Nothing gets done unless an action is completed. Everything we do is an action step. Of course some are so routine they don't really need to be written down or remembered. They are simply habit or ingrained in our daily lives. Wake up. Go to the bathroom. Say your prayers. Read the sports section of the newspaper. Take a shower. Brush your teeth. Get dressed. Drive to work. Do you have these tasks written down in your planner? Of course not. But they are still action tasks. You don't get cleaned until you wash up. You don't know how the Phillies did last night until you read the sports section.

The trick to moving forward and accomplishing goals, dreams and completing projects is, you guessed it, action steps. Let's say your goal is to bill a million dollars. How are you going to do that? What steps are necessary to achieve this goal? Working from the goal itself backward to today you might list these steps to bill one million dollars: increase sales staff to 10 people, train new sellers, hire new sellers, interview candidates, schedule interviews, review applications received, advertise sales openings, call newspaper for ad rates/info. This example clearly shows what steps need to be taken to reach the goal. And most importantly it tells us what the very next action step is - call the newspaper for ad rates and placement info. Do you treat your projects this way?

Taking the time to identify your projects, goals and dreams and then breaking them down into bite sized steps will help you become more productive. Let's talk about planning your business goals.

Mike Shannon is the owner of Shamrock Business Coaching, a coaching practice that helps business owners increase profits. You can visit Shamrock Business Coaching on the web at: http://www.ShamrockCoaching.com.