There is nothing more fundamental than having a clear and achievable plan for our day, and yet it’s one of the most challenging things for many entrepreneurs. Why? Because we typically have “To-Do Lists” that feel unending and too often we’re unclear about our priorities. So, what do you we do? Whatever is screaming loudest or burning hottest. That, my friend, is a recipe for disaster.
What that means is that we are constantly reacting to whatever is coming at us rather than acting intentionally on what we think is truly most important to move us forward. So, how do we shift this pattern? How do we create plans for our day that we can consistently execute?
That’s the topic that I cover in the last chapter of my book, Inspired Action: Create More Purpose, Productivity, and Peace in Your Life, and I’m happy to share that chapter here with you today. It’s the last chapter of the book, but in many ways it’s the most mission critical to your personal effectiveness.
We have to get out of the habit of ending each day feeling like an exhausted, overworked, failure and start making daily plans that show us we know how to “get things done.” So, let’s talk about how to make that happen…
Chapter 50: Daily Planning
What does a good day look like for you? If you are like many people, a good day includes getting done what you had planned and feeling good about the actions and decisions you took that day. Therefore, part of the recipe for a good day starts with making a good plan, and yet this is where most of us begin to go awry. Our day is doomed before we’ve even started because we’ve created either a completely unrealistic plan or no plan at all.
In Chapter 29 of Inspired Action I tell the story of Elizabeth, a young entrepreneur who was overwhelmed with all the projects and activities involved in building her company, and she would consistently get to the end of her day feeling frustrated and incomplete because she hadn’t finished even a third of the items on her long task list for the day.
When Elizabeth and I began to work together and discussed this problem, I pointed out to her that she wasn’t really creating daily to-do lists. Instead, she was creating dream lists for all the things that she wished she could accomplish. She was setting unrealistic expectations for herself and her day. Thus, rather than feeling great about being two or three steps closer to her goals and putting in consistent, intentional, productive work all day, she felt constantly frustrated that she hadn’t done more.
I asked her, as I ask you now, how is this pattern helpful? The key to shifting the tendency to create dream lists is to create a better daily planning ritual. We will explore how to create such a ritual for yourself, but it boils down to this: choose one thing—your Inspired Action. Your Inspired Action is a 5-to-30-minute task that you intentionally commit to completing today before you finish work or go to sleep. What is the one thing that, if completed, will help you feel great about what you accomplish today? What is one specific task (not project) that will help you move forward toward your goals?
The Power of Your Inspired Action
I have seen the magic of this “choose one thing” practice with many of my clients. It puts your priorities first. You choose what’s most important for you each day. By choosing you create a sense of both intentionality and control in each day. When practiced regularly it also establishes a new pattern of behavior by which you consistently choose what’s most important to you and get it done…over and over again. Develop this habit with consistency, and you create evidence for your internal belief that you are someone who “gets stuff done.”
Any project, any dream, any goal is accomplished one step or task at a time. Do you want to write a book, build a company, or take a trip around the world? What would happen if you did one task that would move you forward toward that goal each day? Obviously, doing more than one will get you there faster, but even with just one step each day, you will get there.
Focusing on only one item might feel ludicrous. “After all,” you might think, “I’ve got all day; surely I can get a bunch more things done than just that!” Yes, you probably can, but if you remember creating your life rhythm map back in Chapter 15, you know that “all day” probably equates to three to six hours of actual work time. And in your usual day, how many of those three to six hours are usually dedicated to responding to others, participating in appointments or meetings, or quickly addressing the issues that arise naturally in the course of the day? I’m going to guess anywhere from 40 to 60 percent of that time—which yields much less time for your own tasks. That’s why we need to get laser-focused and set realistic expectations.
Whatever your actual amount of available time, the real point is to create a consistent practice of intentionality and accomplishment in your life. You will go further and do more in your life if you create a belief that you consistently succeed at the goals you set for yourself, rather than perceiving that you never quite measure up or reach the intended outcome. This concept is the true secret behind the Inspired Action. You are developing your belief in your own intentions and achievements by making your daily tasks consistently achievable.
In all likelihood, you will knock out your Inspired Action in your first hour of work. That’s great. Then it’s time to move on to your Three Bonuses. Your three bonuses are the next three tasks that, provided you have the appropriate time and energy, are your next priorities. Some days you will have a packed schedule and only be able to get your Inspired Action done or maybe one bonus too. That’s okay! We all have highly scheduled days. You’ll also have days when you get through your Inspired Action and all three bonuses, and those are days when you celebrate! That’s a good day. Take a break, have a dance party, take a walk. Then you can decide if you want to look again at your master list and choose something else to knock out because you’re on a roll. If you do, then recognize it’s a choice to keep going because you’re on fire. You can also choose to say, “My work for today is done.” Then switch gears and rest, relax, and enjoy taking care of yourself and your family.
The key to this perspective is that your commitment is to your Inspired Action, and everything else is gravy. If you start shifting out of this mentality, then you will have slid right back into creating hopeless dream lists.
How Do I Choose My Inspired Action?
The real challenge for most of us is deciding what your one thing should be, and this is where a good daily planning ritual can be a real asset. Start by choosing a time of day for your daily planning ritual. Generally I prefer the end of the previous workday as a time to wrap everything up and leave me ready to go as soon as the next day starts. However, first thing in the morning works for many people too because it allows them to check in on their energy that day and plan accordingly. Decide what feels best for you, and try it out for a few weeks.
Let’s talk you through choosing your Inspired Action for tomorrow (or, if you want to choose one for today, then go for it!). Here are the steps:
- Bring your task management system up-to-date. Review and update your master list with anything new that’s popped up. (Hopefully, you’ve already created this valuable tool, as discussed in Chapters 23 and 24.) Make sure that you’re looking at a full picture of your options so that you can pick the best one. Check your email, calendar, or paper action items for new projects to be integrated into your system. Then glance over the whole list, your menu of options, or at least your “Upcoming” items, as discussed in Chapter 49: Weekly Planning.
- Check what’s already been scheduled. How much time or energy will you have tomorrow? Look at your calendar and locate your blocks of work time between your current commitments. Will you be in your office? Are you working from home? Are you going to be on the road between appointments, with some free time that you could leverage?
- Choose one task. Drill down to a specific Next Action, something that will take 5 to 30 minutes to complete. Select a task that will a) fit the time and resources available, and b) move you forward on an active project that is important to you now. If it will take more than 15 to 30 minutes, then it’s probably a project, not a task. (For more about identifying Next Actions, see Chapter 25: What Is a Next Action?)
- Check in and commit. If you get this one task done tomorrow, will that feel like a win for the day? You want to make sure that your Inspired Action feels important and valuable to you. No one else can define this for you. Can you commit to getting it done? This isn’t a “want to” or a “might do.” This is the one thing that you are fully committing to make happen.
- Put it where you’ll see it. Create your daily to-do list, and write your Inspired Action at the top and your Three Bonuses beneath it. Write it on a Post-it note, an index card, the whiteboard in your office, or wherever you can keep it front and center in your mind.
- Make sure you’ll have what you need. Collect any resources you’ll need to be effective and to complete your Inspired Action: files, contact information, your laptop, and so on.
Common Daily Planning Pitfalls
Here are some of the most common mistakes I see with daily planning:
Getting distracted in the middle of your daily planning ritual. I suggested starting by reviewing your emails and calendar for additional items that need to be incorporated into your master list. However, this is not the time to shoot off that email to your co-worker about next week’s meeting or to start brainstorming guests you are going to invite to your parents’ 50th anniversary party. As long as the meeting and anniversary party appear where they should on your calendar and master list, then that’s all you should care about right now.
Starting major project or goal planning. Project planning takes a while, and it can short-circuit you from your immediate, task-focused decisions into a higher level of exploration than is currently constructive. Save project planning for your weekly or seasonal planning rituals, or add it as a task to your master list and give it the appropriate dedicated time.
Slipping from choosing your Inspired Action and Three Bonuses to creating dream lists…again. You might wish that you could get six things done tomorrow, but in reality you’re paving the road to disappointment. Pick your Inspired Action and your Three Bonuses, and get to work.
Failing to prepare appropriately for the following day. If your Inspired Action for tomorrow requires that you have a particular folder with you, then make sure you have what you need with you. That forethought will set you up for success.
What If It Doesn’t Get Done?
Recently one of my new clients failed to complete her Inspired Action, and she went into a disempowering tailspin. That’s not helpful, so let’s start by getting clear on why this might have happened.
You forgot about it. Can you build in more reminders throughout the day to cue you about your Inspired Action? Phone alarms? Sticky notes?
You remembered it, but you procrastinated. How can you structure in time to do the task as early in the day as possible? As Brian Tracy says, eat the frog. It’s only 30 minutes! Look at your calendar for tomorrow, decide exactly when you can dedicate that time, and then set a timer if necessary. Sometimes resistance looms its frightening head, but the reality is that starting is the hardest part. Once you get started with any task it gets easier.
A higher-priority item arose. That might happen sometimes. Emergencies, surprises, or unexpected opportunities happen to all of us. What’s important is whether you made an intentional choice to renegotiate your Inspired Action for the day in order to do something else. Did you choose and recommit, or did you just get swept away in the moment? Provided you made an intentional change based on new information in the moment, you’re golden. It’s when you just let the day sweep away your choices and priorities that you’ve entered a danger zone that you’ll want to exit the next day.
Bottom line: know your options, make your choices intentionally, set realistic expectations for what you can do each day, and celebrate often.
The most important aspect of a daily planning ritual is developing the consistent habit. Your entire perspective on your life and abilities can change with this one simple habit. You create a rhythm of decision, action, and completion that proves how anything can be accomplished.
Next Actions
- Choose your preferred time for your daily planning ritual, and put it on your calendar. If desired, make it a recurring appointment with an alarm that goes off, or set alarms on your cell phone to remind you ten minutes before that time, and again when the time arrives.
- Bring your master list up-to-date with new tasks and projects each day. This daily habit only works if you are looking at the whole picture and making thoughtful and considered decisions in relationship to everything that is currently on your plate.
- Try out the six steps above for this week, and see how it feels. Do you feel clearer about what you are doing and better about what you’re getting accomplished? You will likely realize how many other tasks are also getting done each day, but for once these background tasks are not distracting you from accomplishing your Inspired Action—your most important item.
If this excerpt from Inspired Action has been helpful to you, then pick up a copy of the book today. It provides 50 short, actionable chapters that can help you connect with greater meaning and purpose and develop the productivity systems to put your purpose into action each day.
I did a recent FB Live on “Why It’s Important to Have a Daily Plan” which might also be valuable for you!
Watch and grab “Your 5-Minute Daily Plan” eguide:
