Section 9: Taking Action
Making progress on your goals requires targeted action.
That action, however imperfect it might feel, moves you forward and provides feedback to continually improve.
One way to harness the power of imperfect action is through a process called the Productivity Cycle.
This cycle consists of 3 phases: Plan, Execute, and Review. It's a repetitive loop that reinforces continual improvement. You plan, execute your plan, and review what happened to improve for the next time.
Plan (15%) - Create/review your plan. Develop tasks, checkpoints, contingencies, and a timeline.
Execute (70%) - Put in the work. Complete the tasks defined in your plan. Create, develop, and build.
Review (15%) - Review your actions from the execution phase to see how you could improve the next time.
The most beneficial aspect of the Productivity Cycle is that the majority of your time is spent executing. Focusing on execution avoids the trap of trying to create the perfect plan. Instead of becoming stuck in the planning phase, it reinforces putting in the work needed to make real progress.
For perspective, if the Productivity Cycle was a 7-day week, Sunday would be spent planning, Monday through Friday would be spent executing, and Saturday would be spent reviewing.
Recalling the 12-month milestone exercise from the previous section, how can you break those 12 months into even more defined actions to take? Ones that clearly state the daily and weekly actions you need to take? With the Productivity Cycle of course!
Each month can be viewed as an individual Productivity Cycle. You could spent the first 5 days planning, the next 20 days focused on execution, and the final 5 days reviewing your performance.
Dedicating specific time to each phase keeps you accountable. It avoids the trap of striving for a perfect plan before taking any action. It promotes imperfect action and provides time to learn and improve at the end of each cycle.
The beauty of the Productivity Cycle is that you can mold it to fit any situation. Each cycle can span from a few days to an entire month. If one month seems too long, you can shift to a 2-week, 1-week, or even multi-day cycle.
Making Audacious Goals Possible
Your 3-5 year vision is ambitious, but it’s difficult to know the daily actions you need to take from a 30,000-foot view. Further, it can feel overwhelming to look at a big goal and convince yourself that it’s possible.
The way to overcome this (and build self-confidence in the process) is to break that your big goal down into smaller pieces. Your 5-year vision is broken down into 12-month milestones, which is broken down further into 30-day Productivity Cycles.
The smaller the time frame, the clearer the daily action needed becomes. Those daily actions, multiplied over weeks, months, and years, are how you achieve massive goals. You climb a mountain one step at a time.