Project Girl 2 Woman, Author at ProjectGirl2Woman

How to create an Action Plan + Free Template

Let’s jump right into creating an action plan for your personal goals.

(Sorry I am not really good at small talk. Ups.)

What is an Action Plan?

An action plan is a must have document for all goal achievers. You can create one in paperform or as a digital plan. It helps you plan all your tasks to achieve your goals. It is a very powerful project management tool.

A Simple Action Plan Definition:

An action plan is a step-by-step guide to help you achieve your goals. A personal plan of action is a simple way to break down what you want to accomplish into small steps. You’ll know exactly where you’re going.

Contents of an Action Plan

A clearly defined goal.
In-depth actionable tasks relevant to your goal.
A clear timeline, with milestones and deadlines.
It needs to show who is responsible for what.
Which resources do you have/ need?
You need to be able to check your progress.

Benefits of a Plan of Action

Especially if you have many tasks on hand and don’t know where to start, it is easy to get overwhelmed and procrastinate. The creation of an action plan helps you cut down your bigger task into smaller tasks: You’ll be able to:

work more efficiently
overcome procrastination
know your exact next steps
see how far you’ve come
fewer missed deadlines
less preassure

3 Questions You need to ask Yourself when Creating an Action Plan:

Who?

How many people are involved and what are their roles?

When?

When does the action plan start and end? And when are specific deadlines?

What?

What tasks are needed to accomplish your goals?

How to create an Action Plan:

Creating an action plan doesn’t have to be difficult. We’ll show you step by step how you can make your own personal plan.

Step 1: Set a goal

The first step is to set a goal you want to achieve by the end of the term. If you have no goal in mind yet, I recommend you to make a brain dump and write down everything that comes to your mind. What is the most important one you want to achieve?

If you already have your goal set, you are ready to get started. Just before we head to the next step I’d like you to rewrite the goal you set. I want you to adjust it, so that it is a SMART goal if you haven’t done so yet.

So what are the categories of a SMART goal?

Specific: Is your goal specific? Don’t just say you want to grow your Instagram followers by the next month. Add a number you are striving for! For example you have 500 followers and you want to grow 50% by next month which means you are aiming for 750 followers or additional 250 followers.

Measurable: how do you measure the progress to achieve your objective? Is it the monthly page views of your blog? Or the amount of products sold? Maybe even the chapters learned for your language course?

Achievable: Is it doable with your resources and the skills you have? It doesn’t sound achievable if you want to program an app within 3 weeks but have no programming skills or the finances to hire a programmer. Of course, you could still learn programming but you have to set a fitting deadline then.

Realistic: Is it realistic? 1 million youtube subscriptions in a month doesn’t sound realistic! But reaching a significantly lower number is! For example if you take 500 followers instead of 1 million. (Building your dream life can take time: most people are not an overnight success, never give up and one day you will get there!)

Timely: What’s the start and end date? What is the deadline? If you cannot assess how much time you would need to achieve your goal you can always look for experience reports. Not only will they help you estimate a proper time span but they also can help you find changes and tasks required to hit your goals even faster.

With a smart goal as basis you can create a smart action plan!

Step 2: Divide your goal into small actionable steps

Time to break your smart goal into tiny actionable tasks. Take a paper and brainstorm all tasks neccessary for achieving your goal.

Don’t worry if you need to do more research or you aren’t sure about certain steps. Write those unclear points down as well. You can tackle them along the way. A plan is always adaptable.

Step 3: Prioritize and add Deadlines

Having all your top points in front of you, it is time to find the most important/ urgent one and the least important / urgent one. Which tasks need to be accomplished before you can start the next step?

At the end you should have your steps organized. You can use a Gantt Chart to visualize the timeline or you use our action plan template below.

Step 4: Add Resources and Budget

Next step is to add resources and the budget needed to fulfill each task. For example, if you plan to create a blog and want it to be hosted you have to pay a specific amount based on your web hosting service company. If you want to create your own furniture, you need materials, knowhow and maybe a mode of transportation. During this step it is useful to look up several alternatives and find the best one fitting to your resources and finances. Enter your choice in the document.

Step 5: Monitor your progress

Once everything is clear and you have completed your document it is time to start taking actions. While you work from one task to another and hit your deadlines, it is also important to monitor your progress. Do you meet the deadlines? Did you do the correct task? Are you still on track? Is there something you have left out and still need to fit in?

Action Plans for Groups:

If you have more people involved in your action plan it is important to make the plan clear. You need to exactly write down which person does which task at which point of time. Additionally, you always need a good communication system and give important information to your team members. Miscommunication can make your progress slow down or even completely miss your objective. Also, a lack of communication can cause friction between team members .

Action Plan Template Excel: Click on it to create your own Action Plan!

Last but not least I want to add the 3 criteria for a good action plan by the community tool box:

The plan needs to be complete
Tasks need to be clear
The “action plan needs to reflect the current work”

Now it’s time for you to create your own plan of action. Want us to improve the template? Tell us what you wish we’d include in the comments 🙂

Time to achieve your life goals.

What to read next?

Here is our Ultimate Post on Goal Setting
Need some Focus Tips Cause you are Overwhelmed?
If you don’t know how to prioritize your tasks check the 80/20 Rule.
Are you lacking motivation? Here are Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivators you wish you’d tried sooner.
Struggling with Self-Discipline? Check out our tips.
Here are some tips if you are a Procrastinator and need a little push.

If you want to get informed about the latest updates, please subscribe to our newsletter. Last but not least we update every Wednesday and every Saturday. So, it would be great to see you again. Also, for updates follow us on:

Love from Germany,

Carina and Julia

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11 Tips on Dealing with Critical Parents & Loved ones

Project Girl 2 Woman

“Cariiiina …”

One word is all it takes. They say your name in a certain way. The tune already warning you that you won’t like what is about to come.

Like nails on a chalkboard, it screeches across your soul.

You take a deep breath. Steeling yourself for what is about to come.

Criticism.

Words can cut. And it’s ugly when we feel judged. Especially from loved ones. Like dealing with critical parents, husbands or friends. Yet criticism is inevitable. Even those who seem perfect often receive negative comments. So, how are we supposed to deal with this? How can I not be defensive, hurt, angry, and sensitive? How can I not take it personally.

How to deal with criticism from parents, family, and friends?

Have you ever felt like you can never reach the expectations of your parents? Your loved ones are always pointing out what you are doing “wrong”. Dealing with critical parents can be … anguishing. Especially when you are young it feels that parents have a constant need to improve and chastise you. Out of love they say.

And when you get older you meet new people, who try to “improve” you. Your partners, your friends, colleagues.

But if someone constantly demeans you, de-values you and shows you you can’t do anything right it’s no longer “feedback” to “help” you it’s destructive and toxic. It makes us feel unloved.

So what can you do when you are dealing with critical parents, husbands or family members? How can you respond to them:

1. Step Away When you feel Criticised

The funny thing is that reading all the comments from people who also have been criticised has helped me. And vise versa I read also about people who hurt someone with their ciriticism complaining that some people are just too “sensitive”.

Now truth is I most definitely have ciritcised someone before. Out of love and worries. It does mean that the other person isn’t necessarily a monster, right? Because I am not a monster either.

I had to wonder am I being too sensitive? Why does this criticism hurt me so much?

Stepping away gives you a chance. First of all, no one sees your upset crying, or angry face. (Guys love to say we girls are just too sensitive and “hysterical”)
Second, you can calm down and look at the incident more objectively. Was the comment meant to hurt you or not?
Breathe a few times. Take a walk. Get away from the scene. If they don’t want to let you go tell them you need time to process what they have just said. Leave with as much dignity as possible.
Sometimes we feel like there is some truth to what was said and that hurts. Figure out what is true and what isn’t. And why did that truth hurt you?
Ask questions to clarify what was said after you’ve calmed down enough. And replay the event in your head after you’ve got all the information.

2. Learn to take comments From Critical Parents and loved ones less personally

This is really hard. And the more you value someone’s opinion the harder it gets. In the end you need to be fine with your strengths and weaknesses.

You yourself have to judge is that critique or feedback anything worth. Is it honest? Does it come from a place of love? Or is the person who critized you just unhappy, critical or jealous.

They aren’t in your shoes. It is your life to live. You take the useful feedback and you throw the useless and destructive criticism.

3. Rant it all out

You know what also really helped? Writing about how unfair it is that I am being criticized for something that didn’t even happen that way. Seriously I think we all need a rant book to let all those stuffy feelings out.

(I mean we can hardly scream at our significant other all the time). They might get too scared, to be honest with us. And after we’ve cooled down we might realize there was some truth in what they said. I don’t want anyone to be worried about voicing their opinions. Feel free to use the comments below 😉

4. Try not to be Defensive

It is natural to feel defensive when faced with criticism. After all, we want to be seen as good people. So, when someone criticizes us, it feels like they are attacking us personally. This makes us feel bad and causes us to lash back. A fight starts and you know how that usually turns out.

5. Try not to point out their Failures

Aka you are the worst parent. First of all we never know when it’s the last time we see someone and we might regret our last words being naughty and second it just causes more resentment and pain instead of solving the issue. I know easier said than done.

6. Don’t let Critical Parents and Loved ones Discourage you

If someone tries to discourage you, ignore them. There is nothing wrong with being ambitious and trying to achieve something great. Instead of letting others discourage you, focus on your goal and work hard towards achieving it.

7. Ask them: How would you feel if questions…

Honestly this didn’t work for me but it was recommended on Reddit, so maybe it’s useful for someone. Ask them how they would feel if you critizised them in XZY manner in front of XYZ. Sometimes they will rethink what and how they’ve said it.

8. Don't take personal criticism too seriously.

It’s human nature to want to please others, but this doesn’t mean we should let ourselves be taken advantage of. When someone criticizes us, they aren’t trying to hurt us; they want us to change our behavior. So instead of getting upset, try to understand what they’re saying. And why they want you to change. (How would your change of behavior improve their life?) It’s probably got less to do with you and more to do with them.

9. Practice having difficult conversations

Difficult conversations are inevitable in life. They happen at work, home, school, and everywhere else. We face them everyday whether we want to or not. Sometimes they are uncomfortable but we need to learn how to have them. Try regular one-on-ones, talk about serious topics, to get less sensitive.

10. Build your Self-Esteem

Self esteem is the confidence you have in yourself. It’s the level of respect you have for yourself. When you have low self esteem, you tend to doubt yourself and question whether you deserve respect and whether what you do is right. So the more self-esteem you have the less you’ll be bothered by criticism.

11. Surprise them and say thank you for the Feedback

If you want to improve, then you’ll need to accept criticism. Throw your loved ones a curve-ball and say thank you. They’ll be shocked. However, this doesn’t mean you should lie or pretend to agree with everything they said. Instead, tell them honestly what you think and where you agree and where you disagree. This helps you understand where they’re coming from and allows you to learn from their perspective.

Why are they so critical?

Here are some reasons why they might be critical:

They want to be heard. They have continuously told you to put your socks away because it is making their day harder and you haven’t listened.
All they want is to do is help you improve and have a better life in the future.
They might be angry with you. Maybe they want to show you that they are upset.
They are projecting their own shortcomings onto you.
A life lesson is what they want to teach you.
Sometimes they just want to make fun of you to feel better. Because they are unhappy and dissatisfied with their life.
Attention.
They are just telling you their experiences. It’s completely objective. And your low self-esteem and past experiences are warping the words.
Feeling right is their goal.
They want to feel superior. This person wants to show off his knowledge. He thinks he knows everything.

How do you ignore someone's criticism?

Are they in “that mood” again? It’s like a switch has been turned on and suddenly they criticize whatever you do? Learn to tune it out or avoid them altogether. Don’t talk back. Don’t offer them more ground to attack.

In the end, you only have to be satisfied with yourself.

Pros and Cons of Criticism

Criticism can be feedback that helps us improve. However, sometimes criticism has negative effects that can be hurtful and damaging. Decide carefully if and how you want to mention criticism. The timing also matters.

How do you criticize your family in a nice way without being rude?

Don’t say: You are doing it all wrong. This is how it works. Why are you doing it that way?

Try saying:

Thank you for XYZ. I am worried if you do it that way you might hurt yourself or I know of a better way. Do you want me to show you?

This way the other person stays in control. You don’t judge them and you’ll be a teacher.

Why do I cry when I get criticized?

Why am I so sensitive and upset when I get criticized? Because you accept something of what was said as truth. And truth often hurts. Or what we perceive as the truth. Sometimes we feel:

Unloved
Judged
Embarrassed
Misunderstood
Guilty

Emotions are normal. And sometimes stuff like negative comments pile up. Don’t worry too much about tears. Take deep breaths calm your emotions and don’t let them control you. Unless you are a mess don’t worry about being hypersensitive or easily offended.

Wrapping it Up: dealing with Critical Parents and Loved Ones

Dealing with criticism is hard. Figuring out what’s constructive and what’s just toxic in the moment of being criticized is even harder. Let us know how you deal with someone who constantly criticizes you and how you handle critical parents.

What to Read Next

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10 Unique Reddit Q&As on How To Effectively Set Goals

Project Girl 2 Woman

Okay, the headline is not 100% accurate as I also researched questions on Quora. During my last post I wondered how you look at the goal setting process. How you usually scribble down goals – or if you even set goals at all. I am kinda surprised how many different questions popped up. Sadly a good amount was connected to negative experiences. After scrolling through both plattforms I categorized your questions into:

How and what is the best method to set goals?

How do you achieve your goals?

I don’t have goals

Why do I feel like I can’t finish my goals?

So lets get right into the first questions:

How and what is the best method to set goals?

There are many different goal setting methods to apply. The most applied and looked for is the SMART goal theory by George Doran, Arthur Miller and James Cunningham.

Check the full post on the SMART goal theory if you’ve missed it.

The Smart theory definitely explains how to set goals that work. Nethertheless I’d like to add a second method I learned thanks to your questions:

Also Read: Goal Setting Methods of Successful Women.

The 54321 goal setting method:

This method is based on setting goals for a certain time period. What do you want to achieve the next:

5 years
4 months
3 weeks
2 days and
1 hour?

Here is a Goal Setting Example for a full-time blogger:

5 years I am a full-time blogger travelling the world
4 months I have a set income (even if its not enough for fulltime yet)
3 weeks I have a thriving website with at least XXX traffic a month
2 days I created my first 10 pieces of content, and set up social media accounts
1 hour I buy a domain and set up my website

Noticed that I write in present tense? Writing in present tense helps your brain sort the process in “its currently happening” and not in “I wish it would happen”. It is way more final. A solid message to yourself.

If you feel stuck,unsure of how to set goals, and what goals to set – you can use the different areas of goal setting explained in the following posts:

This is also a great way to break down goals into small feasible tasks. So what do you say? What’s the best way to set and attain goals?

How do you set your life goals?

Set Your Goals Today -With the Digital Goal Planning Workbook!

Get the 30 Pages of Goal Setting Here!

Posts that will Improve/Inspire your Goal Setting:

How do You Achieve your Goals?

“I’ve set my goals, now what?” Thats probably what most goal setters wonder once they finish their goal sheet.

Have you ever set your New Years Resolution and somehow lost track of it just a few days later?

Working on your goals is hard, especially when you have a hundred million things you want to change!

Also Read: The 12-Week Method To Achieve your Goals

Step One: Don’t put too much on your plate!

Pick one goal and only focus on that one goal. You want to workout every morning and read 20 minutes at night? Thats fine, thats doable!

You want to build a 1 million dollar business withing 365 days while completely improving all your bad habits, and wake up at 5 AM every single day? I think you can imagine how that will turn out. Being realistic is key. Don’t focus on too much at the beginning. Change one thing at a time.

No you are not missing out or get left behind by others

Starting slowly is still better that quitting your journey 2 weeks in because you put too much on your plate and can’t handle it. Actually most peoply won’t realize their goals – so if you accomplish just something small you are doing a great job!

Believe me. I always felt like I needed to achieve everything at the same time. Immediately. I was scared that others would have so much more accomplishments in the year that I pressured myself into overcommiting.

But its just not realistic. Change comes in small pieces, with time and patience.

Step Two: Don’t Fear Failure or Mistakes

My grandma always says “If someone works he’ll make mistakes, and if someone doesn’t work he won’t make mistakes”

So if you don’t make mistake you don’t work and if you don’t work you won’t grow or learn.

Make mistakes. Take responsibility. Be brave.

If you are scared think about what can go wrong. (Note: This doesn’t apply when you can get physically or mentally hurt!)

Step Three: Have Faith

It will get better. Maybe your results aren’t as good as expected and you tried your hardest. You put in all the extra hours – but got nothing out of it. Don’t give up – keep trying. Try new things, new perspectives, new software programs, new designs, new content. Try try try. If you want something that other people don’t have (or try to compete with them) you need to believe in yourself and the process.

I always tell myself that everything has its point of time. If it didn’t happen yet, then the moment isn’t there. Have patience.

Now let’s see what people do if they don’t know how to effectively set goals:

3 Reasons Why people set a New Year's goal and it only lasts for about a month

Set too many goals for a small time period
Want to have immediate change and results
Don’t follow up with actions
Have low self-esteem and compare themselves with others
Set the wrong goals
Are scared to make mistakes /embarass themselves in front of others

You probably wonder “Why is goal setting so hard?”. The hard part is that you need to make a decision – how do you want to live?

You need to take the risk to fail, to embarrass yourself – to take responsibility of your own actions. You need to motivate yourself to do better – constantly. Depending on your goals you need to work and hammer on your projects while others are out spending their saturday afternoons at the pool.

We don’t want to miss out on life. But we also want to realize our dreams.

Its hard to bring both together without falling back on old habits. Nor can we miss out on the lovely memories we make with our loved ones.

Goal setting and achieving isn’t easy. But it is worth it at the end. It is a life long journey of learning and growing – trying, failing, trying again and failing again.

But remember

“If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. It’s the hard that makes it great.” – Tom Hanks

Posts To Help You Pull Through When you Feel like Giving up:

I don’t have goals - what now?

Ever had to scribble down your goals in school and your brain just goes blank? It happens to all of us.

Maybe you need to figure out who you are in life- and who you want to be.

What do you like, what don’t you like?
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
What makes you happy/sad?

You don’t need to aim for becoming a CEO to set goals. You can aim to join a book club or to simply eat one chocolate bar less a day. You can focus on the things you like and note down to visit your favorite places more often – or make the effort to call up your parents once in a while.

Here are some Self discovery posts that will help you with your goal Setting:

Why do I feel like I can't finish my goals?

This question intrigued me for several reasons – I’ve been there. I’ve been there many times. I scribbled all my goals down. Dreamed about them. And deep down I somehow new I would never reach them. It was sad really. Now looking back I had following habits that fueled my discouragement:

I set goals year by year but I quit everytime (by the end of January)
I set my goals way too high
I always started too empheurically into the new year and drained myself with overcommiting
I had low self-confidence
I stopped when I had to step out of my comfort zone

Today I know that I started the year with the wrong mindset:

“If I can’t accomplish it – then why do I even try?”

I didn’t care about the progress, the obstacles I would face and grow by. I didn’t care about the journey I would go on. I only cared about the outcome.

So when I stood infront of the first hindrance, I stopped and turned around. I gave up because I wasn’t mentally prepared to simply jump over it.

Lesson Learned:

If you don’t like the journey, you will not make it to your destination. Focus on the road, the scenary, the people you meet. Don’t waste your time thinking “what will happen once I get there”. Live in the present.

Have you ever been in the same situation? Why did you quit your goals? What were the reasons?

What are 3 common mistakes people often make when setting goals?

They don’t learn from mistakes
They are influenced by others
They don’t track their progress (MindTools)

Summary on how to effectively set goals:

Use a proven method to aim your goals (SMART or 54321 method)
Don’t plan too many goals (or too complex ones)
Be realistic
Analyze your resources and skills in advance
Break down goals in small time frames (weekly/monthly goals)
Note down immediate actions you can take

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