The normal action planning process at Sunday Night Success in its simplest form is:
1. Set your small action steps for a one-week period.
2. Work on your actions over the next seven days.
3. As you complete an action mark it off your list.
4. Review your accomplishments at the end of the week. Reflect on what didn’t work.
5. Move incomplete actions to your new list for the new week.
6. Add new actions for the new week.
7. Repeat the process each week.
The new experiment
My weekly list is usually a combination of actions that are carried over from the previous week, and new actions that I am adding to the list. This is a great process and gives me a lot of variety in the actions I can choose to work on.
However, sometimes by adding new actions to the list the incomplete actions from previous weeks get pushed down further and further. These actions are eventually removed from the list: if I ignore them for four weeks then they obviously were not as high priority as I thought they were.
That works fine if those actions can be set aside with minimal consequences, but what if the actions are really important and you are simply stuck in a place of delay: “I will just do it tomorrow”.
My solution, or at least the solution I am going to experiment with over the next few weeks is working your list to zero
Working your list to zero – how it works
I have set my current action list with a whole bunch of important actions that I absolutely need to get done in the next few weeks. These actions are important for both my business and my personal development: they are must dos.
So, I am going to make one important change to my action list for the coming weeks:
No new actions can be added to the list until all of the actions from the original list are completed. The action list must be completed, worked down to zero remaining actions.
Working your list to zero – why I think it will work
By not adding any new actions the list will get smaller each week. A smaller list means fewer actions to choose from, which means I will have to focus on the actions I have been putting off. With nothing else on the list to divert my attention I will have to get the actions I am stuck on completed, and I will have no choice but to move forward.
Will the experiment work? Only the coming weeks will provide an answer.
This is how I am going to focus on my “delayed actions”. I would love to hear any strategies that you are using to get your important actions off your list.
[...] am also going to try something completely new: I am going to work this list to zero. Check back Wednesday when I talk about this concept and why I think it is going to [...]
[...] back Sunday to see how working my list to zero is [...]
[...] Check back Sunday for an update on “working my list to zero”. [...]