Five Personal Development Plan Starters
If your personal development plan is stuck, here are some tips to help you get started again.
These are only a few. There are many different ways to the fulfillment of your plan. Just keep in mind that you should never feel overwhelmed…and do not rush through your planning exercise.
There is no time frame for completing it. So, don’t hurry through the process. And best of all, you do not have to worry that anything you are putting in your plan may be incorrect. This is your plan. You cannot put anything incorrect in it. It is not a test…there are no right or wrong answers.
There is no time frame for completing your plan. So, don’t hurry through the process.
Try these five steps to help you get your personal development plan out of the mire:
Consider your strengths and weaknesses – Make a list of what you do well, and where you need improvement. This can surround your skills or personality traits. Ask your friends and family for feedback. Others may see some of your strengths and weaknesses that are not clear to you. Once you know what areas you want to improve…prioritize them so you’ll know which ones to focus on first.
Determine what you want to improve and why – What weaknesses did you uncover from the first step? Do you want to improve them? Why? How will you benefit by making those changes? What impact will it have on your life?
Answer these questions to include everything that you want to change about yourself in these areas. The answers will help you discover why you are seeking improvement. This exercise also helps to keep you motivated and on track.
Break out your improvement goals into short-term, medium, and long term – Write down your list of improvement goals. You already have your list of strengths and weaknesses… now you can use those weaknesses to help build improvement goals.
Include any objectives that relate to life, family, career, education, or other areas. Organize them…listing short-term goals first, followed by those that are medium and long term.
Identify resources and actions related to each goal – Next to each goal, identify the action and resources that you will engage in order to achieve that goal. For example, if you are afraid of speaking in public and want to work on that…you can set a goal for attending a speech class or seminar to improve public speaking. Alternatively, you could read self-help books or watch video classes, etc. as resources.
Schedule your personal development actions – When you are satisfied with the above steps, you can begin scheduling timelines for putting your plans in action. Use a calendar specifically dedicated to your personal development plan.
For example, if you want to begin working on improving your computer skills, schedule one hour every week toward improving those skills - utilizing the resources you have identified. Set aside blocks of time during the month when you will work on various items on your plan… and stick to it!
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