Creating a Personal Development Plan

The concept behind any development plan is to outline areas which require development, both professionally and personally, and what actions need to be taken to overcome these development areas. Creating a development plan uniquely for your own personal development journey produces a useful and effective tool which provides milestones and tasks to help you keep focus.


To create your own Personal Development Plan you will need to:

1. Identify the few core areas of life that require development

When reflecting on your goals, aspirations, dreams and values, what are the key areas that you feel you need to develop? Choose only those key competencies which will have the greatest impact on your career, on your life and your goals.

2. Find resources to improve these areas

Seek out and list all the resources which you feel will enable you to develop your key areas. Such resources can include training and coaching from accredited professionals, books, seminars, DVDs and online blogs. These resources can relate to any of your key areas but you must personally feel that they provide you with value.

3. Dedicate time each day to your development

Try to spare at least one hour each day to implement your personal development plan. Use this time to focus on accessing and utilising the resources which you have found. Remember to evaluate their usefulness to you during this process, and make note of those resources which provide you with the most value.

4. Find mentors, and develop relationships

Relationships, especially those with other people who are undergoing similar development, are a very under-valued and effective area of personal development. This mutual encouragement and collaboration with like-minded individuals will help you grow more quickly than relying solely on relationships with Mentors and Professionals. Mentors should be able to support you and guide you in each of your identified development areas; multiple mentors can also be beneficial provided that they are as dedicated to your self-improvement as you are.

Throughout your personal development journey try to find ways to apply your learning to realistic situations. After all knowledge is made more meaningful and useful to you through application

One of the key outcomes gained from a personal development plan is the ability to initiate action. Gaining knowledge only increases the amount of knowledge held, but applying knowledge to inspire action creates new behaviours which in turn create new results. Your development plan should be transformational, involving both theoretical learning and action learning. When learning something new as part of your development plan, ask yourself the following questions:

- Where can I use it?
- When can I use it?
- Who would benefit from sharing this with me?

Finding the answers to these questions will help you to formulate actions as well as absorbing theories and ideas.

Remember your personal development is the single most important aspect of fulfilling your goals, ambitions and aspirations. Only you can take responsibility for how you will achieve this, however formulating your personal development action plan can sometimes be a long winded process. Different Dynamics can help you clarify your key objectives, and support you towards achieving these objectives through our innovative One to One Coaching.

Melissa Wong, Marketing Consultant to Different Dynamics