Planning Made Simple
Planning has a bad reputation. Sure, it can get overdone, with the plan becoming a straightjacket. But plans don’t have to be like that.
In project management, we say it’s the planning, not the plan, that’s most valuable.
Begin with a Goal
Like knowing where you will end up on a trip, start your planning with a goal. Your goal could be “Create a list of possible next careers” or “Find out whether _____ is a viable career.”
What is your career change goal? Write it on a piece of paper, then put it on a mirror or wall, where you'll see it every day.
Goal: _________________________________________________
Difference Between an Activity and a Milestone
In the beginning, plan at the milestone, not activity, level.
What’s a milestone? What’s an activity?
Pretend you are driving across the United States, or another spread-out country. Because it is holiday season, you need to make hotel or motel reservations for each night or risk sleeping in the car. With a map, it is easy. You:
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Decide upon the route
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Decide how long you want to drive each day
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Pick your nightly stopping points, using the map’s calculation of the mileage between cities
The nightly stops are the milestones of your trip.
To reach the milestones, you perform activities. You wake up, drive the car, put fuel in the car, stop for meals, buy water, and play music. Activities are tasks performed to reach a milestone.
A Milestone Plan
Create an easy, high-level plan with sticky notes, the papers that stick. Here are the steps:
- Put your milestones on sticky notes. Each milestone should go on one, and only one, sticky note.
- Now put the sticky notes on your wall, in the order you want to accomplish the milestones. You can line them up vertically or horizontally, it doesn't matter. You may also need to place some milestones side-by-side, as you'll work on them at the same time.
- As you begin implementing your plan, things will change. That's the beauty of the sticky notes! You can shift them around.
- What about the activities? Each day or week, look at the your milestones. The activities to accomplish the milestones can go on your daily "to-do" list or your weekly action sheet.
