Human development is a lifelong process. People are capable of growing, learning and improving throughout their entire lives, and the ability to do so has an impact on many areas. Personal growth is necessary both in the workplace and in relationships. There are various components of personal development, including responsibility, learning, behavior and attitude. Striving to improve these areas will lead to greater opportunities in the workplace and healthy relationships.

Workplace

Personal growth and development are relevant to the workplace. Employers want employees who are learning and growing. People who are becoming more knowledgeable and adept at their positions are more valuable than employees who remain stagnant. An ideal employee will be capable of handling and understanding more than one position, as this allows for greater flexibility within the organization.

Relationships

Relationships often require work and effort on behalf of the individuals involved. When a person is able to grow and develop, it helps to foster healthy relationships. Additionally, having a significant other to offer support can be immensely helpful when one is looking to develop potential and grow into a more complete person.

Responsibility

One area for personal growth is responsibility. Being responsible is a trait often identified with adulthood and maturity. The ability to accomplish and take on new responsibilities is especially important in the workplace. Employers evaluate their employees on how well they do at completing tasks. Beyond just meeting tasks, employees who seek out additional responsibility are more likely to be rewarded with greater compensation and the opportunity for better positions. Developing the ability to be responsible helps enable one to grow in her career.

Learning

Humans grow and develop by learning new skills and acquiring additional knowledge. One way for a person to develop is to further his education. Education is a valued commodity in the business world, and institutions of higher learning provide ample opportunity for an individual to grow. Colleges and universities promote critical thinking. By using this resource, an employee can take steps towards developing his career.

Attitude

By developing and growing, one's attitude can change for the better. Self-confidence will be improved with the acquisition of new skills and knowledge. The more one comes to respect herself, the more respect she can, in turn, offer others. An improved attitude can lead to further growth and development and help one achieve her full potential. The better an attitude one has, the more she is able to accomplish. Employers will notice those workers who have great attitudes and get a lot done. Employees like that are the ones who become promoted and reap greater financial benefit.

Personal Growth

Personal growth is a process that produces personal change and progress. And it starts from within you. Personal development will happen when you make a firm decision to...

Understand yourself

Improve your awareness

Work on your attitude

Believe in yourself and your potential

Develop your skills

Set your goals

Begin with the end in mind

How to Create Your Personal Development Plan

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 ChurchillYou 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? Unsurprisingly, this is the first module in my free course, Personal Development 101.

■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.

Personal Development Plan Template for Goals

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. I also have a lot of favorite blogs I read that inspire me. In addition to this one, you might enjoy:

■Litemind Exploring ways to use our minds efficiently

■The Skool Of Life

■Change Your Thoughts Change Your Life

■Aliventures

■Advanced Life Skill

Free Personal Development Planning Course

If you're looking to dip your toes in, and want a pre-laid out set of exercises to help you with your personal development plan, I recommend signing up for my free personal development course, personal development 101. It includes a series of instructions, exercises and worksheets, most of which take less than 15 minutes each to do. You'll learn a lot about yourself, your life purpose, your dreams and can immediately start seeing results in your life.

For a very thorough treatment of a step by step plan for personal development, you can check out my review of 7 Simple Steps A Life Transformation Guide. It approaches personal development from the perspective of who you are, your internal values, and leads you step by step forward to create a plan for the outcomes and success you desire.

My Secret For Personal Growth and Change: How To Change Yourself

The First Question: Do I Want To?

More important than anything else is considering what my goals are, and the expected end result of a particular project is. If this is not something I desire, then why am I doing it? For this reason, before I spend my time on anything, I ask myself:

Do I want to make this change?

Some of the things to consider when I am asking myself this question are:

Is this the direction I want my life to go?

Are the activities involved the way I want to spend my time?

Are the end results consequences I desire?

The Second Question: Can I?

Before embarking on a serious life change, it has to be something I truly believe I can do or I'm already set up for failure. So once I've decided I want something, the next question to myself is always:

Regardless of whether other people think I can accomplish something or not, it's important for me to believe I can.

Can I make this change?

Here I am asking myself:

Do I have the ability to make this change?

Do I have the necessary tools to make this change?

Do I have the time available to make this change?

Do I have the support I need to make this change?

I must be able to completely, unconditionally answer this question with a Yes. If I say no, then I dig deeper:

Why don't I believe I can do this?

Is there something about the situation I can change so I can accomplish this?

Who can help me?

What sacrifices can I make, and what commitments can I break to make this goal feasible?

Regardless of whether other people think I can accomplish something or not, it's important for me to believe I can. If the answer to this question (Can I?) is yes, I then need to consider:

The Third Question: Will I?

Will I make this change?

This question sounds similar to the first, but it's more a question of personal determination:

Am I willing to make the sacrifices needed to make this change?

Am I willing to work without encouragement or glory to make this change?

Link:
What Is Personal Growth & Development? - MDJunction