Creating a self-development plan is your first step to getting your life on track. A self-development plan needs to be well structured and very well planned out. In this article I am going to go through the whole process from beginning to end. I am also including an example and a blank self development plan you can print off and use. This article will start off with some basic questions and answers then go into a full discussion on how to get started.
What is a Self Development Plan?
A self development plan (aka a personal development plan) is an organized strategy for your personal growth. It involves focusing on certain areas of your life you want to improve or skills you want to learn, while putting together a structured plan to achieve your goals. Your plan can be as simple as writing a sentence or as complex as you want to make it. The plan usually contains time planning, growth strategies, strengths, weaknesses, priorities, and a long term goal.
Why do I need a self development plan?
Everyone who is interested in doing anything to improve their life should consider making a self development plan. If you don’t make one you will be missing a golden opportunity to maximize your personal growth potential. Of course you can always just pick up a topic and focus on that, but for a complete life transformation you need to make out a plan and set some long term goals. A self-development plan will give you the structure needed to support your growth. You will also be able to set checkpoints along the way to track your progress. If you go out blindly trying to make some major changes, you will be setting yourself up for an almost certain failure.
Which self development strategy works best?
Everyone will have their own unique strategy for self development. Each person’s strategy will vary from approach, time needed, resources used, strengths, weakness, goals, and amount of overall change needed to satisfy. There are however some strong points that should be considered when building your own plan. Consider the points that will have strengthen your plan, but it’s always up to you what to include.
Considerations For Your Self Development Plan
- Break Down Your Weaknesses
- Apply Time Management
- Set Priorities
- Set Long Term Goals
- Be Resourceful
- Be Optimistic
Daniel’s Self Development Plan
Long Term Goal: My long term goal is to be able to write with my left hand as well as I do with my right hand withing 6 weeks from today.
Strategy: I plan to start out with first grade guide book to practice writing my alphabet and numbers. Then make my way up to full sentences while maintaining neat handwriting. I will focus on quality first and speed second.
Focus: My focus for this goal is quality. I want speed, but not at the cost of quality. Speed will come with practice later if necessary.
Note: With something like writing or anything that you can visually see the results, it may be a good idea to do a before and after so you can see how much progress you have made. What I would probably do is write a few sentences with my left hand before and then again after my six weeks just so I could see my improvement.
Week 1: In week one I plan on getting all of my supplies together and setting up a place and time at my house to practice my writing.
Week 2: Starting out in week two I plan on practing my alphabet first. By the end of week two I want to at least have written one page of each letter lower and uppercase as neat as I can.
Week 3: Starting out in week three I want to keep focusing on writing my letters as neat as I can. I also want to start working on my numbers.
Week 4: In week four I need to start practicing writing in complete sentences.
Week 5: In week five I have already had a few weeks of practice and I need to start focusing on picking up a little bit of speed. If I can’t keep my quality up while pushing for speed I will drop the speed focus and go back to making my letters as neat as possible.
Week 6: By the end of week six I need to be able to write in complete sentences with a decent amount of speed. Again if speed is not achieved I will still feel like my goal has been achieved as long as I can write with neat letters.
Expected Results: I expect to be able to write as neat with my left hand as I do with my right. I may require more practice, but I will be satisfied if their is a tremendous improvement.
Actual Results: This is where you will write down where you actually where when you finished. This is optional. I recommend keeping all of your self development plans in a notebook so you can look back later.
Blank Self Development Plan (PDF) – Click Here To Download A Blank Self Development Plan. Print it off and make good use.
Take everything you have read from my article and put it all together to make your self development plan. This site has lots of great resources to help you pick a topic for personal deveopment. There are many great articles and ebooks completely free for you to use and apply to your life. All I ask in return for all of my effort is to share this information. The more we spread the word the more good we do for others. If you need anything feel free to email me and I will try to help the best I can. daniel@personaldevelopment123.com Good Luck!