Learning how to take action on your goals takes practice and persistence.
Do you know someone who loves to think plan and talk all day long about their dreams and goals for their backyard farm or a side hustle they could start? Or maybe that is you… It’s good to have a plan of action but that is still just a plan that will turn into a wish. (paraphrasing Zig Ziglar)
Successful people are taking consistent action and doing the work that needs to be done. It’s not poor planning that will slow you down or cause you to not reach your goals. It’s the lack of action.
You can get going and find answers to the problems you have when you run into those issues. And you know what else? Many of those things you think you need to have a plan for…. won’t even happen. Or you will get to a point the plan that you have to change what you are doing to make the plan work.
The only action that matters is action. Action constitutes the work, the steps, and the “action” necessary to reach your goals and dreams.
People often create new plans and ideas repeatedly but never take the necessary first step or action to make them happen.
As long as you create a realistic action plan for your business goals, you won’t fall into this trap. Here’s how to create a realistic action plan for your small business.
Revisit Your Main Objective (Your Why)
What is your main goal in life or for the homestead? Highlight 3 to 5 main objectives or reasons and why they are needed to reach the dream life you want to live.
But be detailed. “I want to supply my family with meat” is not detailed enough.
“I want to raise enough meat chickens to supply my family with all the chicken they eat each year.” Now that is a tactical goal you can take action on. You can find out the actual numbers and make a plan to get that thing done.
If you know your family goes through 200 pounds of chicken a year and the average butchered chicken weighs about 6 pounds. You know you need to raise about 34 broiler chickens to reach that goal.
Break It Down
Then take each main goal and break it down into REALLY small actionable steps.
This means you should have a different to-do list for each main objective you created earlier. If you started with three main objectives, you now have three new to-do lists.
Here is what it should look like if you are breaking down the list for planning to raise 34 broiler chickens.
- Check supplies for raising chickens and see what you might need.
- Plan the best time of year to raise the chickens.
- Decide if you want to do them all at once or break them up into batches over the summer.
- Place chick order to the hatchery.
- Purchase any supplies you need.
- Save up the cash for the chicks and chick starter feed.
- Set up the brooder.
Do you see how little each task needs to be? The reason they need to be this small is because you are able to take consistent action on this goal because you have a list right in front of you. You don’t have to stop and think about what needs to be done next. AND the next time you have a free minute you can get one of these tasks off your list. Like that time when your mom said she was coming to meet you at 6 but didn’t show up until 6:20 don’t waste that time by simply standing around doing nothing.
If you want to learn more about planning a project and breaking things down check this post out.
Use Every Moment You Have In Your Day
If you are truly serious about reaching your goals on your backyard farm or in your life you have to be dedicated to them. Use every spare moment to get closer to those goals.
That means choosing to do one more step in the building project instead of piddling on your phone. Or skipping a show on TV to write that blog post for your website to help build authority in your niche.
Or choosing to go comment on 5 different social accounts on Instagram instead of scrolling mindlessly.
Instead of standing at the microwave waiting on your coffee to warm up put 3 dirty dishes in the dishwasher.
It takes time to train your brain to look for those little tasks that need to be done but if you keep at it finding them will get easier.
Put Goals In The Proper Order
Next, you must put them in a timely order. Start with the most relevant or urgent tasks. Keep in mind your daily schedule, weather conditions, or activities that could sideline you from taking action on your life goals.
Here is what I mean. You have to make your supply list before you can go buy what you need to build that raised garden bed.
But what about choosing the right time of year to do something? You know the summer is going to require you to do a lot more outdoors so why not save your planning, side hustle strategizing, and content creation for the winter months?
Or build the garden beds in the garage in the winter months and have them ready to go outside and be screwed together once the weather turns nice. Speeding up the process.
Create Hard Deadlines
For each goal, set a hard deadline, and don’t give yourself any more time. You have to really mean what you set for yourself or your brain will know that you are not really serious and just cause you to come up with excuses.
The only way you can move a deadline is if something happens that you have no control over and you have to go handle that thing. But even then if you are truly motivated you should still try to get as far as you can during that busy season instead of throwing your hands up and saying you can’t do it.
Add the steps and tasks you need to do to complete that goal in your calendar and let yourself and other important people know about it. This way, you are sure to follow it and get it done. If you are building an online audience you can also post on your social accounts as a “what’s coming post” to help keep you accountable.
Don’t say “I am posting this to keep me accountable” That will show that you don’t have good follow through and you could lose trust with your followers.
Stop Learning, Start Doing
Oh, this is a big one and is often masking the fear of failure. People want to learn, learn, learn, and learn some more. Before they are ready to jump in and start taking action on their goals.
I love to learn and I did this A LOT when I was first learning the online world. I thought there was a “right way” to do things and while I was taking action on my goals I could have been taking way more action and getting farther along if I had created more content early on.
Whether it is learning how to do a skill on your backyard farm, how to raise an animal, or how to grow a business. The honest truth is the best teacher is experience. Read one or two books or blog posts about the thing you want to do and get started.
You only need the basics and you can learn new things as you need to.
Have So Much Grit There Is A Trail Of Sand Behind You
Grit is described by psychologist Angela Duckworth as one of the critical traits shared among high achievers.
It is defined as the ability to have passion and endurance when confronting obstacles along the journey, in other words, mental toughness. Developing this type of resilience can help you stay positive and motivated when reaching for your goals.
Everyone has limitations but if we work towards believing that we can achieve what we set out to do, having grit will help us stick to our plans no matter how difficult they may be.
This means staying strong even when faced with pain, fear, or grief. Courage and resilience are invaluable assets that should not be underestimated against overwhelming odds; completely discarding negativity in order to focus on our ambitions is an essential part of cultivating grit.
Having this level of mental fortitude (or mental strength) helps you stay focused on achieving success no matter how long or how much effort it takes. It turns simple goals into life-changing outcomes.
Keep Your Reason For Doing That Thing Right Infront Of You
People love to say “know your why” all the time but that seems to pie in the sky to me.
I like this much better. “know what you are fighting for”. It might seem a little dramatic but it has way more power behind it.
In essence, identifying your motivators is key to understanding why you’re taking action or lack thereof. Only by truly knowing what you want and why can you determine if it is the right thing for you to do. It will also help you know when something is going to take you down a path that will slow you down from reaching your goals.
To begin finding out your motivators, you should start by thinking about what passions drive you, what values are important to keep, and what goals set fire in your stomach. These come from within and should be unique to you as an individual. Your reason for doing something should not be “that’s what everyone is doing. or that’s what so and so does”.
When striving for a target ask yourself if this result will bring satisfaction or dissatisfaction when achieved. Evaluating what kind of feelings this goal would bring when you reach it can help you know whether motivation really exists.
Understand Your Limits and Be Focused
While the saying “the sky is your limit” may sound motivational, it can be unrealistic when running a successful backyard farm, homestead, or business. You need to be laser-focused on your overall goal, and if you believe you can get everything, you may lose focus on what truly matters.
In other words, it’s the difference between staying on a clear road or grasping at that “shiny object” that flashed across your feed. Shiny objects are leading you down a path of uncertainty and disorganization.
Each task you do needs to support your main objective; otherwise, you are going to be putting in a lot of work and not getting as far as you could if you just focused on one thing at a time.
What If You Like Lots Of Things
I am this type of person trust me. I like to have several things going and once I get in a rhythm I like to try something new. However, I have seen the power of working on a few things instead of trying to do ten at once.
When it comes to backyard farm projects I truly do think you should have one main focus at a time and maintain that others that you already have going IF YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH at them already. But if you feel unskilled at the things you are doing and you want to get better. Then you need to focus on that one thing before adding another.
If you do add a couple of things to your plate at a time you need to understand that even if you are maintaining one thing and focusing on another. One of those things is not going to be growing at the speed you could be if you just focused on getting better or growing just one thing.
That’s okay if that is how you like to operate but you also have to be ok with the results of how you like to work. You can’t work on several different things and then be upset because none of your projects are growing at the speed of someone else’s project that is getting their full focused attention.
Lower Your Expectations
Especially if you are new to this business or raising and growing your own food, expect less from yourself and others. I like to say hope and work for the best but plan for the worst.
If you lower your expectations about everything you do in life, you’ll be less frustrated. But this doesn’t mean should be lazy either. Keep a positive mindset, plan out your action steps, and be dedicated to your goal setting. You need to find that balance between doing what you can and not pushing yourself to do what is not possible.
Schedule more time throughout your day in case you need a little extra time as you make mistakes and learn. But you can also have a backup task list so if you get done sooner you can use that time productively.
Lastly, don’t fear the first step. Stop planning and just get going. Take the first step. Make it so easy that you can’t avoid it. Get your first customer, create that social account, take that first picture to market your backyard farm, and find out what grows best in your area, the momentum will give you the confidence and desire to keep going.
