I’m 58 years old and I should know better: there are times when I find myself hoping something will work out.
Who doesn’t, you say? You are right: we all hope for things. Having hope and optimism in a situation you cannot control makes sense. But, when you can control the outcome, why hope? Why not just plan and do?
Even the most action-oriented people can fall into the “hope trap” on occasion. Regardless, if we can catch ourselves doing it, we can plan and do instead.
That brings me to some thoughts on planning and what a plan should entail:
- A statement of the desired successful outcome. David Allen reminds us of this time and again in his classic Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
… it is something we need to be reminded of until it becomes a habit, a way of thinking. And, of course the outcome should focus on win-win outcomes, as Covey would remind us in his classic The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
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- A sequence of actions and a timeline. This is pretty obvious, but to be complete, we state the obvious as well as the sometimes-overlooked.
- A listing of contingency steps, as needed. Things don’t always go as planned (or hoped), and you need contingencies for when they don’t.
- A list of resources and accountabilities. Not needed for the simple plans that you can implement yourself, but an essential element for a plan involving others.
- A list of assumptions. An often overlooked but important element to consider. Your action sequence is based on assumptions, as is your successful outcome. You serve yourself well to write those assumptions down and think about how realistic they are.
Anything I’ve overlooked?
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Leo 06.21.07 at 8:33 pm
Nice post … I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about my planning recently, and I’ve simplified my personal goal system. I’ll post about it soon on Zen Habits, but basically, I think you should keep things as simple as possible to achieve more effectiveness. The best plan is a simple one.
So my current system would be:
1) Choose ONE goal to accomplish
2) Write out the desired outcome
3) Focus entirely on the next step needed to move forward on it
This is a simplification of GTD, of course, but the key is to only focus on ONE goal. If you have a whole bunch, you become less focused, and therefore less likely to achieve any of them.
Keep up the great work!
Bruce 06.21.07 at 8:48 pm
Leo,
Thank you so much for stopping by and giving us some great advice. I believe you are so right about the ONE goal. Problem is: it is so-o-o-o easy to forget this and pile too much on the plate, and I have been as guilty of this as anybody could be. I will personally try to take this to heart. Thank you much. I look forward to your next post on goals!
By the way, for our readers: Leo’s Zen Habits is one of the best sites on the web. I was delighted when a friend pointed me toward it, and immediately added it to our recommended links: http://zenhabits.net/