Action Planning
Takeaways from dinner on July 29th, 2018
Introduction
On Sunday, July 29th we hosted a dinner on action planning. This post summarizes big takeaways from our discussion and acknowledges those who attended for participating. Enjoy!
What is action planning? 🤔
To us, action planning is the process we go through in order to make our dream creations reality. At the risk of sounding cheesy or completely obvious, we’ve observed that the only difference between those who create amazing things — products, companies, relationships, etc. — are those who do vs. those who do not. Action planning is the process of planning our “doing.” It helps externalize our ideas and get them out into the world.
This conversation is less about the to-do list; the tools we use to manage projects and communicate, the checklists and the plans, and more about the process we undergo to hold ourselves accountable to the thing we said we would do.
Why is it important? 📈
Action planning is important because it’s the only thing standing in the way of us creating what we want to create, building what we want to build, doing what we said we would do, and ultimately being our word.
Quotes from the group: 🗣
The following select quotes have been paraphrased from our attendees:
“Starting something new is like buying a plane ticket. Once I take the first step, I’m that much closer to going on the trip. ” — Anna Bouma
“If I write down an idea about blockchain (for example), its often that someone invites me to a blockchain conference. Going to the conference is like getting pushed into the pool.” — Joshua Key
“I like to turn ideas into something tangible. Doodling or writing them in a notebook makes them real” — Stephanie Golik
“When I’m 70% on an idea, saying it out loud (vs. keeping it my head) to another person helps me solicit feedback and take it the extra 30%.” — Samir Rayani
“Sharing my idea with others helps hold me accountable. Theres’s a rush. A sense of externalism happens when someone asks you about your idea later.” — Matt Daniels
“We [at my company] formalized this process. It’s called story time. Every week we each come up with three new ideas and we all talk about them together. Some could be good, some bad. We don’t have to work on any of them. But it forces us to get our ideas out there and get feedback. You might find that people really like an idea you were doubting. When we like an idea, we get one week to explore it and validate if it’s worth perusing or not. At the very least you get feedback. The opposite is chaos where ideas float around and never get tested or turn into 10-month endeavors. — Matt Daniels
“Writing down my ideas, even the crazy ones, is like filling a pantry of ideas. I might be working on something totally different 2 years later, and I find a good idea that meant nothing 2 years ago is now totally applicable to what I’m working on now.” — Joshua Keay
“Most things don’t work. Most companies don’t work, most book ideas won’t sell. It’s just the reality. Once we recognize this as reality, we don’t need to worry about the fear any longer.” — Joshua Keay
“I find that seeking feedback and weighing it against my own conviction is more productive than seeking validation.”— Anna Cogswell
“I have observed that creating something bigger than myself helps draw other people’s attention to what I’m creating, more than it would if it was about me.” — Matt Daniels
“Remembering my true north makes the small, more monotonous tasks it takes to get there easier and even enjoyable.” — Mike Saloio
Acknowledging our attendees: 👏
We hope that you took something away from our dinner conversation, and that perhaps you’re a bit closer to starting or completing that next big project.
Anna Bouma — Photographer and Producer @ Away
Matt Daniels — Editor @ The Pudding
Samir Rayani — Founder @ Next Big Sound
Joshua Keay — Product Designer & Founder
Anna Cogswell — Partnerships @ NeueHouse
Stephanie Golik — Director of Product @ MapFit
Phillip Zakas — Founder @ MapFit
Jaymee Sire — Television Host & Food Blogger
Justin Aharoni — Photographer
About Sundays
Sundays is a growing community about conscious leadership in NYC and LA. We believe the world and its organizations would work better if people shared more, and that it starts with communication and creating places and companies that let people show up as themselves. Our members include startup founders, early-stage investors, builders, creatives, executives, and more. We gather at secret locations for dinner on Sundays to connect and have authentic, real discussions on a host of different topics.
To request a seat at the table, hit the link below.
