Make An Action Plan To Achieve Your Goals

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” Benjamin Franklin

If you have goals you want to achieve, planning is absolutely essential. Here’s why it’s so important, and exactly how to make an action plan that will set you up for success.

Planning Starts With Goal Setting

I’ve written in-depth about goal setting and the two different types of goals: outcome goals and process goals. If you haven’t read my article about goal setting yet, I suggest you start there.

If you’ve already read that article, here’s a refresher before I continue.

To set an effective goal, start with an outcome goal, which is the overall result you want to achieve. For example, your outcome goal might be to finish a 5K run.

Next, break that outcome goal into process goals, which are the small daily or weekly steps you need to take to move yourself towards your desired outcome. For that 5K outcome goal, one of your process goals might be to jog 3 times per week.

The third step, which is the subject of this article, is to create action plans for your process goals.

For help setting effective goals, download my FREE Goal-Setting Guide. This eBook will walk you, step-by-step, through the process of finding your motivation, creating an outcome goal, turning that outcome goal into process goals, and making action plans to follow through.

The Power Of The Action Plan

In behavior change research, action plans are called “implementation intentions.”

Implementation intentions are a way of planning out exactly what you are going to do, and when and where you are going to do it.

In one study, three groups of students were asked to track how many times they exercised over two weeks.

The first group was a control group. They were just told to report every time they exercised.

The second group read a pamphlet about heart disease and the benefits of exercise for reducing heart disease risk.

The third group read the same heart disease pamphlet, but they were also asked to formulate a plan (their implementation intentions) for exactly how they were going to exercise over the following week.

Here’s the “formula” the participants used to create their action plans:

During the next week I will partake in at least 20 minutes of vigorous exercise on (day or days)_______________ at (time of day)  _______________at/in (place)_______________.

The Results

In the control group, 38% engaged in exercise over the two-week period while 35% of the pamphlet group exercised.

In the third group, the group who read the pamphlet but also made a detailed plan, a whopping 91% of participants successfully exercised over the two-week period.

When you think about and write down a very specific plan, you activate the same part of your brain that you’ll use when you do the behavior. That rehearsal makes it much easier to follow through when the time comes.

How To Create Your Own Action Plan

The great part about this study is that it provides a blueprint for creating an effective action plan. You can use that same “implementation intentions” formula to create your own plans.

Here’s the formula again, slightly tweaked so you can customize it for your goal.

During next week I will (goal behavior) _______________________ on (day or days)_______________ at (time of day)  _______________at/in (place)_______________.

You might end up with something like:

“During the next week I will go for a 30-minute jog on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 6pm around the park near my house.”

In my FREE Goal-Setting Guide you'll find worksheets and templates to help you create your own action plans for any goal.

Take It One Step Further For Even Better Results

Finally, think about your circumstances and make it as easy as possible for yourself to follow through.  

You might need to arrange for a family member or friend to take care of the kids so you can go for your jog. Maybe you need to make extra portions of dinner the night before so you don’t have to cook on jogging nights.

Maybe you should change into your jogging clothes before you leave work so that you can go straight out for your jog as soon as you get home. Do the little things like finding your headphones and making your playlist ahead of time.

Account for every eventuality. Otherwise, when 6pm rolls around on your jogging day, something might get in your way and you won’t be able to follow through on your plans.

Of course there are some things that you can’t anticipate, but you’d be amazed at how many potential obstacles you can neutralize or avoid with a little planning and forethought.

After you write down your action plan, add the following:

I will make sure I follow through by ________________________________________________________

Brainstorm all the obstacles that might get in your way and come up with solutions to get around them.

You should also come up with plan Bs, or “if… then…” plans.

If it’s raining on your jogging night, your plan B might be to do a bodyweight workout at home. Create a detailed plan for that workout as well.

This seems like a lot of extra work, but this is what it takes to be successful, at least at the beginning. Soon you’ll build exercise habits and then you won’t need to do so much planning. Your process goals will become an automatic part of your life.

Remember the words of Benjamin Franklin and plan to succeed!

If you need help brainstorming your action plans, I am here to help. Contact Me!