Easy Steps for Creating Your Personal Growth Plan

People always want to become the best versions of themselves. While it is easy to create goals, like eat healthily, be fit, and become a better person, they are challenging to achieve. It is always a long and learning process that requires time, discipline, and effort.

But, what makes most people fail to achieve their goals in life is the lack of planning. Without an effective and reliable set of plans, there are no guiding principles and boundaries to help one succeed in the process.

This is why it is essential to create a “s-m-a-r-t” plan: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely.

If you do not know where to start, here are some points that will help you to create your very own “personal growth plan.”

Define Your Goals

The first thing that you need to do is to define your goals. After listing it all down, make sure that you understand all aspects of each point.

You can only do this effectively by defining the limits, scopes, as well as overall outcome of each goal that you have in mind. For instance, you intend to live a much healthier lifestyle. Before moving forward to the actual execution, you should set the parameters of that specific goal.

What does it mean to be healthy for you? Does it involve your eating habits, alongside your activities? Or does it center on your diet alone?

Develop Your Vision

After defining each of your goals, the next step is to develop your vision. You can also do this at the same time as you try to define your goals. By envisioning what you intend to obtain or achieve, you will understand more what you want to reach in the end.

Say, in living a healthy lifestyle, how do you envision yourself when you do it? Do you see yourself practicing fitness routines on a daily basis?

Whatever you choose, make sure that you are clear with your visions for each of your life goals.

Set Up Milestones & Deadline

In order to create an effective “personal growth plan,” you must also include the details of the milestones, as well as the deadline. Ensure to set these things up as you create your list of plans.

In the case of eating healthily and living a much healthier lifestyle, what do you see or consider as your first-ever milestone? Is it losing 2 pounds of your weight each week? Or boost your immune system in a month?

Find Supporting Habits

When creating a personal growth plan, make sure that you include “supporting” habits for each goal that you have. Keep in mind that “dramatic leaps” are not the only thing that will lead to success. It is the small steps that you take in the process, no matter how minute they are.

As you list down your plans, ensure to incorporate supporting and supplementing activities that will help you in the process. For example, in the case of aiming for a healthy lifestyle, researching and studying the sciences behind foods and diet programs can be an effective and reliable habit to help you stay on track.

Understand Your Strengths

Another thing that you need to consider is your strengths. When creating a plan for your goals, analyze first your strength points. This will help you arrive at a more detailed and specific set of actions to achieve your ultimate goal.

In continuing the example of achieving a fit and healthy lifestyle, you have to find and realize your strengths that will help you in the process.

Develop New Skills

As you list down your plans for each goal, be sure to incorporate the need to develop new skills. Find the specific areas that you need to improve on that you know will help you in the overall process.

For example, you want to start and grow a stable business. Aside from listing all the things that you need to do, you must push yourself to develop new skills, like learning marketing techniques or studying business processes.

Take Action

In creating a plan, the sets of actions that you include in every goal are what will cause you to move forward. They will serve as your specific guides as to how you can effectively and efficiently arrive at your desired destination.

As you list down your goals, make time to list three to five general and specific plans of action for each point. Say, in opening a new business, hiring essential staff could be one of your general actions, and posting job ads on social media platforms could be one of your specific actions.

Get Support

After listing your goals, visions, strengths, sets of actions, it is now time to pinpoint the people who will help you get there. Aside from your family members, think of the individuals that you will benefit from and learn from to assist you in the process of achieving your goals.

Say, you intend to be fit and healthy, you may want to find a reliable and effective fitness coach or a training buddy.

Measure Progress

Monitoring and measuring your progress are some of the best ways to help you achieve your life goals. As you create your plan, be sure to include your parameters, as well as your starting references and your endpoint.

For instance, you aim to become more mindful of your actions. In terms of mindfulness, zenfulspirit.com states that it is the state of being “aware.” So, to track your progress, you may list some questions in your weekly chart whether you let yourself become aware of all the essential things, and disregard the things that don’t.

Plan A Review

Aside from tracking your progress, you will want to include a “review” period, as well, in your overall plan. This will help you check whether you are, truly, moving forward toward succeeding and achieving your goal.

For example, you want to lose weight in three months. After a month of following your specific plans, you did not lose anything. Accordingly, you will need to reassess where you got it all wrong.

Set a date or a period wherein you can reassess and review your actions. You will need it as you move forward.

Final Thoughts

As mentioned, personal growth is a long and learning process. You will need to get through a lot of things, which will help you grow mature in life.

The pointers given above are all helpful in creating a plan for your life goals. While they may appear easy and “cliche” for some, they are actually much more challenging than what most people expect.

Despite this, though, you have to make sure to apply them to create a very effective “personal growth plan.” Remember, failing to prepare is equal to preparing to fail.