tasks to track progress and inject accountability.

5. Review, reflect, and refine as you go
   Creating an action plan is important, but remaining agile is crucial to success in the long-term.

An effective action plan isn’t static—it’s dynamic and subject to evolve as your organization and circumstances inevitably change.

The best way to ensure your plan of action is still sound is to regularly review the plan. An ongoing review enables you to not only track progress against each task or mini-goal, it also empowers you to make necessary changes to meet the growing needs of your team or organization.