Taking Action

Taking Action by Taking StepsOnce your goals have been defined and planned, its time to start taking action towards there completion and the life you aim to have. Your dream life!

To organize my day-to-day life, I have a notebook. An old-fashioned paper notebook, and I would suggest you buy one too. My Life Notebook helps me to keep all of your important notes and details together, as well as my goals and to do’s. It’s the must have tool for taking action.

The following is the contents of My Life Notebook:

* = Working pages, frequently edited and added to.

  • *A list of my favorite inspirational quotes.
  • Productivity tips.
  • *My bucket list (A list of all of my goals and everything I ever want to do in my life at this time)
  • *Things to-do by the end of the year
  • *Things I’ve learnt this year
  • Mission statement (Both motivates and inspires me; also helps me focus on what’s important when in rough times)
  • *Projects list
  • Current Goals
  • *General To-do
  • *Diary/Planner (I use a two pages spread for each week; more about this later)
  • Blank pages waiting to be filled!

From the back of the notebook:

  • Life long & On-going goals brainstorm (On a separate sheet)
  • Current goals table (On a separate sheet)
  • Goals timeline (Shows the plan of my life for the next 20 years according to the goals I have set. Also on a separate sheet)
  • Contact Details (Address; Mobile number; Home number; Email; Important Numbers)
  • *Projects’ basic plans (Project title; Project section; Deadline; tasks & sub-deadlines)

All of the above is pretty self explanatory, but what you may not understand is the way in which you should organize your tasks and weekly planner. Below is a picture of mine.

A labelled picture of my notebook

As you can see, this is my weekly planner page in my notebook.

A typical weeks two page spread in My Life Notebook will have the weeks begin and end dates; Daily to do’s, Split into Monday, Tuesday, etc… on the left hand page; My to-do list for that week on the right hand page (Which I use to plan each days to do and then tick them off as they are completed); My notes for the week (Including meetings and birthdays, as well as any deadlines I have for projects); and an evaluation of the week that I complete on a Sunday night.

Dynamic Planning to Taking Action

I have two kinds of planning in my weekly schedule of organization. My weekly plan and evaluation session (which I do on a Sunday night) is where I plan the week ahead and evaluate the week gone. I also have a shorter daily planning session, where I tick off what I have done today from my week’s to-do and plan what I should do tomorrow; dragging any important events, meetings, or tasks from the right-hand page.

Weekly Evaluation & Planning

On a Sunday night I spend half an hour evaluating the week gone, and planning the week ahead.

I evaluate by writing a few points of good, bad and improvements as well as any other notes or comments I have for myself based on the week gone on a sticky note and stick it on the previous weeks page.

I then plan for the week ahead. I look at my projects to do’s, my general to-do’s, and any tasks left over from last weeks to-do. I then build up a to-do list for the week ahead using this. I also write any important events, meetings or deadlines I have for the forth-coming week (taken from my calendar) on a sticky note and stick it in.

Daily Planning & Management

Each day I plan for the next. This can take literally 5 min’s to do! I take a few things from my weeks to do list and check for any events or deadlines for the following day and write them down under that days section. An example of this could be: Monday: -Run for 30mins –Take dog to vets (5:30) –Write a page for eBook –Arrange meeting with Ben for next week –Sam’s birthday*.

Next Page: Preventing Burnout

Wrote by Joe Brown