5 Steps to Creating Your Personal Development Plan

When you decide to create a personal development plan, follow this guideline to help you get it right so you end up with actionable steps when you’re finished crafting the plan. Ultimately, these steps and details are most important because you cannot succeed at anything without implementation. 

1. Chose Your Focus Area
2. Start at The End
3. Opportunities Resulting from Reaching This Goal
4. Threats Standing in Your Way
5. Knock Out the Details

It’s just like math. When you get the order of operations right, you usually won’t fail. Let’s get into depth about what to do in each step of creating your personal development plan.

Step #1 – Choose Your Focus Area 

Go through each area of your life to figure out which change is going to make the most impact. For example, if lack of income is affecting your life more than your lack of a diet and exercise plan, focus there first. The main goal here is to begin with the thing that affects multiple areas of your life and aligns with your vision and values. 

Step #2 – Start at The End 

Start with the end in mind. The end is the result or goal of whatever it is that you’re doing. When you start with the end as if it’s just how you imagine it, then work your way back to today it’s going to be much easier to schedule the proper tasks in your calendar that you need to do to reach this goal. Try this: Close your eyes and focus on the result you want from any goal. Be very specific when you think about it. Then open your eyes and write down what the goal is the SMART way. Remember that means the goal must be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. 

Step #3 – Opportunities Resulting from Achieving this Goal

One thing you want to do when you write down your goals is to think beyond reaching the goal itself. What is life going to look like when you achieve this goal? If you lose that 100 pounds like you want, what changes? If you get a certificate in SEO, what happens now? If you make a choice based on the steps, required for reaching that goal, what new opportunities may come your way? Opportunity recognition is one of the enormous benefits of personal development. 

Step #4 – Threats Standing in Your Way

Whatever goal you’re working on while also addressing the steps and tasks you need to do to meet your goal what threats or roadblocks might get in your way. It may be something about you, your resources, your knowledge, etc. It might be competition or even bad weather. It might be the fact you have no money, but you need to create a great, effective landing page. Whatever it is, make a note of it and plan for it. 

Step #5 – Knock Out the Details

This is where you need to put it all in writing. Schedule it into your task calendar, with all the details for each thing you need to do. Break down the big goal into smaller goal results so you can achieve success along the way to the big goal. This also makes the process easier when you create your step-by-step task list. That will then be put into your calendar. Include the resources, support, and steps you will do to reach your goal.

Once you have this plan in motion, remember that it is ever-changing. It depends on what you are working on for yourself, but most of the time, you’ll want to periodically measure your progress and adjust and adapt as needed to ensure your success. 

Tools & Strategies to Maximize Your Potential

Now that you have the idea of why and how to create your personal development plan let’s talk about some tools and strategies that you can use to maximize your potential, save time, and reach your goals. 

• Save Time – If you want to save time and reach your goals faster, you may need to address ways this can happen. You may want to hire help, recruit friends, or get your kids to volunteer. It really depends on what the goal is. However, there is always a way to do things faster and easier if you explore options. For your own sake, be realistic about your time. If you need more time, consider hiring someone to do something like clean, cook, or something for your business.

• Make Change Stick – One thing that happens with some people is that they use personal development to make a considerable change, and then they eventually fall off the wagon. All you must do to reset is go back to your calendar or planner. Ensure you’re imputing everything you need to do, and then ensure you are doing the things as scheduled. Once a habit is created, the change will stick.

• Helpful Tools – The type of tools you use to help you craft and implement your personal development plan will vary, depending on your personality and your learning style. However, tools like personal development books, helpful TED talk videos, and courses online about personal development or tackling one aspect of your development can go far in helping you get it done. 

One thing that you can count on for sure is that creating and implementing a personal development plan will change your life. You’ll learn more about yourself. You’ll become more aware of your actions, as well as how your action choices affect your success. These will give you a new appreciation for where you are now, at this point in time, and how far you can go in the future. Implementing your plan will change things even more. What are you waiting for?