The first aim of personal development planning is to determine your strengths and weaknesses. This is done with the goal in mind of boosting your strengths and decreasing your weaknesses by setting up a plan for developing these abilities and skills. Just like any other developmental process, it consists of a step by step procedure that you need to accomplish one at a time. However, there are some who believe self development is only needed when the situation requires it.
But then there are those that believe personal development planning is necessary for all of us throughout life and has no ending. It’s seen as a continuous process that can be used to improve many areas of your life and can also help you to achieve happiness and joy. This belief is based on the idea that life is a journey that requires dedication and work to make the best you can out of every single moment.
Its Function and Focus
Personal development planning is designed to affect all areas of your life, personal as well as work related. No stone is left unturned as they say. Your career path and goals depend on your core values which are given emphasis throughout this process. And to make these values a real part of your life, behaviors and habits are factored into the plan. As a result, distractions are not entertained if you have a clear plan and sense of direction.
The focus of this self development is to provide a theme from which you can base your goals. And with your core values, habits and behaviors, you will be moving toward your goal with a certain direction and laser focus. In addition, the part of identifying the focus is knowing the outcome of the plan.
Areas for Your Personal Development Planning
The areas of development fall within two basic categories:
- The first of which includes building on your existing strengths.
- And the second focuses on your need to development a new set of skills and abilities.
However, in order for you to identify the areas you need to improve for either one of these categories means that you must first know what your strengths are. This will determine what can be build on in the first category. And once you know this you have a better idea of what skills are lacking that can go into the second category for building new abilities.
Now we can’t forget those weaknesses either. As it also follows that by knowing your weaknesses you have a better idea of what exactly needs to be developed further in both of our categories.
Feedback
You need to reflect on yourself and ask for feedback from others in order to hone your skills and abilities. Feedback is necessary because in truth, there are qualities that are in need of improvement that are difficult for you to see. This type of feedback needs to be objective and rational so it can serve as your guide.
Development is an ongoing process to answer to the demands of our everyday experiences. Personal development planning may often require the learning of new skills so that new productivity can emerge. This method is highly beneficial for you to achieve happiness and success in life so continue to gain an understanding about this process and perhaps you too will find it useful for yourself as well.