A personal development plan will help you achieve your goals and transform your life. Here are some effective tips on how to write one.
Have you encountered someone that made plans to be obese, lazy or broke? Nobody will wish these things for themselves. They only happen when we do not plan. Some people want to achieve career success. Others may have plans to turn their hobby into a profession. Whatever your goal might be, let’s take a look at how you can create a personal development plan that will help you achieve it.
Step 1: Start by listing your goals
Goals are the milestones we set for ourselves. And achieving them makes you feel fulfilled. While writing your plan, think of the goals you would like to achieve right now. Is it about developing new skills, a dream you want to accomplish or getting a better job?
At this point, there might be many goals in your head that you want to accomplish. But think of the ones that are important to you, otherwise, you will never achieve anything. It could be about your career pursuit or about your health like losing weight or eating healthy.
Tips:
- Write down about 10 or more goals you want to achieve in bullet points.
- Think carefully about the ones that are most important to you. In the list, reduce the number of goals to at least 5 – 10 key ones.
Step 2: Prioritize your goals
Among the many goals you have listed, which of them comes first? Assuming you had 10 hot goals, which would be your number one? You have to prioritize your goals while making plans.
Also, don’t forget that your personal development plan aims to improve certain aspects of your life. So as you achieve your goals, that aspect of your life should also improve.
Assuming your goal is to develop a skill, you need to know if other areas of your life will improve once you achieve it. For instance, developing speaking skills can help you achieve things in your life like better communication with friends and colleagues. It will also contribute to building confidence and handling successful negotiations, which are paramount to business success.
Tips:
- After writing your 5 or 10 key goals, re-write them in order of importance.
- Make the most important of your goals your number one on the list. Then work on the ways how you could achieve it.
- Write why that goal is the most important at this stage of your life. This will help you stay motivated and focused on achieving it.
Step 3: Identify your strengths and weaknesses
Even superheroes in the movies have strength and weaknesses. Everyone in the world does. We all have something we are good at but may not have noticed it.
Your weaknesses are your limitations. It could be that you procrastinate and hardly get things done. Whatever the case may be, identify and mention your weaknesses in your plan to be able to figure out the ways to tackle them.
Your strength, on the other hand, could be a skill that you have in certain areas, which you can use to achieve your goal. So, find out what your strengths are.
Tips
- Find out about your strengths and weaknesses by asking friends or family members. Sample the opinion of two or more persons, making sure that the answers are unbiased.
- Make a list of your strengths and weaknesses. Also, identify the obstacles (weaknesses) that can prevent you from achieving your goals.
- Come up with a plan on how to overcome your weaknesses to achieve your goals. Also, mention the strength or skill you have that can help you with that.
Step 4: Create a deadline
No plan works out without a deadline. In fact, your goals are as good as dead if you do not set a date to accomplish them. One thing that hinders many from achieving their goals is that they set unrealistic goals.
So make sure that your goals can be achieved within the stipulated time and think it through carefully before finishing your personal development plan.
Tips:
- Breakdown bigger goals into small units. For instance, if you want to lose 70 pounds in 6 months time, start by shedding at least 5 pounds a week.
- Set a realistic timeframe.
Conclusion
It is not enough to create a personal development plan without outlining the ways to turn it into a reality. Back it up with action and let your goals be realistic.
Your personal development plan can transform your life only if you can discipline yourself to take real actions. So, follow the above tips to create a plan that will change your life for good.
