How to Create a Personal Growth Plan

Having a personal growth plan will help you attain your goals.

Everyone wants something in life. Whether it’s a higher-paying job, a better education, a family, owning a house or just being happy, having dreams and aspirations is the reason most of us get up in the morning. You probably haven’t achieved all of your dreams yet, but you can. All it takes is commitment and a personal growth plan.

What is a personal growth plan? It’s your roadmap to achieving your goals. It’s a way for you to see exactly what you have to do to make your dreams a reality. Your plan is tailored to you, so you have the power and control to see it through.

Developing a personal growth plan isn’t a complicated process, and there are several benefits to creating a plan, including improved focus and better self-awareness. Below are some ideas that will help you on your way to creating your own plan.

What Goals Do You Want to Accomplish?

This is the most important part of the process. If you don’t know what you want to achieve, how do you set out to achieve it? Write your goals down. Put each goal on its own sheet of paper in large letters at the top. Or, if you’re so inclined, you can use a goal-setting app.

Once you’ve decided what your goals are, place them in order of importance. Which one would you like to accomplish first? If you’ve written them on separate sheets of paper, put the most important on top, and place the rest behind in the order you’d like to achieve them. If you’ve placed them in a table, either re-order the columns by priority, or place a number beside each one that indicates their importance.

Why Are These Goals Important?

Once you’ve created your goals, write a paragraph about why each one is important to you. How will it help you improve your life? What will you achieve by completing this goal? Having this on the page for you to refer to will remind you why you are working to achieve this goal.

What Will You Gain From These Goals?

While on the path to achieving your goals, will you gain new understanding, expertise or skills? If so, write them down and explain how they will help you. The more detailed, the better, so you know exactly what you want to get out of your dreams.

How Are You Going to Accomplish Your Goals?

Figure out exactly what you need to do to reach your dreams. If you’re looking to get a promotion at work, what steps do you need to take to get there? Does it require working overtime? Perhaps volunteering to take on more projects? Maybe you just need to do the best job you can on the projects you have now. Whatever the goal, write down what actions you’re going to take to ensure your success.

What Obstacles Can Get in the Way?

Life is always full of obstacles, and you might not be able to recognize or predict every single one, but think about the big ones you know could be an issue. How will you overcome them? Knowing there will be barriers will help you place your goals into the realm of reality and give you the skills and abilities you’ll need to overcome anything that stands in your way.

Will You Need Support?

While the goals you want to accomplish are yours and yours alone, you might need some help along the way to ensure you reach the end. If your goals apply to your career, what can your boss do to help you? If you want to further your education, is there a way your professors or other students can aid in your success? Figuring out who could potentially assist you will remind you that you shouldn’t be afraid to ask for the help you’ll need to succeed.

Set a Deadline

Your deadline doesn’t have to be tomorrow, next week or even next month. It can be years from the day you start your plan, but write down a realistic deadline to strive for. If you don’t, you’ll give yourself a reason and excuse to procrastinate on achieving your dreams.

How Will You Measure Your Success?

You’ve written down your goals and what you need to do to achieve them. You even have a deadline in place, but how will you know you’ve attained your dream?

Write down what you want your success to look like, so you’ll know you’ve achieved it.