Developing a personal development plan is a process that you will work on in some way or another for your entire life. This process provides a framework that will help you identify and assess your unique personality, skills, strengths, weaknesses and so much more. Its primary purpose is to help you set both short and long-term goals. A really good personal development plan will set in motion guidelines to help you achieve those goals over time.

This plan can help you build the quality of life that you envision for your future.  A personal development plan should start with an honest evaluation of those aspects of your life that you want to improve and help you become more self-aware in the process. This process will result in a better version of yourself.

Strategies for Creating Your Personal Development Plan

Determine Your Key Life Areas for Development

No one has the same key life areas that they want to develop. Take the time necessary to reflect deeply and determine what areas matter most to you. Some basic areas for development to consider are Spiritual, Marital or Relational, Vocational, Financial, Health and/or Fitness, and Recreational. What are the key areas in your life that you want to address? Once you’ve identified those areas, write them down.

Perform a S.W.O.T. Assessment on Your Key Life Areas

S.W.O.T. is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Roadblocks. A well-designed personal development plan will identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and roadblocks or perceived threats in all areas of your life that you want to develop. Your plan will identify your strengths so that you can improve them, your weaknesses so that you can minimize them, and new opportunities, so that you can recognize when a door (or window) is open, as well as note any roadblocks or threats that are blocking your way. 

Recognize Where You Can Development Within These Areas

When you perform your SWOT in each area of your life, you will discover internal and external things that are blocking your success. For example, you might believe that you’ll never have enough money to save for the future. Because of that, when you do get “extra” money, you tend to blow it right away on all the things you feel you missed out on in the past. This is a limiting belief about money that a lot of people have because most people think money is a finite resource when it’s not. It’s manmade. Therefore, we can make more. It is possible.

Identify Your Resources

You may be considering a new field of work that causes you to evaluate the resources you have available to undertake a specific task. For example, if you decide you want to start a coaching business. Identify what resources you have to start it. What items must you have to get started? What items can you live without for now? What tasks can you do yourself? What do you have to delegate? This examination can be applied to every single area of your development plan. You may realize you already have all the necessary skills inside to do exactly what you want to do. However, you also may realize in some areas that you need to outsource for additional brainpower (resources). Whatever the case may be, be sure to assess each area thoroughly and identify your resources.

Build Better Relationships

One of the most shocking aspects of creating a self-development plan is how much it can help relationships. When you realize that you only control your behavior and actions, it starts to get easier to manage relationships. Treating them how you want to be treated is an excellent place to start but becoming self-aware enough to go farther and realize that not everyone likes what you like so you may need to treat someone the way they like to be treated instead. 

There is absolutely nothing wrong with having high standards for yourself. As much as you might want the best for those close to you, it is wrong for you to force your standards on them. This is a common limiting belief that shows up in our relationships and is a huge intimacy block. People secretly resent every form of manipulation. It’s great to inspire others by improving yourself. The real truth is that people don’t change people. Nor should they try to. People change when they get good and change. It’s simply pride cloaked in false humility when you try to change someone else. We are all different and so is our path in life. It’s not possible for us to fully understand another person’s heart or emotions. As a result, we need to give them the space to evolve while we get busy doing the heavy lifting of working on ourselves. 

Personal development plans come in many different shapes and sizes. Whatever areas you chose to work on can be optimized with the personal development plan. Whether you want to lose weight, start a business, change jobs, or go back to school – the goal doesn’t matter as much as developing the plan that you need to get where you want to go. Your plan will not be the same as anyone else’s because you are unique. The process of implementing this plan will launch on an adventurous journey to a better you. Get ready, get set, go!

Be Well + Prosper

Elaine xx