Let’s take breaking down your work to another level by thinking in terms of next actions. Here is a bold statement for you. Viewing everything as a next action is the key to getting anything done. If you have ever procrastinated on tidying your home then this piece of advice will solve all that. If you have ever been overwhelmed by all that has to be done this is the answer to dealing with that problem.

A next action is exactly what it sounds like. It’s the next physical action you need to take to move something forward. Tidying your bedroom is not a next action because that task encompasses so many facets. Just try doing it now and you will see how difficult it is to work on something without knowing what actual steps to take. Where will you start, what will you do? To move the bedroom organizing project forward you need to work on one next action at a time. For instance, you could hoover the carpet, then put laundry away into your wardrobe and then make the bed. This step strongly ties into the previous tip of mapping out what needs to be done. That stage broke down your home into distinct, manageable projects. This stage then defines what physical steps you have to take to move each of those projects forward.

How to work out what the next action is

A next action might sound self-explanatory but until you’ve been defining them for a while it can be a little confusing. To make it clearer there are four basic rules that can help you define what a next action is:

• Begin with a verb to emphasize what action is actually involved.
• Clearly and precisely describe what it is you need to achieve
• Specify what the end result should be so you know when it is completed.
• Include times, dates and any deadlines as appropriate.

Begin with a verb

Verbs typically express action, whether it to read a paper, write a review or phone a friend. With it, there is no doubt what physical action you need to take. If you need to empty a cupboard, it should be pretty apparent that you need to get your hands dirty. Without a verb attached to your action you just end up with something ambiguous like “do office carpet” which doesn’t give a clear picture of what you actually want to do. What do you need to do with this carpet? Do you need to hoover it? Does it need washing, perhaps? Or are you wanting to replace the carpet? Below are a few more examples of suitable verbs that will help to give you some ideas.

Fig 2: Examples of verbs

Be clear and precise

A next action is exactly as its name implies. There is no room for lack of clarity or fuzzy thinking otherwise it loses all its meaning. The next action needs to be clear and precise so that when you read it you know what is expected. For example, “clean under the bed” is not specific enough (though note that it does begin with a verb so it’s half right). What are you actually planning on doing when you go into that room and look under the bed? Are you just going to randomly start picking up junk here and there and hope it all comes together? Even something as small as cleaning under the bed can be broken down further. “Pull all the boxes out from under the bed” is much more specific and good first step to take. Then you could have next actions focusing on each box, for instance.

Specify the end result

Quantify the next action so you know exactly when you have achieved it. Providing you have followed the previous two rules this should be much easier to define. If it doesn’t have a clear end result how will you know when to stop? By now you should be realizing that being clear about what you are doing is key to this whole approach. Using the bedroom example again, the goal for removing all the boxes from underneath the bed should be obvious. If you only take half of them out and then move onto something else you are leaving the job half-finished. It’s critically important that when you start one of these next actions you aim to complete them. Unfinished tasks achieve nothing. However because you are dealing with bite-size chunks of work it will be comparatively simple to get them done before boredom and tedium kick in. It’s much easier to do and complete a five minute task compared to doing and sticking with a job that might take an hour.

Add times, dates and deadlines

While it’s not always possible to stress that action A be done at this time and action B be done at that time, where practical it is important to have a picture of when you will be doing something and the sort of time-scales you will be dealing with. Having some form of deadline gives you an extra incentive to get it done and can even serve as the target you need to declare the action complete. Taking the bed example once more, it could be altered to state that you will process clutter from all the boxes under the bed for thirty minutes. At the end of that time you tick it off as complete and move on. You can also state that you will do it on or before a particular day too.