Janeane's World: Published By James, Davis, and Associates

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Stop Procrastinating and Make SMART Plans

black board defining SMART goals and the words If you want to succeed at any good and wonderful thing you must move from planning to taking action now with SMART plans. T

It is terrific to stop procrastination and take action now by having SMART  plans.

African American woman writing on a white board and the words "Stop Procrastinating and Make SMART Plans"

People are always plotting and planning to move forward with one plan or another. It is interesting to witness the flurry of activity that goes into the making of plans. Then people get tired, don’t take action now and they don’t make their plans smart.

If you want to succeed at any good and wonderful thing you must move from planning to taking action now with SMART plans. The idea behind the words, “take action now” is that a person is going to do something now. The crucial idea is that action takes place now. The planning, plotting, and dreaming stops. The action begins, things start getting crossed off the to-do list and accomplishment begins to take place. Actually taking action now is one of the best things you can do with a plan is to TAN it. In other words, take action now and start accomplishing things.

Once you have made the commitment to take action now to accomplish your goals, it is time to get SMART about accomplishing your plans. When plans or goals are SMART, they are:

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-Bound

For the sake of illustration, let’s take the following common goal and make it SMART.

I want to make more money.

This is a common plan made by people every day of the week. It is also a plan that is often not accomplished because as it stands now, this plan is not smart. When looking at it you cannot tell how much more money the planner wants to make. We have no way of knowing if any money made is more money. We don’t know if it is possible fo,r the person to make more money. Finally, we don’t know what type of time frame we are working with. Let’s work in a methodical way, in a step by step manner to make this plan SMART.

Specific

When a plan is specific, it has sufficient information to make it clear to the reader what is that is planned. It is the specifics that help make sure action is moving forward in the right direction. By adding specific details to your plan, it is easier for you to start moving towards where you want to end the journey. Using our example of wanting to make more money. More is not a specific word. Yes, it indicates an increase in amount, but what is the amount we are looking to make. Instead, let’s amend the goal as follows: I want to make an additional $500. Now we have something specific we can work with. Five hundred dollars is a specific, clear, and identifiable target.

Measurable

When a plan is measurable, there are indicators that permit one to gauge whether success has been reached. In our amended example: “I want to make an additional $500” is a clearly measurable marker. It is easy to look at the target and measure success and rate of completion along the way. It is possible for one to look at their historical and current income and measure if five hundred additional dollars have been made.

black board defining SMART goals and the words If you want to succeed at any good and wonderful thing you must move from planning to taking action now with SMART plans. T
photo credit: austinevan via photopin cc

Attainable

When a plan is attainable, it is one that can be achieved with hard work and determination. If a plan is attainable it can reasonably be accomplished. Attainability cannot always be determined in a vacuum. Sometimes we need to look at the other parts of the SMART plan to determine if a goal is attainable. If we amend our sample goal to: “I want to make $500 using the ideas for affiliate marketing I read in a book that my friends used in order to earn $750”. The fact that the marketing tips that will be relied upon have been successfully used before with success indicates that the tips the person wants to put into place may work.

Relevant

When a plan is relevant, it is logical that it will come to pass. Relevant plans give you ideas and information sufficient to make it reasonable to believe the plan will come to pass. Steps in a plan or goals along the way to plan completion make sense when you look at the big picture. So, let’s amend our plan again: “I want to make an additional $500 by using the ideas for affiliate marketing in the book *** that my friends used  in order to earn $750 in one month, and I have already started using with moderate success.”

Time-Bound

When a plan is time-bound, there are clear and identifiable time barriers to starting and completing the plan. SMART plans do not have indefinite or undetermined start and end dates. So our plan would be amended as follows: “Within the next  three months I want to make an additional $500  by using the ideas for affiliate marketing I found in the book *** that my friends used in order to earn $750 in one month and I have already started using with moderate success.”

This amended plan is a way for a person to take action now using a SMART plan. By looking at it we know in a Specific way what the person wants to accomplish, earn an additional $500. Success is Measurable because one can look at historical data and determine if the additional income has been obtained, The plan is Attainable because there is a plan in a book that has been successfully used and the person has started using the plan with success. It is Relevant because the steps along the way relate to one another in a sensible way. Finally, the plan is Time-Bound because there is a clear tie period from the start and to the end of work on the plan. This plan that the person is taking action now to complete is SMART.

In conclusion, it is magnificent to commit to taking action now by having smart plans. So, the question for you this magnificent day is, what SMART  planning are you bringing your actions today?

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26 thoughts on “Stop Procrastinating and Make SMART Plans”
  1. Good thing, I had never ever did procrastinating before. Your advices are so great.

  2. Good to read this, I hate plans. But I think I have to learn SMART ways.

  3. Thank you for breaking this down in such a smart, accessible way. It is easy at times to feel overwhelmed but this makes it very practical.

  4. 2021 i aint playing with you. I am going to make sure I succeed all my goals for 2021. Thank you for sharing.

  5. These are all really good tips. I need to learn to focus more on work, I’m far too easily distracted.

  6. Oh, I am guilty of this. I normally procastinate which I didn’t notice that I am already. This is indeed a good read and a reminder for everyone to make it a habit to plan.

  7. Great tips and great idea of using an acronym. I love having a plan as it provides clarity to wear I’m heading and what my goals are.

  8. This is a great way to set a potential plan in motion while ensuring it is practical and realistic. The helpful acronym makes it easy to remember as well.

  9. wonderful advise and helpful information! Planning is so important, I’m working to do better with my own planning.

  10. I will have to keep this in mind. I know I do need to plan more. I have a bad habit of procrastinating.

  11. I love this post. I’m a Virtual Assistant, so I have tons to do, and it all had to be done yesterday when I get it. LOL. Planning is how I get it all done.

  12. I think everyone needs to read this. I learned early on in my career that planning is key. Without it, everything just flounders.

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