Why is it that we always put our own personal development plan on the back burner of life? Why do we exert so much energy into other things, like working hard, and so little on ourselves? What’s the purpose of that? Isn’t evolving, expanding, and growing as a person one of the key elements of life, itself? Why are we so often ignoring this important key element of life?
We think that it’s time to stop ignoring our own growth — it’s time to start a personal development plan (since we can’t seem to stick to it without one) and to start taking some major steps forward within our personal evolution.
This article is written to inspire you to not only create but to implement, a personal development plan of your own.
How To Design Your Own Personal Development Plan
Consciously deciding to look within yourself and make changes in your thinking, behavior, personality, and overall life can be a bit intimidating. We know. For that, we will help you figure out how to design your very own personal development plan so that it is perfect for you, your needs, and where you currently are in life.
In order to make this personal development plan a plan, you must write (or type, if that’s your style) your answers to the following steps down on a piece of paper (or in a document). It may even be cool of you to start a notebook dedicated to your personal growth; you can title it, “My Ever-Expanding Personal Development,” or what-have-you.
Now, we can begin…
1. Evaluate
In order to get started, you must first be willing to take an honest inventory of precisely where you are in your life, right now.
Some common areas to look at are:
Physical health
Relationships (both romantic and platonic)
Career (or, if you dislike the word ‘career,’ your means of bringing in money)
Finances
Location (where you live)
Spirituality
Overall satisfaction
Are you happy?
How do you feel on a daily basis?
Anxious? Excited? Motivated?
Personality
Remember, your personality creates your personal-reality (get it?), so it’s important to make sure you are satisfied with your personality.
While creating this list, think of the things in which you feel as though you have succeeded at. As well, examine which areas in your life you may feel could use some work/attention. Are there some imbalances that need to be recognized?
Perhaps you have an amazing career, but your personal relationships are a bit heavy. Or, perhaps you are very spiritually connected and your personal relationships are great, but your finances could use some help.
This may be a difficult process, pulling everything you don’t normally like to think about to the surface; however, it is essential for your personal growth to be aware of the areas in your life that can be improved.
2. Imagine
Now, this part is much more fun.
In this step, your job is to imagine: imagine your most ideal future self. You can imagine anywhere from 6 months to 2 years from now. Ask yourself these types of questions:
Where do I want to be?
Where do I want to live?
What kind of people do I want to have in my life?
How do I want to feel?
How do I want to feel about myself?
What do I want to do for a job?
Our favorite question to ask yourself is:
What kind of person do I want to be?
Answer these questions as if they are already happening (this helps to leverage the Law of Attraction), in this type of format:
“I am the (your name here) that _____”
“I surround myself with people who are ____”
“I live in a place that ____”
Get creative! There are many different learning styles out there — how do you most creatively express yourself? Do whatever you can to really feel this personal growth and this future reality.
You may greatly benefit from drawing pictures of this future self you have imagined. You can even cut up magazine images and create a vision board — you can write some awesome affirmations and hang it on your wall to help keep you focused on creating this reality.
However you best visualize this reality, make it colorful and rich!
3. Take Action
Now, it’s time to ask yourself the next very important question:
What can I actively do to bring myself closer to that future reality?
Write down clear, concise, and actionable steps you can take to start moving forward. What can you do today to feel expanded?
You can give each area of your life its own page. For example, you can have three separate pages for financial goals, relationship goals, and spiritual goals. On each page, write down things you can start doing, immediately, to bring you closer to them.
Then, (you guessed it) start doing these things!
Whether they are enrolling in a new class, job searching, learning a new skill, whatever action it may be, start right away! Once you begin to see your progress toward this new self you have imagined, you will be excited and propelled forward to continue down the path to your most ideal self/reality.
Let’s say, however, you aren’t quite sure of which steps to take to reach your goals. For this, it is important to trust that the steps you may need to take to reach your goals will unfold.
For this clarity, you can even do daily meditations on your visualized ideal self — this will help to cultivate new ideas on how to bring these visualizations to fruition! All you have to do is trust that the proper steps will emerge, and take action once they do!