THE ACTION PLAN

The ultimate factor in achieving success is designing and then executing a plan of action. Without a plan, our hope for achieving success in specific areas of our life is hopeless. This section focuses on the action plan. The action plan is a detailed plan of attack or game plan that will enable us to chart our future accomplishment in steps. It allows us to think ahead and begin with the end in mind.
Stephen Covey, in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, writes that one of the habits successful people take part in is beginning with the end in mind. This may sound a bit confusing at first, so lets discuss this very important point.
Covey urges his readers to take part in an exercise that we will modify for our purposes. Take a few moments and imagine that you are at your own funeral. I know this sounds morbid, but stick with me and you'll understand why were doing this. Look around the room and look at who is in attendance. What would these people say about you and your life? Would they be inspired by the example you left behind? Would they want their children to emulate your lifestyle? If you were given the opportunity to live your life over again, what would you change so that those attending your funeral would be inspired by your life?
When approaching goal, it is wise to think about its ultimate achievement in the beginning. Think about and visualize yourself accomplishing the goal. The action plan will only succeed if you know your ultimate destination.
The first of seven points in our plan for detailing your action begins with writing the successful goal-statements. A quality goal statement possesses elements that correspond to the letters S.M.A.R. &T. A goal statement needs to possess the following five qualities for maximum effectiveness.
SPECIFIC: Goals that are specific are more achievable than goals that are not.It defines accurately your ultimate destination. Specificity in a goal statementlends meaning and establishes a direction to pursue.For instance, a goal statement such as "I see myself volunteering the homeless" is notspecific. But, when rewritten with specificity it becomes "I see myself volunteering at the homeless shelter on Main Street." By injecting the quality ofspecificity in to the goal, it becomes more real and we are able accept accountabilityfor our progress.
MEASURABLE: When goals are measurable, they provide a scale on which to gauge our progress. It allows us the chart daily, weekly, or annually, our progress. Our goal of helping the homeless, by adding measurability, now becomes, "I seemyself volunteering at the homeless shelter on Main Street one weekend per month." A business goal might be, "I see the sales of this product increasing by 20% over the next six months." It should be noted that not every goal lends itself to measure. Goals that pertain to appearance may be in this category. In this case, we can measure the amount of times we engage in appearance enhancing activities.
ACTION-ORIENTED: A goal should lend itself to action that leads to accomplishment
and measurability. Our previously stated goal now becomes. "I see myself volunteering at the homeless shelter on Main Street one weekend per month after meeting with the shelter director next Thursday." Imparting action to the goal helps us link our daily activities to goal oriented behavior.
REALISTIC: Defining a realistic goal is based on subjective judgment. If our goalis "to win the Mr. Universe competition" it will only be realistic if we are actively engaged in regular and disciplined weight training. If we a are just beginning this type of training, a more realistic goal might be, "I see myself entering a bodybuilding competition in the Spring by working out three times per week with my personal trainer." There's no reason why winning the Mr. Universe competition can't be achieved; perhaps it is a goal that is better placed on the long-term list.
TIME-CONSCIOUS: Imparting a timeline to our goals allows us to measure our progress and make adequate plans for scheduling goal oriented behavior. Setting short-term goals of one year or less and long-term goals of three-five years helps us assign priorities to our goals. It also assist us in forming action-plans which function as our master schedule for goal achievement. Taking the time to define your goal will greatly enhance your ability to clearly chart your action plan.
The second point in the action plan is to assign dates for the ultimate realization or achievement of your goal. Working within a timeframe will focus your action. It will give you a grid on which to chart your plan of action. Consider dividing your action into a series of tasks or actions that will lead to goal attainment. Be sure to write down these steps and spend time thinking about them. Revise them over time until you have a plan of attack within a specified timeframe.
The third point in your action plan is to identify possible obstacles and contingency plans. List the obstacle you may encounter along the way. What objection might you encounter? List the obstacles, people, or habits that might stand between you and your ultimate goal. Now make contingency plans, in advance, as to how you will deal with those obstacles. (See my Special Report "Overcoming Obstaces: How To Eliminate Barriers to Success".)
The fourth point of the action plan is to surround yourself with people supporting your success. Find people who share your ideas and associate with them. If your goal is to make better grades in school, start hanging around with those you know make better grades. Ask them how they do it? If your goal is to grow your business, start meeting with people that already done this. Pick their brains about their experiences. A peculiar thing will start to happen. Simply by associating with people of similar ambition and focus, you will begin to absorb their energy, their focus, and possible their skills.
Conversely, if you associate with people whom you know will criticize your ambition, it will be very difficult to attain your goal without extraordinary focus and drive. Just ask an ex-smoker who lives with someone who still smokes. If you're trying to lose weight, then don't hang out at the donut shop anymore.

The fifth point in the action plan is to focus on your skills. Think about the skills you possess that will be called upon to reach your goal. What skills do you have that can be called upon? What skills will you need to acquire or improve? If your goal is to travel in Europe, do you need to become bilingual in French, German, or Italian? List the skills you need to acquire also. Do they become smaller goals that must be met first? This part of the action plan will put your original goals in perspective. In designing your action plan you may find that your original goal is too broad and needs to be broken down into smaller goals.

Whatever your goal, the sixth component of your action plan need to be to follow a daily plan that links your activities to your goal. Think carefully about this crucial step. Unless we link our goals to our daily activities, we will likely lose our focus and drive. Managing our activities to include goal-oriented behavior is absolutely essential to goal attainment. Think about and document way you can incorporate goal activity into your daily routine. For instance, one of my goals is to learn HTML, the programming language used in the World Wide Web so that I can manage my own web site on the Internet. I don't have time to take a formal course, so I incorporate an activity into my daily plan that works toward this goal. Presently, I am reading a book on HTML during my lunch break. Later when I'm checking my Email, I visit web sites devoted to the basics of HTML. By incorporating my goal attainment behavior into my daily plan, I am working toward the ultimate achievement of this goal.

Finally, the seventh element of the action plan is to select a benefit statement that you can buy into. A benefit statement is separate from the SMART goal statement. The benefit statement is one that is used to assign relevance and authority to your goal. All of us, even Tony Robbins I assume, need to be encouraged to keep on going. We all need periodic self-encouragement and self-esteem building when no one else is volunteering to do so. The benefit statement can be written on a three-by-five card and read at anytime we need to hear it. For example, my benefit statement for learning HTML is: By learning this programming language, I am becoming more valuable to my business and am increasing my overall net worth by using this skill to build my business.
The benefit statement will serve to reinforce your goal-oriented behavior in times of challenge and when confronted by obstacles. The benefit statement is the CRAFT process put into action.
The action plan is a very important element in your ultimate formula of success. Taking time to think about your plan, writing it down on paper, revising it over and over until it becomes apart of your being will benefit you tremendously. The one reason most people fail to reach goals is that they embark upon their action plan too soon. They leap before carefully considering the consequences of doing so. Carefully plan your action and your action will accomplish much.

TECHNIQUES FOR ACCELERATED PROGRESS
The following information contains three techniques I've used to accelerate my progress in goal achievement that also work well for others. The first of these is a form of self-hypnosis. Self hypnosis is experienced by us all at various times. It is nothing more or less that intensely focused concentration on a particular subject. Have you ever driven past your exit on the freeway only to discover a few minutes later that you're nowhere near your destination? Or have you ever been so absorbed in a television program that you didn't hear someone talking to you? These are examples of a trance-like state that are nothing less than intense concentration.
We all spend a great deal of time in this state but its my opinion that the top producers in the world have learned how to use it to their advantage. They purposely and repeatedly spend time visualizing their success. If you wish to accelerate the progress on your goal oriented behavior, I suggest using the following exercise on a daily basis for at least three weeks.
I'm about to take you through the exercise. If you're listening to this tape in your car while driving, please wait until you are in a stopped and safe position. With that in mind, lets continue.
First, pick a goal that you wish to achieve in one years time. Then every day for a month, go to a place where distractions will be minimal such as your living room or a quiet office. Get comfortable in a reclining chair or sofa and loosen any tight articles of clothing.
Begin by relaxing your feet, concentrating on the feeling of your muscles letting go of tension. Imagine that you're breathing through the soles of your feet. Visualize the air entering and exiting the bottoms of your feet. Progress through your lower leg, thighs, pelvis, abdomen, chest, arms, and head. In about ten minutes, you should be feeling very relaxed. This is the desired state of consciousness for a hypnotic suggestion. To test your susceptibility, give yourself the following suggestion. Tell yourself that your eyelids are very, very heavy. As your count backwards from 10, they will be getting increasingly heavy and by the time you reach the number 1, your will not be able to open them.
Do this now. If you aren't successful the first time, don't worry. Just like anything worthwhile, this too must be practiced. Now that you are totally relaxed, imagine that you've been transported to a place in the future and your goal has been achieved. Do your best to picture yourself as having accomplished your goal. Create a very detailed picture. What does it feel like? Do you act differently now that you've reached this important goal? Tell yourself that this is the way you want to look and feel. Spend about five minutes picturing the goal and then slowly count forward from one to five. Suggest to yourself that, as you awaken, you will feel refreshed, alert, and confident in the activities that will propel you toward reaching your goal. At the count of five, open your eyes and proceed with the activities of the day.
At first, you may feel somewhat strange taking part in this activity. But with practiced regularity, you will find that you will experience more sustained motivation and confidence as you work toward reaching your goal. Many authors of motivation books suggest that it take 21-30 days for us to form a habit. Commit to taking part in this exercise for at least 30 days and you will be amazed at your progress.
The second technique I've used to my benefit is recording goals on tape. Have you ever listened to a seminar speaker that really got you excited? In the midst of the moment, you felt the exhilaration and enthusiasm of the speakers message, but perhaps had difficulty recalling those emotions after the seminar. Using a portable cassette recorder to record your goals, SMART goal-statements, and benefit statements can be your portable success coach. I've used this technique to record daily plans and encouraging thoughts and played them back over the course of the day for instant motivation. They serve as portable motivation seminars. This technique underscores what know about motivation: its temporary and fleeting unless we renew our sense of purpose.
How many hours a week do you spend driving? Most cars are equipped with cassette players as part of the stereo system. How hard would it be to play your recorded goals as you drive? Simply document your goals as suggested in this program and then record them on tape. Some people make the tape very motivating and pleasant to listen to by adding some soft background music. One person I know, who was from a military background, recorded his goals in the voice and manner of a drill sergeant barking out orders. This method worked for him because he normally responded to that type of environment. While this suggestion is not appropriate for everyone, it might work for some.
Regardless of your background, recording your goals and tape and playing it at selected times during the day can add that same feeling of enthusiasm and exhilaration you felt when you told yourself earlier that this goal is possible.
One reason this technique works is that its a passive approach to internalizing goals. Once the tape is recorded, you don't even have to listen to it to benefit from it. As an example of this, lets consider television commercials and how they effect us. When we watch TV, were constantly subjected to commercials. We usually don't sit and internalize each word of the commercial because, chances are, we've seen it many times in the past. This continual exposure to the same commercial results in our subconscious mind silently internalizing the message.
If I say, Please don't squeeze the ..........., or Microsoft, Where do you.............., or Its Libbys, Libbys, Libbys on your .............., you know exactly how each phrase should be completed. This is an example of passive learning. We do it subconsciously, without realizing its happening.
This is one of the benefits of recording your goals on tape. We are subconsciously internalizing whatever message we put on the tape. If we record motivational and stimulating thoughts and suggestions on the tape, that is what we will internalize.
Another benefit of this technique involves the actual process of recording the goals on tape. There is a saying within the hallowed halls of medical education that goes like this. See on, do one, teach one! In my early days of medical training, this was the approach we used to internalize the various procedures we were taught. We first watched a professor or attending physician perform the procedure, then we did one (usually many) under supervision, and then taught someone else how to do the same procedure. The process of teaching a concept or procedure can only be accomplished successfully if the one teaching has first internalizing it.
Simple by writing out your goals, planning your action, and then recording them on tape will internalize a great deal of the goal-oriented behavior. Later, when the tape is played your subconscious mind will again silently reinforce these ideas as valid for your life and cooperate one hundred percent in their accomplishment.
Finally, the third technique I've used to stimulate and accelerate my own goal oriented progress is to devise a system of small rewards for accomplishing steps in my action plan.
By using the system of positive reinforcement, you can set up small rewards for small accomplishments that lead to larger rewards for larger accomplishments. Positive reinforcement helps children and adults learn positive behavior patterns that lead to more responsibility and privilege.
Devising a system of rewards will encourage your progress as you work toward your goal. Take some time and think about some possible rewards for achieving each step in your action plan. Take care not to become extravagant in these rewards because that can lead to behavior that may contradict your particular goal.
When using this system personally, I devise a reward that will help me achieve more success in the goal area I've chosen. For example, when I first decided to create this audio cassette, I told myself that upon completion of the script portion of my action plan, I would purchase a new software package allowing me to record this product on my computer. The reward directly influenced the ultimate achievement of the goal. This, in my opinion, are the best type of reward system to design.