It’s been a while since I posted on productivity, perhaps I should have written this post some time ago.

Every been stuck on a project? Had something that needed doing; but just couldn’t seem to get around to it?

Most of us face this sort of procrastination from time to time and it can be very difficult to get a project moving once it’s run aground. However one technique you can use to get a project going again is to work on the project’s Next Action.

The Next Action is the very next thing that needs to be done to move a project forwards. Sometimes I think I have a good idea of what the Next Action for a project might be; but when I look closer my Next Action is actually something very vague and not actually actionable at all. This is a sure fire way of ensuring a project doesn’t make any progress at all.

Let’s look at an example. Suppose I have a ‘project’ (a.k.a ‘dream’) to buy a house in the country. I kind of know that the next action for this project is to check my financial standing to see what I could afford.

Well months and years go by and I’ve still got this dream to buy a house in the country; but why am I no further forward with the project? It’s because my Next Action, ‘check my financial status’ or ‘see what I can afford’ isn’t an action at all – it’s some sort of nebulous fuzzy idea designed to make me feel like I’ve control of the project whilst not providing anything actionable.

When I find a stuck project like this I take my fuzzy Next Action and begin to break it down into something more concrete:

• What should I do to check my financial status?
• How can I see what I can afford?

From this comes something a bit more tangible:

• See mortgage advisor to find out what I can afford
• Get current property valued

Finally some real Next Actions can be written down:

• Call Bill at "Mortgages For You" to make appointment
• Call surveyor to get property valued.

If there’s a lot of resistance to doing something you might have to set very find grain Next Actions. Remember that every journey starts with a single step.

Maybe you have some tips and techniques for setting Next Actions for your projects. Please don’t forget to share them in the comments.