The Missing Step Between Planning + Doing
Most of us don’t have a planning problem. Most of us have a follow-through problem.
I say this with love, because I’m the worst of sinners in this area.
Since the beginning of the summer, I’ve written “clean out my office” on my monthly to-do list. Every single month, I rewrite it. Every single month, it stays exactly the same, undone, mocking me quietly from the page.
Listen, it’s not that I don’t want to do it. It’s not even that it wasn’t important to me. The problem was simply that the job felt so big, I had no idea where to actually begin, so I never began at all.
If you, too, have a list of things you genuinely intend to do and somehow never seem to get to, I’m here to tell you that I don’t think the problem is your motivation. I think there might just be a missing step between the planning and the doing, and that’s exactly what I want to tackle today!
The Follow-Through Framework
Big goals and vague to-do’s stay stuck because they’re simply too big to act on. Our biggest mistake is that we’re turning outcomes into tasks, and that just doesn’t work.
You cannot “clean out the office” in one fell swoop. A clean office is the OUTCOME. The small, specific step that moves you closer to the outcome is your actual TASK.
So, what do you say we start writing our tasks on our lists, instead of our outcomes?! Here’s how we do just that:
- Name the Outcome – Start with the big picture outcome. What are we going for here? A clean office. At this point, we’re just naming it.
- Break It Down – You knew I was going to say it, I always do! This is the missing piece – the step that moves our outcomes into actionable tasks. Break down that clean office into smaller tasks. In this case, let’s say we divide the office into zones.
- Make It Even Smaller – Take each zone and break it down into smaller sections. I want you to think of these smaller sections as tasks you can complete in an hour or less. So we’re moving from “Purge and organize the bookshelves” to “Go through the top two shelves.” That’s it. That’s the whole job this week.
- Schedule It – Give that single task an actual time on your planner. Not “sometime this week.” Saturday morning.
- Make It Easy – Make starting ridiculously easy. After breakfast on Saturday, set a timer for twenty minutes. Not the whole shelf. Just twenty minutes. Starting is truly the hardest part, so chances are once you get going, you’ll keep going and get more done than you planned!
The beauty of this framework is that it works for nearly anything sitting stuck on your list right now, whether it’s an office, a Bible study you keep meaning to start, or even a phone call you keep putting off. (I see you, fellow introverts!)
The plan alone was never going to inspire you. Neither was the motivation you kept waiting to feel. What actually moves you forward is a small enough step that feels ridiculously easy AND like a quick win!
So here’s your assignment, friend. Take one outcome that’s been sitting stuck on your list, and run it through the framework. Name it. Break it down. Make it smaller. Schedule it. And then? Set the timer, and start.
If your list is full of outcomes instead of tasks, our free Anchored Goals Starter Pack will help you break every single one of them down into a real, doable next step. ⬇️
P.S. This exact process, outcome to action, is a big part of why I built our 2027 S.O.S. Planner the way I did! There’s space built right in to break your goals down into real, weekly tasks, so you’re never staring at a vague outcome wondering where to start.
Want to be the first to see it? RSVP to our reveal party below! ⬇️
Kayse Pratt serves Christian women as a writer + designer, creating home + life management resources that help those women plan their days around what matters most. She’s created the most unique planner on the market, helped over 400 women create custom home management plans, and works with hundreds of women each month inside her membership, teaching them how to plan their days around what matters most. When she’s not designing printables or writing essays, you’ll find Kayse homeschooling her kids, reading a cheesy novel with a giant cup of tea in hand, or watching an old show from the 90’s with her husband, who is her very best friend.
