Have you ever attempted to create a personal growth plan? If you haven’t, you should definitely make plans to do so.
Commitment to personal growth is a vital discipline if you would like to live a full and fulfilling life. And it will not happen by chance. We must be intentional about the type of personal growth we want to see in our lives; hence the need for a personal growth plan.
Although the doctrine of personal growth has been associated with the Human Potential Movement that emerged in the 1960s, the concept itself is timeless. Personal growth remains an important part of catalyzing self-actualization and personal transformation today.
Whether you are just beginning your journey of self-discovery or you feel like you’ve plateaued, establishing a personal growth plan can help you go farther, faster. This blog post will give you some great ideas for creating your personal growth plan.
Decide how you want to grow
When it comes to personal growth, there are so many avenues to explore. Thus, it can be helpful to first decide which areas you want to grow in and why.
Are there any life experiences you would like to have? Certain skills you would like to develop? Or certain qualities you want to cultivate?
In their book, Living Forward, Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy identify these growth areas as accounts that you need to arrange in order of their importance to you.
Once you have highlighted the accounts, you will then clarify your growth expectations for each of them. This will depend on your values and the stage of life you are currently in.
For example, as a business leader, you may want to focus on developing your leadership skills so that you can encourage productivity among your team members.
Another area you may want to focus on is managing yourself efficiently so that other vital aspects of your life do not suffer because of your growing business. Therefore, you need to make your list as practical and personal as possible, so you don’t miss anything important.
Create the plan
Once you’ve decided what you want to focus on, you can start detailing your desired outcomes for each area. A good tip is to have visual representations of these outcomes.
A visual representation, also called a vision board, helps to maintain focus on your plans and keep track of progress. The vision board should include the different areas in which you want to experience growth and what each area will look like when you have achieved your goal.
For example, you might have a personal growth goal of living to a ripe old age with your spouse. A good visual representation of that plan would be a picture of an elderly couple enjoying each other’s company even in their golden years.
Establish a review process
Most people understand the need to have clearly defined growth plans for their business and professional growth. Organizations have regular sessions for tracking KPIs and monitoring growth.
Unfortunately, not as many of us translate this into our personal lives. We rarely take the time to track our personal growth as we should. This is why it is important to establish a regular review process.
You can start by breaking your personal growth goals into annual goals and quarterly goals with weekly and daily targets. Then block out time to review those goals weekly, monthly, quarterly, and at the end of each year.
This review process is absolutely necessary if you want to remain on track towards achieving your goals. Don’t make it an arbitrary thing. Block out time in advance and put it on your calendar.
If you don’t make room for important things, they will be crowded out by things that are urgent but actually less important. And you will most likely be too overwhelmed to notice the difference.
Identify the things that hold you back
No matter what aspect of your life you are trying to improve, there are likely things that are holding you back. These could include skills you don’t have; toxic attitudes in your life that keep you from being your best; or even beliefs you have that keep you from achieving your goals.
Identifying these things and working on them will help you reach your goals faster.
If there are certain skills you don’t have, consider getting a coach or taking courses to help you learn them. Furthermore, it can be helpful to write down a list of the toxic attitudes and limiting beliefs that are holding you back. Then, you can think about what you need to do to eliminate them from your life.
Commit to your plan and consider working with an accountability system
Once you have created your plan and are starting to implement it, it’s important to be consistent. Inconsistency is the surest route to abandoning the plan altogether.
Thus, you may want to consider having an accountability system that will motivate you to stay on track on those days you are tempted to fall off the wagon.
Journaling is a great way to establish accountability for you, plus your journaling will come in handy during your review sessions.
Another way to establish accountability is to have someone to whom you answer, such as a coach or mentor. Furthermore, you may want to consider the route of self-motivation, where you reward yourself for every milestone you reach.
Commit to self-care routines
As part of your personal growth plan, commit to personal improvement disciplines, such as taking time each day to meditate and reflect, exercising regularly and having a healthy diet.
You would be surprised to find out how many business leaders don’t have time for self-care routines. While there are general tips for establishing self-care routines, an effective routine will be one that helps you to feel refreshed and energetic every day.
Conclusion
Having a personal growth plan can help you achieve your goals and become the best version of yourself. [Tweet That]
It is certainly a challenging process, especially at the beginning, but it is well worth the effort. With the right plan, you will be able to progress at a steady rate towards the goals you have set for yourself.
