How to Start a Personal Development Plan

Everyone wants to improve or change something in their life at some point. A personal development plan can help you achieve the goals you’ve always dreamed of. Whether you want to take on more challenges, boost your productivity, or change unhealthy habits, making a personal development plan is a great way to ensure your success.

Table of Contents

Become a Person with Purpose

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Identify what you want to change ^{[1] X Research Source} . Prepare a piece of paper, or start a new diary. Write down the bad sides of your life. Many experts believe it’s better to work on just one goal at a time to stay focused, however, you may want to work on multiple goals at once. Identify specific areas of your life that have burdened you for years. For example, if you smoke, now is the right time to make the determination to quit! Some areas you should consider:

Health and balance
Relationships
Career
Finance
Habits and lifestyle choices
Education

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Write down your goals. Take a piece of paper and start writing down what you want to achieve. When you write down your goals, many studies show that you’re more likely to work toward them. ^{[2] X Research Source} Create four headings at the top of the page. The first heading should be “Target Aspect” and the following four headings should be “One Month,” “Six Months,” “One Year,” and “Five Years.” If you want, you can continue with “Ten Years” and so on. Under the target areas section, make a list of the things you want to change. For example, “Career” or “Finance.” Under the timelines, write down what you would like yourself to change at that time.

Make sure your goals are written in affirmative sentences. For example, “I will…” rather than “I can” or “I hope that…” The more confident your statements are, the more motivating they will be.
Write down your specific goals. For example, instead of writing “I’m going to lose weight,” try “I’m going to lose 2 pounds by increasing exercise and minimizing calorie intake.”
At the bottom of the page, create a section called “Action Steps” and write down the steps you need to take to push yourself towards your goal. For example, “I will walk a tree and a half a day” or “I will eat a serving of salad every day.”

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Make sure your goals are achievable. ^{[3] X Research Resources} Do you have the skills, knowledge, tools and resources to make your goals a reality? For example, you might consider taking a night class, investing in fitness equipment, or hiring a business advisor. If you’ve done everything in preparation, you’ll be more inspired and ready to work toward your goals.

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Find a counselor. Most successful entrepreneurs have great mentors along the way. Find a successful businessman, athlete or public figure that you admire. If you know them, ask them if they would be interested to advise you. If you don’t know them, learn about how they achieve their own goals. Learn from what they did and find inspiration and motivation from them. Most likely they will have a blog or an article sharing their own success story. For example, “How I made my first million dollars…” ^{[4] X Research Source}

Believe in yourself

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Have faith in yourself and your own efforts. The first step to setting goals is to have faith in your own success. If you don’t believe you can completely change your life and get what you want, it’s best to give up setting goals and do something different. If you doubt yourself, observe the world around you. Everything starts with a single thought! Get rid of the negative voices in you, such as “am I good enough?” Yes, you are good enough. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

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Do your best ^{[6] X Research Source} . If you feel that your commitment is wavering, reread the goals you’ve set. Also, write about how and why you will commit to each goal; why these goals are important to you, what they mean to you, why the results are necessary, and what you will do to make them a reality. If you don’t put all your strength into it, it will be difficult for you to move on. As you work towards your goals, you may want to re-examine your level of commitment.

Ask yourself if you’re doing your best.
Double-check to make sure you’re pursuing each goal.
If you stumble, you’re sure to want to commit to getting back up and moving forward.
Learn from your experience, success or failure. ^{[7] X Research Sources}

Become More Organized

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Make a list of resources. There are many ways to educate yourself to gain more knowledge about the areas you want to cultivate. Being exposed to information on topics you are committed to improving will keep you abreast of the most recent advancements in your fields of interest, while also providing you with inspiration.

Read the local press to learn more about classes.
Go to your local library and find books to read.
Learn from the experience and knowledge of others, and sign up for an online course or topic that inspires you.
Ask friends who have had success in the areas you want to improve and the resources they have used.

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Always take notes. Taking notes is an active process and makes you an active learner. While following a symposium or listening to an inspirational CD, write down what you have learned. How would they apply to your life? Taking notes will keep the information you’re learning fresh and help you track your own progress.

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Review your goals each week. Honestly, if you don’t think about your goals, you won’t be able to make them come true. If you don’t work towards your goals, they will simply be wishes. At a set time, say every Monday morning, review your progress from the previous week and set new tasks for the next week, steps that will propel you closer to your goal. more final. Rereading your goals weekly will remind you of their importance and give you a clear sense of what you really want out of life. ^{[10] X Research Source}

Check to see if you’re keeping up with the deadlines you’ve set. Perhaps you need to act with more frequency and take more small steps to achieve your goals.
Make sure you’re still challenging yourself. If goals are becoming too easy to achieve, you may want to make them a little more difficult by adding a few new elements. For example, “I run three kilometers a day” instead of “I run 750 meters a day.”
Check to see if the goals still inspire you. If not, tweak them until you feel more inspired.

Advice

Start with goals that you can achieve in the short term, so you won’t be discouraged by the amount of time it takes to accomplish.
Don’t rush. Take it one step at a time to achieve positive results.
Celebrate success when you accomplish a goal you set.
When searching for information, select relevant books, CDs and courses. For example, if you want to pay off your debt, read books about financial freedom.
Have a trusted ally to make sure you don’t give up.

Warning

Remember that these changes take time. Consistently pursuing them will bring you real success.

Steps

Become a Person with Purpose

Believe in yourself

Become More Organized

Advice

Warning

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