Action Planning – Are you ready?

Well, are you? 

Are you ready to do the hard stuff?

Honestly, the dreaming part of this process is really fun. It’s enjoyable to sit and dream and think about the what if’s and the what abouts. To me, that’s the most enjoyable part of the whole process. I even love setting the goals. All of that is great and time well spent, but if you don’t spend the time prepping and planning, that’s probably as far as you are going to get.

5 reasons you must take action today

These reasons might be hard to hear, but I’d like you to push yourself outside of your comfort zone a little. Read them, feel what it brings up for you and perhaps you will resonate, perhaps you won’t. But I think we will all agree that point #5 has never been more poignant than right now. As I’m writing this it is officially two years since the Covid 19 pandemic started and never have we ever experienced two years that have gone so slow, yet so fast.

• No one else will do it for you – There are no shortcuts to success, the work belongs to you and has to be done by you. Of course depending on what your dream is, you might end up with a personal assistant or a bookkeeper or a cleaner. But the dream you have is yours and the work you need to do to get it all happening has to come from you.

• The learning is pointless if you don’t take the action – I love the phrase “Paralysis by analysis”. It essentially means that you stop doing what you want to do by just doing a little bit more research or a little bit more reading, or a little bit more learning. Honor the learning you have already done by putting it into action! Like seriously! You didn’t spend all that time (and sometimes money) by completing courses and reading articles and blogs to never do anything with it! 

• You’ll learn way more by actually doing it – do you think you should get started on a project only to get stuck on where to start? Or maybe you aren’t sure if you can fit something you really want to do into your schedule? One way to figure it out is to do it. By implementing action you will learn lots about the technique or theory and a whole lot about how it can or can’t fit into your schedule. Remember there is no failure, only feedback which you can use to your advantage (the old do it, delete it or delegate it theory). You will not have all the answers immediately, guaranteed. You just won’t. But once you start, answers will be revealed. You will move down the path, inching closer to your desired outcome.

• You’ll improve your own self worth – last year I decided, very much on a whim, to start Intermittent Fasting. I was doing a lot more exercise, making my health a priority but my weight was not moving. I did the research, implemented the plan and it took a while to see the results. It has taken persistence and consistency but the results are now obvious. People are noticing, asking questions and you know what? It makes me feel pretty proud of myself! I know that I can do something and this something is not only adding to my goal of putting my health and wellbeing as my number 1 priority but it’s also great for your own self esteem!

• Time will pass regardless – I have lots of journals that I sometimes read back through to reminisce. The one thing I always take away from doing that is that time moves very quickly. I’ve had plenty of conversations recently with friends about how quickly the last two years have gone. We have had some of the most challenging and difficult times, and while we were in the middle of it all it seemed like it was never going to end. But now, as we start another year, we think back and go “where did that time go??” It is a very good reminder that you must take action on your dreams and goals right now because the time will pass regardless.

Check in with your mindset and improve your skillset

There are so many things to consider when you move from dreaming to goal setting to action planning and the one thing that’s constant along the way is how good your ability is to believe that it is possible for you. Napoleon Hill (author of one of the best self help books out there – Think and Grow Rich) once said, “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” In fact I’d like to think that if you can dream it then you already have what you need to make it happen. 

• Believe in yourself – So do you believe in your dream? Do you believe in yourself? You have to be sure about the answer to this question. You must believe that you can learn the skills, discover the processes and achieve what it is you want. It is 100% your responsibility to take charge of your attitude, your values and your beliefs. You must stop saying “I can’t”, “I don’t have time”, or “I’m too old” because you can, there is plenty of time and you are never too old!

• Find someone who will believe in you (before you believe in yourself) – It certainly helps to have a cheer squad or a coach or a trusted advisor that can fill that gap before you fill it with your own self worth. I remember when I first started Dragon Boat Racing I did not for a minute believe that I could ever compete in a 200m race let alone one that goes for 2km! I remember, half way down a racecourse, thinking this is it, they will never want me in the team, I’m no good, I can’t keep up! My muscles would ache during a warm up, they would ache some more for the days after training and yet I was part of a team that believed everyone is good enough to be in that team. Regardless of skill level, regardless of fitness, the coach would be there encouraging, telling everyone they were doing a great job, reminding you to follow great technique. This is a prime example of having someone who believes in you, even before you believe in yourself. Your skills, and this case my paddling skills, improved with training and time and the coach still encourages me. I now know that I have the skillset and it is the mindset I have to work on. Of course there are some days where I go, “best training session ever!” and there are other days where I’m like “shit that was hard and my head was definitely not in it”. But that doesn’t mean I don’t front up to the next training session. I face the next session like it’s a new day and give it a go!

Dreamers guide to taking action

If you are a dreamer chances are you want to take action but this is where you get stuck! It is really hard to move from day dreaming and thinking about your ideal life to actually creating it. Here are my top 4 ideas to help you move from dreamer to action taker.

• Create some visuals – a vision board on your computer desktop or a poster above your desk will ensure that you have some reminders about why you need to stay on task. Your vision board can be full of pictures and quotes that you resonate with you. Its said that if you include pictures where you see yourself accomplishing your goals then you are much more likely to achieve them.

• Brainstorm – make a list, create a mind map, do something to get the ideas out of your head. When you have a goal, your mind will automatically move to figuring out how to achieve it. We often get in our own way by thinking about all the things that we need to do to make it real. The list can sometimes feel overwhelming. When you take the time to write down the steps you’ll probably discover that the list is not that long after all.

• Surround yourself with people who can help and even inspire – find your people! It’s the reason why I started “The Purpose Movement”. I know I can achieve more when I surround myself with people who are likeminded, supportive and encouraging. You are the sum of the five people you spend the most amount of time with, so be selective. If you have dreams and ambitions, you want to be around people who have already done what you want or at least be on their way. You can learn from them, you can ask for their advice, you can use their tools. 

• Build some small habits – If you had to create a new habit to support the goals you want to achieve what would it be? Start really, really small. When I first started training in a dragon boat my first habit was to have my training clothes out ready on Friday night before I went to bed, so that I could get up Saturday morning and put them on. No chance for procrastination, I was setting myself up for success and I hadn’t even left the house yet. 

Almost there with my foundation blogs! We moved from Dreaming to Goal Setting to Action Planning and next we will work on achieving BOLD success. I’d love to hear your thoughts so far on these foundation blogs, please feel free to email me jacqui@jacquihillas.com.au or head to my FB page https://www.facebook.com/jacquihh