“Would you tell me, please, which
way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where
you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where –” said
Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way
you go.”
Do you know where you’re going?
Where do you see yourself in a year, five years – and perhaps ten years down
the road? In the years where I have planned out what I wanted to accomplish, I
invariably achieved what I set out to do – and it has consistently been more
than in the years when I didn’t plan.
So from my personal experience, it’s
true – if you don’t know where you want to get to, it doesn’t matter which
way you go.
Do you have hopes and dreams you’re
chasing? If you do, but aren’t sure which way to go – perhaps a personal
development plan will help you figure that out, and help you get there.
Why
Put Together a Personal Development Plan?
“He who fails to plan is planning to
fail.”
– Winston Churchill
You may have previously read this
discussion on writing down your goals, where I point to research showing that it has a measurable
effect, increasing the likelihood of success. In addition to the research,
three big reasons I like having a personal development plan include:
- Clarity.
Knowing what I am trying to accomplish gives me a clear idea of what I’m
working on.
- Define The Why.
Oftentimes, along the way I’ll come across tasks and situation that I
simply don’t enjoy doing. Having a personal development plan shows me why
I’m doing what I’m doing.
- My Compass.
I’m a very driven, ambitious person – but if I don’t have a plan of what
I’m trying to accomplish, I end up expending energy in many different
directions. A personal development plan keeps me headed towards consistent
goals.
What
Do I Put In A Personal Development Plan?
“Success requires a wel-articulated
goal. It is not a product of wishful thinking.”
– 7 Simple Steps
by Jonathan Wells
The answers to this question are
varied. For me, the broad answer is this: I write down what I want, and I
write down how I plan to get there.
That’s the overarching purpose, but
I’ll give you some specific examples of what to include in your personal
development plan as well. Some of these items I added after recommendations
from my mentors. One thing to note though is there are no hard and fast rules –
your personal development plan is all about you, and what you want to
accomplish.
Personal
Development Plan Example Sections
- Your Life Purpose.
What were you born to do? What is the meaning of your life?
- Your Dreams. Those
far reaching thoughts and hopes that inspire you to action.
- Short, Medium and Long Term Goals. Some people like weekly, monthly, others like yearly
and beyond. I like to have a mix of them, but at any given time I like to
have at least some goals I can accomplish in the span of a few months.
This lets me see that I have measurable progress towards my goals.
- Your Beliefs and Values. What do you stand for? And perhaps, what do you wish
your actions showed you stand for?
- Your Ideal Self.
I like to write down “Ideal Sid.” I have a description of the type of
person I want to be – the way I act around people, the way I spend my
days, and I have some specific things such as how ideal Sid responds to
criticism, how ideal Sid deals with negative people, and how ideal Sid
deals with failure. I don’t always act the way I idealize I should, but it
gives me something to shoot for – and most often, this section is not
accomplishment or achievement driven. It’s mostly about my interactions
with people.
- Mistakes and Lessons.
Very often I’ll make mistakes along the way. I don’t write them down to
beat myself up over them – I write them down because we learn so much from
our mistakes.
- Success and Milestones. Just as I note my mistakes, I also celebrate my successes.
One of the areas many people
struggle with is setting goals. That is a whole other article in and of itself
on how to effectively set goals, but lets talk specifically in the context of a
personal development plan. How can you get a good overview of the direction you
want your life to head? Once you’ve settled on your life purpose and your big
dreams, you should sketch out some goals in the most important areas in your
life, at regular intervals. I like to go ten years out, but three or gives
years is great too. A very simple personal development plan template for goals might look like this:
Goal Area
|
One Year
|
Three Year
|
Five Year
|
Ten Year
|
Career
|
||||
Finances
|
||||
Physical/Body
|
||||
Social
|
||||
Personal
|
For each box, answer these
questions:
- What specifically do I want to accomplish?
- Why?
- Who can help me?
- How do I get there? (What actions do I need to take?)
Personal
Development Planning Tools
In addition to the information
above, consider other tools to help you with your personal development- Events. Especially
for career and education goals, are there seminars you can attend?
Conferences? Meetups where people similar to you gather?
- Classes/Books/Educational material. Sometimes the first step is finding the resources we
need. You may want to start by checking out some of my personal development product reviews.
- Mentors and Supporters. Who can you reach out to that can help you with your
goals? For many of my personal goals, I’ve formed individual mastermind
groups towards a specific purpose. If you’d like me to mentor you – you
can contact me for coaching, or receive free training below:
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