diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycle.java b/x-pack/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycle.java
index 19aeceea515..fcdac59a4df 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycle.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycle.java
@@ -63,6 +63,8 @@ public class IndexLifecycle extends Plugin {
         Setting.Property.Dynamic, Setting.Property.IndexScope);
     public static final Setting<String> LIFECYCLE_TIMESERIES_PHASE_SETTING = Setting.simpleString("index.lifecycle.phase",
         Setting.Property.Dynamic, Setting.Property.IndexScope);
+    public static final Setting<String> LIFECYCLE_TIMESERIES_ACTION_SETTING = Setting.simpleString("index.lifecycle.action",
+            Setting.Property.Dynamic, Setting.Property.IndexScope);
 
     public IndexLifecycle(Settings settings) {
         this.settings = settings;
@@ -84,7 +86,10 @@ public class IndexLifecycle extends Plugin {
 
     @Override
     public List<Setting<?>> getSettings() {
-        return Arrays.asList(LIFECYCLE_TIMESERIES_NAME_SETTING, LIFECYCLE_TIMESERIES_PHASE_SETTING);
+        return Arrays.asList(
+                LIFECYCLE_TIMESERIES_NAME_SETTING, 
+                LIFECYCLE_TIMESERIES_PHASE_SETTING,
+                LIFECYCLE_TIMESERIES_ACTION_SETTING);
     }
 
     public Collection<Object> createComponents(InternalClient internalClient, ClusterService clusterService, Clock clock,
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleInitialisationService.java b/x-pack/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleInitialisationService.java
index 07377bf5c64..f3e707af199 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleInitialisationService.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleInitialisationService.java
@@ -17,15 +17,16 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.component.AbstractComponent;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.ESLoggerFactory;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
-import org.elasticsearch.xpack.ml.MlMetadata;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.scheduler.SchedulerEngine;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.security.InternalClient;
+import org.elasticsearch.xpack.watcher.trigger.schedule.IntervalSchedule;
+import org.elasticsearch.xpack.watcher.trigger.schedule.IntervalSchedule.Interval;
+import org.elasticsearch.xpack.watcher.trigger.schedule.IntervalSchedule.Interval.Unit;
 
 import java.io.Closeable;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.time.Clock;
 
-import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.indexlifecycle.IndexLifecycle.LIFECYCLE_TIMESERIES_NAME_SETTING;
 import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.indexlifecycle.IndexLifecycle.NAME;
 
 public class IndexLifecycleInitialisationService extends AbstractComponent
@@ -53,27 +54,27 @@ public class IndexLifecycleInitialisationService extends AbstractComponent
         if (event.localNodeMaster()) {
             MetaData metaData = event.state().metaData();
             installMlMetadata(metaData);
-            if (scheduler.get() == null) {
-                scheduler.set(new SchedulerEngine(clock));
-                scheduler.get().register(this);
-                scheduler.get().add(new SchedulerEngine.Job(NAME, ((startTime, now) -> now + 1000)));
-            }
         }
     }
 
     @Override
     public void triggered(SchedulerEngine.Event event) {
-        clusterService.state().getMetaData().getIndices().valuesIt()
-            .forEachRemaining((idxMeta) -> {
-            if (LIFECYCLE_TIMESERIES_NAME_SETTING.get(idxMeta.getSettings()) != null) {
-                // get policy by name
-                // idxMeta.getIndex(), idxMeta.getCreationDate(),client
-                }
-            });
+        if (event.getJobName().equals(NAME)) {
+            logger.error("Job triggered: " + event.getJobName() + ", " + event.getScheduledTime() + ", " + event.getTriggeredTime());
+            // clusterService.state().getMetaData().getIndices().valuesIt()
+            // .forEachRemaining((idxMeta) -> {
+            // if (LIFECYCLE_TIMESERIES_NAME_SETTING.get(idxMeta.getSettings())
+            // != null) {
+            // // get policy by name
+            // // idxMeta.getIndex(), idxMeta.getCreationDate(),client
+            // }
+            // });
+        }
     }
 
     private void installMlMetadata(MetaData metaData) {
-        if (metaData.custom(MlMetadata.TYPE) == null) {
+        IndexLifecycleMetadata indexLifecycleMetadata = metaData.custom(IndexLifecycleMetadata.TYPE);
+        if (indexLifecycleMetadata == null) {
             threadPool.executor(ThreadPool.Names.GENERIC)
                     .execute(() -> clusterService.submitStateUpdateTask("install-index-lifecycle-metadata", new ClusterStateUpdateTask() {
                         @Override
@@ -94,6 +95,13 @@ public class IndexLifecycleInitialisationService extends AbstractComponent
                             logger.error("unable to install index lifecycle metadata", e);
                         }
                     }));
+        } else {
+            if (scheduler.get() == null) {
+                scheduler.set(new SchedulerEngine(clock));
+                scheduler.get().register(this);
+                scheduler.get().add(new SchedulerEngine.Job(NAME,
+                        new IntervalSchedule(new Interval(indexLifecycleMetadata.getPollInterval(), Unit.SECONDS))));
+            }
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleMetadata.java b/x-pack/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleMetadata.java
index e921357122a..0412bd054bc 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleMetadata.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleMetadata.java
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ public class IndexLifecycleMetadata implements MetaData.Custom {
     public static final ParseField POLICIES_FIELD = new ParseField("policies");
     public static final ParseField POLL_INTERVAL_FIELD = new ParseField("poll_interval");
 
-    public static final IndexLifecycleMetadata EMPTY_METADATA = new IndexLifecycleMetadata(Collections.emptySortedMap(), 300000);
+    public static final IndexLifecycleMetadata EMPTY_METADATA = new IndexLifecycleMetadata(Collections.emptySortedMap(), 3);
     @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
     public static final ConstructingObjectParser<IndexLifecycleMetadata, NamedXContentRegistry> PARSER = new ConstructingObjectParser<>(
             TYPE, a -> new IndexLifecycleMetadata((SortedMap<String, LifecyclePolicy>) a[0], (long) a[1]));