How intentional are in you in life? Do you have a plan for each day, or do you always act spontaneously and do whatever comes to mind?

There is nothing wrong with being spontaneous, however I believe that you can get more success out of life by choosing to be intentional with your time. More specifically, I recommend creating and following daily action plans.

What is a daily action plan?

A daily action plan is a plan that you create that dictates what you are going to work on today or tomorrow. It can be a simple checklist, or it can be more detailed if you need it to be.

Creating a daily action plan means sitting down and deciding what you are going to do today or tomorrow. If you create your daily action plans first thing in the morning, then you are choosing what to work on today. If instead you like to create your daily action plans in the evening you are planning what to do tomorrow.

If you are like me, you have goals you want to achieve. You may also have tasks to complete on a to-do list and you most likely have several responsibilities that you need to fulfill. These goals, tasks, and responsibilities are the sources you look to when deciding what to work on each day.

To create a daily action plan, choose which of your goals, tasks, and responsibilities you are going to work on, then make a list on a sheet of paper of which tasks you will work on today (or tomorrow). These tasks will be actions to take to move closer to achieving your goals, to complete tasks from your to-do list, and/or to fulfill your responsibilities.

For example, last night (June 4, 2022) before I went to bed I created a daily action plan for Sunday June 5, 2022. I reviewed my goals, tasks, and responsibilities and decided to work on the following three tasks on Sunday:

1. Working for my client
2. Watching a 2-hour training course on Project Management
3. Writing my next blog article

I was intentional about how I would spend my time on Sunday, and I picked what I would work on based on my goals, responsibilities, and tasks. One of my responsibilities is doing work for my client. That’s how I get paid! This led to my first task for Sunday, which was to put in some time working for my client. I also have a goal to become a project manager, so I included watching a training video on Sunday to help me make progress on that goal. Finally, my to-do list included writing my next blog article, so I added writing my next blog article as an action item for Sunday.

Prioritize your actions

Another point about my daily action plan is that I prioritized my work. My number one priority was working for my client. Next was watching the project management training video, and last was writing my blog article. Therefore, I scheduled working for my client first thing in the morning, watching the training video for mid-afternoon, and writing my blog article for the evening. This ensured my most important task, getting paid for doing my job, happened first.

When you create your own daily action plans it is important to review your priorities. Choose what to work on based on those priorities, just like I did when choosing what to work on for Sunday. Put working on your highest priority as the first thing you will work on, then add some lower priority tasks as well.

Include time, not just tasks, in your daily action plan

When creating your daily action plan, be sure to include time as part of your plan. Don’t just pick a set of tasks to work. Choose when you will work on those tasks.

For example, my daily action for Sunday June 5 included a time component as follows:

1. Work for my client from 9 AM to 1 PM
2. Watch a project management training video from 2 PM to 4 PM
3. Write my next blog article from 6 PM to 8 PM

Outside of my planned work time for Sunday I am free to be spontaneous and do whatever I want. During my planned work time on Sunday I am focused on my chosen tasks. This ensures I get work done and make progress on my chosen tasks. It also leaves me to time to relax and have fun.

Don’t overburden yourself

When you start creating daily action plans, don’t overburden yourself. Be realistic when choosing what to work on for a given day. Don’t make a giant checklist of things to do and then leave yourself disappointed when you fail to complete all your tasks for the day. Instead, only choose to do what you can finish within a day and also leave time when you are not working.

For example, my plan for Sunday June 5 included 4 hours working for my client, 2 hours watching a training video, and 2 hours writing my next blog article. This had me working for 8 hours on Sunday and still left me with time to be spontaneous and to do whatever I wanted.

When do you create a daily action plan?

So when do you create your daily action plans?

I recommend picking the same time every day to create your daily action plans. This can be at night before you go to bed, or it could be first thing in the morning before you start your day.

No matter what time you pick (morning or evening), I encourage you to create a daily action plan every day. Make this a habit. You will be choosing to be intentional with your time, rather than always acting on a whim.

What if I want a break?

It is important to create and follow daily action plans. This makes you more successful and productive in life. But life is more than just work. Life also includes times to have fun, times to relax, time with friends and family, and more!

It is ok to have a day where you don’t create or follow an action plan. Think of this as a vacation from your normal schedule of actively planning and carrying out your responsibilities and tasks.

While you can have a day without an action plan, I encourage you to still make an entry in your action plan notebook for the days where you choose not to follow an action plan. Just make your plan for that day to be a free day where you do what you want. You will then have a record of the days you took off along with a record of the days where you worked on your goals, responsibilities, and tasks.

What if you don’t finish your work?

In life, you never know what is going to happen. Something could come up that interrupts your planned work or maybe your work requires more time that you accounted for.

Don’t worry! You can handle these unexpected circumstances by using your daily action plans. If your planned work for the today is not completed, add it to your to-do list so you don’t forget to work on it again.

When creating your next daily action plan you can pick that new task on your to-do list as an item to work on for that day. Alternatively, you can leave the work to another day if higher priority items take precedence over completing your incomplete task.

Reviewing your work

In addition to creating, and following, daily action plans, I suggest it is also important to review how your day went. This can help you to feel successful by looking back over the day to see what you accomplished.

You can do this by marking tasks as completed on your daily action plan. This can also help you review work that has not been completed and to add that work to your to-do list.

I suggest making it a habit to both review your day’s work and to create the next day’s action plan when you sit down to create today’s (or tomorrow’s) daily action plan. This will help you to keep track of what you have done and to know what you still need to do.

For example, when I create my daily action plan, I put a check box beside each task. At the end of the day, I check each box for the tasks that I have completed. This gives me a sense of accomplishment as I see the work that I have completed for that day. Any work that I have not completed then becomes a new item on my to-do list and/or an action item on tomorrow’s daily action plan.

What do you use to create an action plan?

So what do you use to create your daily action plans?

My recommendation is to buy a notebook to use to record your daily action plans. I like to sit down and write down my action plans on paper. By having a notebook dedicated to this purpose, I have one place to look to find my daily action plans. Over time it also becomes a history I can look at to see what I have accomplished over time and what my plans were.

If you prefer, you could use a computer to create your action plans, but for me, pen and paper are my ideal choice for creating my action plans.

Focus Blocks

Back in December 2020 I published a blog article on Focus Blocks. A Focus Block is a scheduled block of time where you work on one task without allowing distractions or multi-tasking to take time away from your scheduled task.

I encourage you to read my article on Focus Blocks and to set some of the tasks you put on your daily action plans to be Focus Blocks. This will give you focused time to work on those tasks and you will be more productive during that time.

What is the most important step when using daily action plans?

If you start using daily action plans, that is great! You are being more intentional with your time. Now consider the following question: What is the most important step when using daily action plans?

The answer is: You must follow through on your daily action plans!

This means actually doing the tasks that you put on today’s action plan. If you don’t actually do the tasks you planned to do, you will not make progress on your goals, tasks, or responsibilities.

When you create a daily action plan, make a commitment to yourself. This commitment is that you will do the tasks that you have planned for. Completing these tasks will give you a sense of accomplishment. It will also be rewarding to see those tasks completed and you will make progress towards your goals. You will also be fulfilling your responsibilities and completing items on your to-do list.

Conclusion

By creating action plans, and more importantly following though on daily action plans, you will be more intentional with your life. This will become a habit you will follow every day, even when you have a day where your only plan for the day is to not have an action plan.

Create your daily action plan every morning before your start your day or every evening before you go to bed. Then follow through on that action plan during the day. You will get things done and you will make progress on your most important goals, responsibilities, and tasks.

As motivational speaker and author Brian Tracy says: “Every single moment shapes our future. Be intentional. Live on purpose!”