Learning to learn

4.3 What we mean by an action plan

An action plan is a list of all the steps that you need to take to reach a particular goal and a timetable for achieving each step.

How might you go about developing a plan? This can vary. You might want to set yourself a goal that is quite complex. Your plan will also be different if it is for a long-term goal, rather than a short-term one. For a short-term goal, the steps might be fairly easy to identify. For a longer-term goal you may need to spend more time and effort at the beginning in order to find out what the steps might be, what might get in your way, and how you can overcome the obstacles.

Completing this unit could be an example of a short-term goal. To work out how you were going to do this, you may have had to think about organising somewhere to study, finding the time to study and perhaps getting your family members on your side. You may have had to negotiate new arrangements for the household chores. Before you decided on the goal of doing this particular unit, though, there may have been a much longer period of working out what you wanted to do with your life; what options were open to you and making decisions about which to pursue. This is clearly a much broader, long term goal.

However, the main action planning process for reaching a goal always involves:

• setting yourself a goal to work towards
• working out what you need to do before you can achieve your goal ? breaking the goal down into smaller and smaller chunks until you get to a point where you think, ‘Yes, that?s manageable. I feel I could tackle that bit.?
• putting the steps in a logical order ? some will be dependent on others having been completed first, while some will be more flexible and can be completed at any time
• starting work on the small and early steps, ticking things off as you go
• reviewing the action plan on a regular basis and adjusting it, as necessary, if your timescales are slipping, or you discover ? through the learning you acquire in completing the early steps ? either more interesting and achievable goals or more effective ways of achieving the goals you initially set.

In this section we help you to develop an action plan which you can then implement, monitor and evaluate during your study of Section 5. To help you work through the section we are introducing two other people in addition to those in the case studies you have come across in other sections ? Jodi and Shauna:

Case Study: Jodi?s story

Jodi has been working for a long time in a job that he hates. During a well-earned break with a group of friends, in self-catering accommodation, he ends up cooking all the meals and getting a wealth of compliments, along with queries about why he is not a chef. These responses really get him thinking about how much he loves cooking. It is something he first learned from his mother, but he has been developing his own ideas for some time now. Jodi begins to ask himself whether he could be a chef. It may not mean any more money than his current job, and the hours are not very sociable, but at least he would be happy doing it; he would not be constantly watching the clock like he does now ? waiting for work to end and real life to begin.

Case Study: Shauna?s story

Shauna has recently moved to a new area and spent her first six months getting her two older children settled into school and afterschool activities. Her youngest has just started nursery and Shauna is keen to have some time just for herself. She is beginning to realise that devoting time to her children has enabled her to avoid making decisions about her own life. She recently joined the local history society in her new town, as history was her favourite subject at school, but felt overwhelmed with shyness at her first meeting. She has decided it is time she did something positive towards developing her self-image and self-confidence.

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