7 Tips for Building a Personal Development Plan

A personal development plan has a lot of moving parts, and that can make it hard to know where to begin. A handful of simple guidelines tends to clear the fog. Once you have them in hand, the plan starts to take shape, and you can shift your energy toward actually doing the work and watching things change.

Start with the why. Before you write a single goal, be clear about the reason the plan exists at all. It should point at one part of your life that genuinely needs work. When the need is real, the pieces fall into place more naturally and your motivation holds. That clarity also shapes the goals themselves, both the near-term ones and the longer arc you are aiming for.

Slow down. Rushing almost guarantees you skip a step or overlook something that mattered. One missing piece can knock the whole thing off course later, and the first time you hit a wall, a half-finished plan makes it easy to lose interest. So give it time, and don't beat yourself up if the process stretches longer than you expected.

Mean it. You are building this because something in your life needs to improve, which means you have to actually commit to improving it. When you settle on an area to focus on, decide you are in. A small flicker of doubt at the start tends to become a real obstacle once you are trying to follow through.

Keep it visible. Seeing the plan every day keeps it alive in your mind. The changes you are after are meant to improve how you live, so the plan should sit inside your daily routine rather than in a drawer somewhere. Set aside a little time each day to work on it and notice some forward motion.

Expect to revise. Your first draft will not be perfect, and that is fine. Most people rework a plan two or three times before the direction and details feel right. Write the first version, let it rest for a couple of days, then come back and read it fresh. Do that twice if you can.

Make it yours. The word personal is doing real work in personal development plan. The plan should be about you and no one else, built around your life. A little selfishness is fine here, because improving yourself ends up helping the people around you too.

Keep it narrow. Focus on one thing at a time rather than trying to fix everything at once. If several areas of your life need attention, give each one its own plan so none of them gets shortchanged. Career, relationships, health: separate plans, separate focus.

That is the short list. Work through all of them, take your time, and leave nothing half-checked. A plan with the right details behind it is far easier to carry out. And keep it centered on you, because that is where the focus and drive to finish actually come from.

References: http://mycareeratva.va.gov/library/individual-development-plans/tips-creating-your-idp and http://surfergoneawol.com/tag/personal-development/