Personal Development

Investing in Personal Development is a lifelong commitment to setting and achieving goals to realise and maximise your potential in life and your career. Personal growth is a continuous, lifelong process that embraces a growth mindset. It is important to realise that personal goals may take weeks, months and even years to accomplish. 

Why Invest in Personal Development?

• Achieve career goals 
• Become more successful at work 
• Reach challenging personal goals 
• Communicate more effectively with others
• Attain knowledge over emotions  
• Improve interpersonal skills 
• Embrace a growth mindset 
• Improve confidence

Create a Personal Development Plan – 5 Easy Tips

1. Goal Setting

When you write out your goals, make sure you give them a deadline. Without a deadline, you are less likely to act. Spend a little time visualising and picture yourself achieving the goal. If your goals are challenging, remind yourself of why you are working through the hard yards to get there.   

2.  Know the Steps You Are Going to Take

Most goals are achieved by achieving a series of small steps, each step brings you closer to your end goal, celebrate all your steppingstones on the way to your ultimate goal. Always remember that a big goal requires a series of steps to achieve.  

3.  Consider Any Threats and Opportunities

It is important to recognise that circumstances change. And these are changing times so there is a chance that external factors may influence your ability to achieve your goals. While it is impossible to know every potential external factor, there are some threats and opportunities you can foresee. For example, you can guess that you may procrastinate at some point. Make a note in your plan on how you will get back on track. To beat your procrastination, you could find an accountability partner or a growth friend who keeps you focused

4.  Use Your Network

It can seem daunting to achieve big goals on your own. Think about who in your support network can help you achieve your goal. Your development plan could list people you know personally and professionally who may assist you in achieving some steps of your goals. Networking is so vital especially if you are a solo entrepreneur.

5.   Do not Forget to Review Regularly

Goals can fall by the wayside if we do not remind ourselves of them regularly. Life can get busy and achieving goals falls down the priority list. Think of getting an accountability friend who will help keep you on track and plan regular call ins to discuss where you are at and how you are getting to the next stage. 

Consistency is the key to progress. Recognise your achievements no matter how small as they are steppingstones to your success. Your personal development plan will only be as successful as the amount of time, effort and work you put into it. 

As John Maxwell writes, “Small disciplines repeated with consistency everyday lead to great achievements over time.” If we want to grow, we will have more success by growing in lesser amounts every day, rather than by trying to get where we want to go in one gigantic stride.