Personal Development Plan: Get Your Career on Track

Your future depends on the decisions you make now. It sounds like a lot of pressure but with a Personal Development Plan, it doesn’t have to be.

Personal development means upgrading your skills, learning new ones and expanding your knowledge base in your field.

Why stop learning and developing your skills after you’re hired? Harold L. Taylor’s How to Excel Through Self-Development will teach you the skills you need to take charge of your career and your life.

Taylor will also talk you through coping with stress, memorising information, managing time and goal-setting. Taking charge of your career means examining your strengths and weaknesses, setting personal and career goals, building a personal development plan and then actually putting that plan into action.

So, how do you start building a personal development plan? Taylor writes that the only way to start is by setting goals.

The Basics of Goal Setting

1. Put your goals into writing. It may seem futile but writing down goals provides focus and commitment. It also helps to visualise your success and how you’re going to arrive there.
2. Make sure your goals are realistic. Baby steps work for a reason.
3. Be Specific. Avoid vague statements such as “I want to be successful.” Define what success means to you. Try “I want to secure a promotion by 2019.” That way it will be easier to achieve your goals and avoid failure. However, view failures as temporary setbacks and problems as opportunities in disguise.
4. List your goals in order of priority. Start with the most important ones and work on those first.
5. Ensure your goals are compatible with each other as well as the significant other people in your life.

Your Personal Development Plan

Once you have set your goals the next step is creating your personal development plan to achieve these goals within a specified time frame. Setting yourself a time frame will keep you on track and encourage you to be persistent.

Remember that following an action plan, usually involves the development of new skills and may take several years. Be patient, yet relentless in your pursuit of success.