How to develop your personal growth plan

I first came across the idea of a personal growth plan in John Maxwell’s book “The Success Journey: The Process of Living Your Dreams“. A personal growth plan is build upon the belief that personal development is our responsibility and as such we need to consciously plan our growth. The idea of a personal growth plan is to have a plan that outlines the areas in our lives that require personal development. I found that my personal growth plan is a useful tool that keeps me focused. If I’m not careful, distractions from media, e-mail, blogs and work pressures keep me from using my time wisely. In all the noise, I forget the personal development goals I set myself. Here are the four steps we need to take to develop our personal growth plans:

1. Identify the few key areas in your life that you would like to develop. Looking at your dreams, goals and personal aspirations, what are the five (plus or minus two) key areas in your life that you need to develop? What are those few key competencies that will have the greatest impact on your life, career or goals?
2. Look for resources in these areas. List the resources that you may need to find that will assist you in developing in each of the areas you’ve identified. This may include books, blogs, tapes, seminars or training to attend. List the resources that you are going to investigate to help you in your personal growth.
3. Set aside an hour a day dedicated to your personal development. You will need to create and hour each day to implement your growth plan. This is a regular time set aside to focus on developing the areas identified, used for reading, writing and reflecting.
4. Find mentors and build relationships with other growing people. This is one of the most under-valued areas of personal development. Relationships with growing people, will help you to grow more quickly than any other resource I know. Look for mentors to support and guide you in each of the key areas identified, multiple mentors are usually better than one, as it’s unlikely you’ll be able to find a single person to assist you in all your key areas. List the potential mentors and growing people that you are going to actively develop a relationship with.

“If a person will spend one hour a day on the same subject for five years, that person will be an expert on that subject” – Earl Nightingale

As you develop the areas you identified find a way to apply what you learn. Learning is only retained and made meaningful through application. The key outcome we’re looking for, as a result of our personal development, is action. New behaviours create new results whereas new knowledge only increases your pride. Your life needs to change as a result of what you’ve learnt and this requires action and learning.

John Maxwell suggests that when you learn something new that you ask yourself the following three questions:

• Where can I use it?
• When can I use it?
• Who else needs to know it?

Develop your personal growth plan, make it a visual poster and hang it up where you can see it daily. Then create a daily habit of spending an hour dedicated to your reaching personal development goals.

Technorati Tags: Personal Development, Personal Growth, Leadership, Management, Plan, Read

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Tagged as: Growth