Family Action Plan 2013

At the playground a week ago, just after new year, a friend shared that someone she knew was creating a categorized life plan.  Having an avid interest in the Strategic Planning process (which we follow for goal setting for our school district, site, and programs), I was intrigued, particularly by the notion that our entire family could be involved. 

I happen to love charts; one year we made a Family Goals Chart and we currently have a Family Chores Chart on the fridge (with illustrations generously provided by Big Sis).  This year, with the structure of various categories in mind, I started thinking of verbs that might guide our decision making and planning for the year, like "give,"  "learn," and "visit." 

And thus our Family Action Plan was born:

On Monday night at dinner we filled in the chart together.  We decided "visit" was for people (so many we want to see this year!) and "go" for places; in the margin we wound up adding "do" because there were some actions that didn't quite fit the other verbs. 

One of my favorite categories is "try," where we have "grow watermelons, asparagus, and strawberries"; "golfing"; and "Thai food."  The "make" list will be fun to refer to on rainy or unscheduled days.  The "fix" category helped us prioritize home repairs, and "buy" to identify some worthy investments, like a new bike for Big Sis and a computer that works properly. 

 

 

I'm thinking my personal action plan might include "read," "clean," "give up," "accept," "start," "finish," "acknowledge/thank"...

How are you structuring your goals, plans, and dreams this year?