Planning is essential in our lives. Plans give our lives focus and direction. We make plans every day and as much as possible, we all endeavor to stick to our plans to achieve our goals. Otherwise, our lives will be chaotic, disorganized and meaningless. It is said, ‘we should put our goals in cement and our plans in sand’… this simply means that plans should be fluid to meet the changing conditions along the journey to achieving our goals. We should all have a personal development plan to focus on, in order to live a better and fulfilled life, centered on inner peace and happiness, and our relationship with others and yourself.

A personal development plan is like a map of your journey to self-improvement and personal development. This focuses on setting goals particularly in the area of self-development. Personal development plans should focus on your strengths and weaknesses in the area of; body, mind and spirit. They include identifying the skills you want to learn, the aspects of yourself you want to improve, and the areas and abilities that you lack and require attention for improvement.

In essence, a personal development plan is like a goal setting plan for self-development. However, the approach is slightly different from that of other goal-setting methods. Normally, most goals are focused on career, relationships, health, finances, etc. Rarely do we find people setting goals in the area of personal development. This is not ideal for self-development and improvement. People get caught up in achieving the goals they have set, that in the process, they neglect learning and improving further; it is said that, ‘first you need to know yourself then you need to grow yourself’.

So a personal development plan should be centered around establishing daily, weekly or monthly rituals that should include time for the following; Visualization, Meditation, Solitude, Reading, listening to Audio programs, Journaling, Networking, Masterminding and Personal Development Seminars.

Here’s an overview of a personal development map; Firstly, decide on what you want. Then acknowledge there will be obstacles and finally take inspired action to achieve your goals and ultimately your purpose in life;

1. What are your talents, gifts, virtues, values and perceived strengths and weaknesses? Identify where you are right now (good and bad)
2. What needs to be worked on to get to the next level? What area needs priority? What weaknesses need to be improved? Identify gap with where you want or need to be.
3. Do a personal inventory. What are your resources? Come up with a plan of action to address those needs and achieve your goals.

This may be quite simple but it is powerful and effective. It is essential that you spend time on it, come up with a good plan so as not to waste any more time heading in the right direction. You can Be, Do, Create and Have all that you desire to the extent that you have a plan of action and then most importantly, action it.

Having a personal development plan helps you develop and improve your knowledge, skills and natural abilities. You are constantly growing as a person, giving meaning to your life, dreams and aspirations. In the end, it is your knowledge, growth and self-awareness which would greatly affect your life, the way you relate to others and your level of success. So, it shouldn’t be neglected. Focus on improving yourself. If you fail to plan you plan to fail and nothing is going to change in your life until you change personally.

Aristotle once said; “If you keep on doing what you’ve always done you’ll keep on getting what you’ve always got”… such a brilliant simple insight, that highlights the benefit of deriving a new personal development plan to achieve the life you deserve.

Author: Drew Innes

A former Property & Finance Executive and now one of today's most successful Online Entrepreneurs. Drew is an International mentor and coach in the Direct Sales Industry specialising in the Personal Development niche, Business Systems, Online Marketing and mentoring people on 'mastering the inner game of wealth'. Learn from Drew and create 'your own economy' to take back control of your life with a solid Personal Development Plan

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