In this guide, Jef Menguin encourages everyone to start creating a personal development plan to achieve personal success. The 4 steps are the simplified version of the Four Disciplines of Execution, which ensures you can make great things happen.
Leaders can use the same steps in helping employees accomplish their professional development goals. You can follow the steps using his examples in writing a book on team building. You may also download the Make Great Happen Worksheet to help you get started.
From Goal Setting to Getting It Done
Are you interested in starting a personal development plan? I will demonstrate four easy, simple, and practical steps based on the Four Disciplines of Execution.
Why is this important?
Most personal goal-setting methods teach people to set goals that are not acted upon. Some methods focus more on aspirations than actions. Other methods consider the plan like a wish list (something like a New Year’s Resolution).
One example of ineffective goal setting is this sheet you can find in Course Hero. This is also used in Philippine schools.
It teaches students to identify the things that they want to stop, minimize, continue, improve, and start. At first glance, this may look okay. But this plan does not take into account the impact or the transformation that a person desire.
So, if you are here because you want to make positive change happen in your life, congratulations.
A personal development plan encourages you to achieve what you have not achieved before. It also inspires you to do what you have not done before.
If you want to improve, evolve, and transform your life and make a great difference in the lives of others, consider working on your Personal Development Plan.
What is personal development?
Personal development refers to the activities a person deliberately undertakes to improve, evolve and transform himself into the best that he or she can be. Personal development requires a person to replace bad habits with good.
You can accelerate personal development by building skills and developing personal discipline.
I have designed many personal development programs for employees. But, at first, I was surprised that more than 90 percent of employees do not have personal development plans.
A few companies provide coaching and mentorship to employees, but most of these interventions are work-related. As a result, employees’ personal growth becomes the sole responsibility of the individual employee.
I write this guide to help everyone design a robust, easy-to-do breakthrough personal development plan.
Explore the various tips on self-improvement. Each can help you set doable goals.
What is a personal development plan?
A personal development plan is a design of your intention or decision on what you will do with your life. It is a lifelong process of growing, developing, reinventing, and transforming yourself. A personal development plan may contain everything you want to achieve in life. However, it can also be a specific design to improve an aspect of your life.
Some gurus promote personal development plans as a life blueprint. But many successful people admit that their development plans are products of many iterations, pivots, and recognizing new opportunities.
Workplace professionals use personal development plans for career development. But, unfortunately, only one in every ten people has a personal development plan.
It is a visual guide.
It can tell you about milestones and landmarks. But it won’t make you perfectly prepared; you have to adjust as you learn new things on your journey.
Therefore, it is a waste of time to overthink your personal development plan. It is not set in stone; it is dynamic and ever-changing.
A plan, no matter how well-thought cannot bring you anywhere without action. The personal development plan that I will teach you will move you from a dream to strategy, execution, and momentum.
So, congratulations. You are about to make good things happen in your life.
4 Steps In a Personal Development Plan
You can work on your personal development plan in 4 easy steps. Focus on one thing, find the vital few actions, keep a scorecard, and just do it. The best personal development plan is that which you intend to execute.
This is to me another way of doing your plan. It is easy, not like the ones I read online.
There is no single way of writing a personal development plan. Some goo-roos sell the idea that it is very detailed. That means you can have a 20-page personal development plan.
Some gurus think of a personal development plan as a life blueprint.
You are not going to build a house. You are going to a place you’ve never been before.
I don’t know about you, but most people are not into blueprints too.
You can think of it as a map. An incomplete map you created for yourself based on what you have heard and imagined.
If you are starting, I recommend that you do Step Zero. Clarify your purpose. Knowing your whys will help you create solid plans.
These steps assume that you are already clear about your purpose.
Step 1: Focus on one impact goal.
Focus on one goal that has the biggest impact on your personal development project. You don’t have to work on many things that will only overwhelm me. You are limited by time, resources, and ability.
It is wise to focus on one goal that you can do regularly and consistently.
We have different definitions of big goals. You will decide that for yourself. Choosing a big goal is both practical and strategic.
Small goals do not excite people.
Big goals encourage you to step out of your comfort zone. It enables you to do something you were afraid to do before.
Of course, you will take risks, but you know doing your big goals will help you big time.
To find your big goals, you follow these steps.
- Identify the areas or aspects in your life that you want to see positive change.
- Brainstorm your impact goals.
- Narrow it down to 1 or 2 goals.
- Write your goal using the statement “from X to Y by When.”
- Finally, write your first big goal on a piece of paper.
I will demonstrate how to do this.
I want to improve my professional life. I am an entrepreneur, a motivational speaker, a leadership consultant, and a team-building facilitator.
I desire to improve myself in all of these, but I don’t have all the time. I want to pick one which may make the biggest difference.
I desire to become an international speaker, but that may take more effort at this time. I do leadership consulting. But the one area where I get the most inquiries, the one that will keep my money engine running is team building.
To help me define my goal, I will ask myself some questions:
- How can I increase the number of clients?
- How can I increase my fees?
- How can I become a recognized authority in team building?
You can do this with me too.
Here’s the list that I made.
I will pick writing a book. I believe it will create more impact on my business because when it comes to authority weight, it has more weight than a blog or an online course.
Also, I am already in the habit of writing every day. But instead of writing a blog, I will find my focus and author a book.
You are almost done with the first step. Then, I only need to write the formula X to Y by When.
Write and publish a book in 90 days.
X is implied. There is no book yet.
Y is the finished book.
The duration of this plan is 90 days.
That good start. Now, let us proceed to step 2.
Step 2: Find leverage actions.
Leverage actions refer to high-impact activities. You can do a thousand actions to achieve your goals. But given limited time and resources, you need to identify the actions that require less effort but produce greater results.
You will find a lever that can help you lift a heavy load.
Let’s go back to my example.
I can produce and publish a practical book based on practitioners’ experiences. Many actions will lead to the authorship of a book. But a few crucial steps are predictive, influenceable, and ongoing.
An action is predictive when by doing, the chance of producing a book is bigger. It is influentiable when I can do it myself and do not need to wait for others to do it. And it must be an ongoing process and not just a one-time event.
Growing oneself is like growing plants. It is continuing. You may not notice a plant grows, but it does. Growing is a continuing process.
I have brainstormed some actions, and I have identified the following to be crucial.
- I will write 1000 words a day.
- I will interview 3 experts every week.
There are many more actions and steps. But these two steps ensure not only that I will come up with many ideas and useful advice, This means that I will be able to write the book daily.
It is challenging to write 60,000 words. But I can manage 1000 words each day.
On some days, I can write 5000 to 7000 if I so desire. But this means that I will sacrifice my time for clients, gardening, and others. If I write for the next 80 days, there’s a good chance that I will be able to write 80,000 words. And I will only need 60,000 words to write my book.
Steps 1 and 2 are easy. Focus on one goal, then find two or three leverage actions.
Most personal development goals aren’t implemented precisely because the focus is on step 1 alone. Step 2 make sure that you can take baby steps each day.
Step number is what keeps you going.
Step 3: Keep a visual scorecard.
Keeping a scorecard helps you see if you are behind or ahead of your set schedule. It will also show you whether you are ahead or behind. It means that if you are not working on your leverage actions consistently, it is likely that you are not moving.
Let’s go back to the two leverage actions I came up with in publishing a book: Write 1000 words a day and interview experts every week.
I could write 60,000 words in 60 days if I lived in an ideal world. However, I don’t need to write for one day or 8 hours. I can write 1000 words in 2 hours or less.
But because I know myself, I know that there are days I can only write 1000 or 750, or 500 words. There will be days I will not able able to write at all. But if I hit my target, I need to impose a daily goal and a deadline.
By keeping a score, you should be able to see whether you are winning or losing. You will compete against your projected goals. Your score should show the ideal against the actual.
When I am behind schedule, I will push myself to write more. When I am ahead of schedule, I will pay attention to other activities.
I will also keep a scorecard for my other crucial action: interviewing experts.
Step number 3 is the difficult part. I have control over when and how I will write. But I cannot control the time of people I will interview each week.
Of course, if my intention is simply to write 1000 words a day, I can do that without interviewing anyone. But then, that’s not the kind of book I want to publish.
On the other hand, if I get to interview more people each week, I can speed up my writing. I can hire someone to write a transcript of the interview, and clean it. Or I can use Loom, an online screen-sharing platform, which has a transcription feature.
Here’s an example of a visual scorecard.
Let’s proceed to step 4.
Step 4: Build Accountability
You need to put in the plan how to be accountable for your results each day. Accountability and focus build momentum.
You have momentum when it is easy for you to constantly and consistently take action. You are in the flow and fully engaged in your personal development activities when you have momentum.
One way to build momentum is to create a tiny habit.
Another way is to keep a morning routine and momentum meeting.
Here’s how to keep your morning routine. It is simple, you only need to start thinking about it for 10 seconds a day and 15 minutes each week.
First thing in the morning, schedule the time that you need to work on your plan. It may only need ten seconds to do it.
If you have a mentor, you can meet with your mentor once or twice a month. If you are meeting with a peer, do so once a week.
Call this your Momentum Meeting. You can have your meeting in less than 15 minutes.
You only need to do three things.
- Review what you have accomplished.
- Share what you’ve learned.
- Commit to the next steps.
It is best to do this Momentum Meeting with others. But if you are doing this alone, record your meeting. I use Loom.
The Momentum Meeting is short and simple but of utmost importance.
With it, you will be able to adjust your performance. You can reflect on what you are learning. And you can create momentum. It is momentum, not motivation, that keeps us going.
Summary of Personal Development Plan Steps
Once again, the four steps to creating a powerful personal development plan are
- Focus on one thing.
- Find the vital few actions.
- Keep a visual scorecard.
- Build accountability.
Wait, what if you don’t have a mentor or a peer to meet with at your PDP meeting? Find one. And if that is not possible, meet with yourself.
FAQs
200 New Year’s Resolution Ideas for Career, Work, and Personal Growth
Next Articles to Read
Continue your journey on personal development. I recommend the following articles.
- Personal Development Plan at Work. PDP is also called Professional Development Plan. Your supervisors can help you map out your career development.
- Be Your Super-duper Best. When you pursue personal excellence, your mind will be opened to many possibilities.
- Personal Development Jump-Start Guide. This article provides you with practical advice on how you can pursue personal development and self-improvement.
- 50 Self-Improvement Tips. One of these can help you speed up your self-improvement pursuit.
- Self-development for Smart People. Be smart and be the person you want to be.
- 6 Important Aspects of Personal Development. You can improve every aspect of your life. May you find easy and simple ways by reading this article.
- Successful People Seek Personal Development. We succeed when we grow. Explore how and you will find the courage to make your next steps
- Uncover Your Blindspot in Personal Development. Celestine Chua gives excellent tips on how you can uncover your blind spots.
You can also explore these related topics.
- What Leadership Is. Find out how you can get started in leading people. This article is an excellent resource if you want to understand what you need to know and develop to become a leader that people wish to follow.
- Persuasive Speeches That Move People to Action. If you want to know how to make influence people, delivering persuasive speeches may help you.
- Growth Mindset versus Fixed Mindset. A growth mindset will help set you up for big-thinking projects. In addition, a growth mindset will help you set bold personal development plans.
