how to write a personal development plan

How it works

Transform your enterprise with the scalable mindsets, skills, & behavior change that drive performance.

Explore how BetterUp connects to your core business systems.

We pair AI with the latest in human-centered coaching to drive powerful, lasting learning and behavior change.

Build leaders that accelerate team performance and engagement.

Unlock performance potential at scale with AI-powered curated growth journeys.

Build resilience, well-being and agility to drive performance across your entire enterprise.

Transform your business, starting with your sales leaders.

Unlock business impact from the top with executive coaching.

Foster a culture of inclusion and belonging.

Accelerate the performance and potential of your agencies and employees.

See how innovative organizations use BetterUp to build a thriving workforce.

Discover how BetterUp measurably impacts key business outcomes for organizations like yours.

A demo is the first step to transforming your business. Meet with us to develop a plan for attaining your goals.

• What is coaching?

Learn how 1:1 coaching works, who its for, and if it's right for you.

Accelerate your personal and professional growth with the expert guidance of a BetterUp Coach.

Types of Coaching

Navigate career transitions, accelerate your professional growth, and achieve your career goals with expert coaching.

Enhance your communication skills for better personal and professional relationships, with tailored coaching that focuses on your needs.

Find balance, resilience, and well-being in all areas of your life with holistic coaching designed to empower you.

Discover your perfect match : Take our 5-minute assessment and let us pair you with one of our top Coaches tailored just for you.

Research, expert insights, and resources to develop courageous leaders within your organization.

Best practices, research, and tools to fuel individual and business growth.

View on-demand BetterUp events and learn about upcoming live discussions.

The latest insights and ideas for building a high-performing workplace.

• BetterUp Briefing

The online magazine that helps you understand tomorrow's workforce trends, today.

Innovative research featured in peer-reviewed journals, press, and more.

Founded in 2022 to deepen the understanding of the intersection of well-being, purpose, and performance

We're on a mission to help everyone live with clarity, purpose, and passion.

Join us and create impactful change.

Read the buzz about BetterUp.

Meet the leadership that's passionate about empowering your workforce.

For Business

For Individuals

How to develop a personal development plan (PDP) to reach your goals

Jump to section

What’s personal development?

6 types of personal development, what’s a personal development plan, how to create a personal development plan for work and life, bring your goals to life.

No matter where you find yourself in life, there’s always room for self-improvement. 

But whether you want to make more time for your family , learn how to advocate your boundaries at work , or pursue a master’s degree , reaching your goals is easier said than done. You might lose track of your progress or get too busy to continue the commitment.

Writing your goals down in a personal development plan (PDP) can transform big, impossible-sounding ideas into actionable changes in your daily life. 

Personal development is the process of looking inward and concentrating on ways to better yourself. It focuses on rebuilding habits and ways of thinking, like developing better problem-solving skills , practicing self-compassion , or fostering a growth mindset . 

But it’s far from simple. The techniques you use to connect with your inner self differ greatly from person to person, making the right path potentially harder to find. True development asks you to engage in honest self-reflection and strategic goal-setting at the same time — and sometimes, that’s a long process. 

That doesn’t mean personal development isn’t worth it. Striving for growth and continuous learning will push you out of your comfort zone , teaching you to be resilient and flexible to challenges . 

And the rewards are transformative. Embracing change will help you build self-awareness and push you closer to your personal and professional aspirations. The meaning of a PDP is to have something that tracks and supports your progress. 

Personal development is a never-ending process. You can always benefit from improving your know-how or adopting an entirely new skill. There’s infinite potential for personal development, and if that feels overwhelming, it’s okay. Start slow and small and let improvements build one on top of the other. 

To get started on a self-assessment of your potential objectives, here are six common categories of personal development goals:

1. Soft skills

Your unique personality makes some soft skills feel second nature. If you identify more as an introvert , your natural attention to your inner self may give you a deep sense of empathy or creativity . And if you feel more extroverted , you probably instinctively multitask or strike up conversations with new colleagues. 

According to a LinkedIn hiring trends analysis, your technical skills capture a hiring manager’s attention, but soft skills often determine whether they actually extend a job offer — so don’t overlook them. You might already have strong soft skills that come naturally to you, but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn others that push you out of your comfort zone. 

It isn’t just your professional life where these competencies come in handy. In your personal life, they shape friendships and nourish a sense of community and belonging . 

To identify areas for improvement, perform a skills assessment , reach out to colleagues or managers for constructive feedback , or start a daily journaling practice to identify behavioral patterns. Whether it’s fostering better decision-making or lowering your cognitive bias tops your list of goals, the soft skills you develop can make life easier and more fulfilling. 

2. Personal growth

Daily life is so full of tasks that you may not often stop to revel in the lessons you learn each day. Personal growth is about moving through your routines with intention, pushing to be a better version of yourself. 

Although personal growth is a lifelong journey, you can accomplish it through daily goal-setting. Try waking up early to have 30 minutes of peace, limiting social media usage , or setting boundaries to align daily life with your personal values . 

Personal growth requires a commitment to constant self-discovery . You change every day, and your personal goals for self-improvement should reflect that. Start by asking yourself self-discovery questions , reading books by self-growth experts you admire, or starting a manifestation journal to unlock your dreams.

3. Power to impact others

Personal power is more than your ability to wield influence — it’s about how you do it. Every day, you interact with people and impact them with your words, actions, and presence. Intentionality is the key to making your influence positive, uplifting and inspiring the people around you. 

To weave this power into your personal growth plan, reflect on the times others uplifted you and try to recreate them. Deepening your empathetic leadership , working on collaboration skills , and learning to treat others with respect are all ways to create nurturing environments and ensure that your impact leaves a positive legacy . 

4. Personal improvement

Personal improvement and personal growth may sound similar on paper, but each has a unique focus and objective. Growth focuses on a holistic exploration of inner fulfillment. But improvement often includes short-term goals that are easier to define, zeroing in on the specific skill sets that enhance your daily life. 

Learning negotiation skills , improving technical proficiency, or developing routines for financial wellness are all examples of personal improvement goals. These skills give you structure and know-how to work productively and remain resilient to challenges. And while it is distinct from personal growth, the skills you develop here will act as foundations that support broader development. 

5. Self-confidence

When you’re confident, you move through your day easily, stand up to challenges, and confidently share ideas. But unfortunately, not every day feels like this. Everyone has insecurities or worries that invite their inner critic to pop up and take over their positive mindset . 

While you may not be able to manifest a life free of insecurity or worry, you can take steps to improve overall self-confidence. Expanding your network, learning clear communication skills , and adopting a growth mindset can make you more resilient . That way, when challenges overwhelm you, you can step back and access tools to move forward confidently.

6. Personal analysis

It’s not always easy to see yourself from an outside perspective. But being objective and honest about your strengths and weaknesses is the key to self-improvement. After all, if you don’t know your starting place, it’s nearly impossible to build a path forward. 

This kind of self-analysis requires regular checking-in, which can be a long-term goal in itself. Consider reflective journaling, regularly requesting performance reviews , or taking a personality assessment like the Enneagram . However you analyze yourself, you’ll develop valuable insights about where you are and where you aspire to go. 

A PDP is a document that outlines individual development goals and breaks them down into achievable steps. It can be as simple as a bulleted list or as involved as a daily action plan . It’s up to you and how you prefer to grow, and it might take some trial and error to discover what works best.

Staring at the finish line can be overwhelming when you don’t know what your journey is. A PDP is a step-by-step action plan to transform big concepts into attainable short-term and long-term goals , motivating you as you move from one milestone to the next. 

Why is creating a personal development plan important? 

Now that you know what PDP stands for, you can put it into practice. But understanding its importance first can motivate you to create your own plan and put in the hard work to follow through with it. 

Here are some benefits of a PDP: 

• Provides a guide: Your personal and professional life is full of checklists. Between household chores, work responsibilities, and maintaining a social life , it’s easy to lose yourself in routines. Creating a clear PDP helps you keep your eye on your career goals and personal needs without neglecting your day-to-day. No matter how busy your day is, a coherent PDP ensures your goals are on your list of priorities.
• Adapts to your needs: Life isn’t predictable, and your PDP will reflect that. As you change and grow, or when something throws a wrench in your plan, you can always return to your PDP and readjust. This means it will always reflect your current aspirations, creating a relevant guide no matter where life takes you. 
• Fosters the power of time management: Learning better time management skills may be on your list of personal or professional development goals . But building an action plan is an incredible time management technique. PDPs depend on structure, helping you turn tasks into time-bound objectives and stay on schedule. This improves your focus and minimizes the time you spend on activities that don’t contribute to your goals. 

Makes big goals feel more attainable: Goals like changing careers, saving for a mortgage, or becoming a keynote speaker for your favorite industry seminar may feel so far away that they’re hard to begin. But whether five years away, 10 years , or more, a PDP breaks down big goals into manageable steps, with plenty of milestones to celebrate in between.

While your goals are unique to you, you can follow a general step-by-step guide to build an effective PDP. Here are seven steps toward creating a comprehensive and effective PDP: 

1. Set goals

The first step is always goal-setting. Take time to imagine what you want to achieve, charting out different goals you want to accomplish next week, next quarter, or by the end of the year. This is the hardest (and most important) step of building your PDP. If you overload yourself with too many goals or objectives you aren’t prepared to achieve, you might grow overwhelmed and give up before you can begin to make a dent. 

Start by reviewing the six types of personal development and reflect on what resonates with you most. To help you brainstorm, try hiring a personal coach or reaching out to your community. You may quickly build a long list of objectives, so aim to narrow them down. 

Splitting them into short-, mid-, and long-term goals might help you decide on a focus and evenly spread your energy between objectives.

Creating a daily skincare routine, adopting a new hobby , and pursuing a master’s degree at once evenly divides your resources and balances your progress. But trying to change careers, go back to school, and move into a management role might be too many steps to take at once. 

2. Prioritize your goals

Once you write your goals down, it’s time to break them into actionable steps using SMART goals . SMART stands for: 

• Specific: Effective goals are clear. Be sure to define the skill, knowledge, or experience you will develop. Rather than “improve time management skills,” plan to “adopt a new time management app, track times on common tasks, and delegate non-urgent tasks to other team members.”
• Measurable: Monitor progress along the way with targets or SMART KPIs to understand how you’re doing and adjust when necessary. Rather than “Improving self-care routine ,” you can plan to “Prioritize eight hours of healthy sleep, 150 minutes of weekly exercise, and one day dedicated to free-time activities.” Then you can check those off the list regularly and track the days you miss.
• Attainable: Being honest about your resources and time will help you separate unachievable goals from realistic ones. Consider everything you’ll need to accomplish every single milestone. If your goals aren’t realistic, you structure failure into your plan. 
• Relevant: Every step of your PDP needs to be relevant to your finish line. I f your professional goals include pursuing a project management certification, learning a new coding language will just distract you because it doesn’t contribute. Remember — you don’t have to accomplish everything at once. Choose what’s most relevant to your personal and professional goals and job role, and prioritize according to importance. 
• Time-bound: Setting deadlines holds you accountable. But meeting deadlines requires in-depth strategic planning , according to researcher Maroš Servátka in an interview with the Harvard Business Review . If you’re too generous with your time, you may consistently put deadlines off. Be careful to set realistic schedules with an appropriate amount of wiggle room. 

3. Conduct a SWOT analysis

A SWOT analysis identifies the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that could affect your journey. While it can help you double-check that your SMART goals are accurate, you can also use it to consider the external factors that help or hinder your process. 

Poor time management skills might hinder your ability to balance a certification program, full-time work, and your home life. Identifying your need to get organized — which might be a weakness in your analysis  — can help you prioritize methods to build structure into your schedule. Also check for opportunities, like flexibility in your work schedule or stipends for schooling. 

4. Tap into your network

Personal development doesn’t happen in a bubble. Your network of friends, mentors, and loved ones is one of your most valuable assets, whether providing emotional support or insightful advice.

Let people know about your goals and share your plan to get there, encouraging them to hold you accountable, or find an accountability buddy. It’s also a good idea to let them know when to hold off and let you make your own mistakes.

5. Measure your progress

Find a tracking system that makes the most sense for you and your goals. For professional growth, this may include a new productivity app that tracks and visualizes your progress.

For smaller personal goals, like improving your sleep hygiene or exercise regime , regular journaling or to-do lists can be just as effective. Whatever method you choose, celebrate your wins and readjust when challenges get in the way.

Self-improvement doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With careful thought and strategy, your goals can turn into meaningful action. Start by analyzing your future aspirations, resources, and opportunities. From there, build your personal development plan with milestones to motivate and move you toward continued success.

Transform your life

Make meaningful changes and become the best version of yourself. BetterUp's professional Coaches are here to support your personal growth journey.

Elizabeth Perry, ACC

Elizabeth Perry is a Coach Community Manager at BetterUp. She uses strategic engagement strategies to cultivate a learning community across a global network of Coaches through in-person and virtual experiences, technology-enabled platforms, and strategic coaching industry partnerships. With over 3 years of coaching experience and a certification in transformative leadership and life coaching from Sofia University, Elizabeth leverages transpersonal psychology expertise to help coaches and clients gain awareness of their behavioral and thought patterns, discover their purpose and passions, and elevate their potential. She is a lifelong student of psychology, personal growth, and human potential as well as an ICF-certified ACC transpersonal life and leadership Coach.

How to prioritize tasks: 7 tips to perfect your workflow

The only guide you'll need to create effective cascading goals, using the kaizen method for personal growth and success, what’s a project scope, and how do you write one, 5 steps to build a priority matrix and organize your life, what is a bullet journal, and how can it boost your productivity, learn to sweat the small stuff: how to improve attention to detail, boost your productivity: how to avoid interruptions at work, difficulty concentrating and what might be the cause, eliminate distractions at work for your most productive day yet, how to make a daily schedule: tips and examples, eat the frog meaning: why finish complicated tasks first, the 10 best work productivity tools to maximize your time, 13 ways to focus better at work, start, stop, continue: how to implement this retrospective model, what is an action plan how to become a real-life action hero, 9 project management (pm) tools that help you get the job done, multitasking isn't working: a science-backed approach to a better day, stay connected with betterup, get our newsletter, event invites, plus product insights and research..

3100 E 5th Street, Suite 350 Austin, TX 78702

• Platform Overview
• Integrations
• Powered by AI
• BetterUp Lead™
• BetterUp Manage™
• BetterUp Care®
• Sales Performance
• Diversity & Inclusion
• Case Studies
• Why BetterUp?
• About Coaching
• Find your Coach
• Career Coaching
• Communication Coaching
• Life Coaching
• News and Press
• Leadership Team
• Become a BetterUp Coach
• BetterUp Labs
• Center for Purpose & Performance
• Leadership Training
• Business Coaching
• Contact Support
• Contact Sales
• Privacy Policy
• Acceptable Use Policy
• Trust & Security
• Cookie Preferences

Quick Links

Get in touch.

Unlock the Latest Knowledge that Can You Help You Achieve More in Life with More Confidence

Print and Digital Options Available

Maximize Your Potential With a Personal Development Plan

Personal development fosters individual growth while enhancing skills and self-awareness. It can facilitate adaptability to life’s changes, maximize your potential and contribute to fulfilling your personal and professional aspirations. The result can lead to a more enriched and purposeful life. But maximizing your potential requires a sound and strategic approach, which is where creating a solid personal development plan and template can assist you.

What is a personal development plan? 

A personal development plan (PDP) provides a structured and strategic approach to reaching your personal goals. It provides you with an opportunity for self-assessment, making the planning process itself an opportunity to better understand your drives, goals and needs.

Moreover, PDPs are actionable. By setting goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (that is, SMART goals), you develop a proactive means toward personal growth. And paying careful attention to your plan throughout the process gives you the opportunity to assess your success.

Here are eight aspects of personal development to keep in mind while creating your individualized plan:

• Self-awareness and reflection: Discover your true self with greater understanding of your strengths and weaknesses as well as values, drives and goals.
• Skill acquisition and knowledge: Commit to lifelong learning to gain new knowledge and develop new skills and enhance existing ones for greater empowerment and satisfaction.
• Emotional and mental health: Build resilience while managing stress and developing emotional intelligence .
• Physical health: Emphasis on improving health, including a better diet, proper sleep, exercise and other self-care regimens to enhance overall well-being.
• Relationships: Build and expand your personal network through development and better communication skills and empathy.
• Financial literacy : Relieve unnecessary stress and burdens with a personalized money management plan.
• Time management and productivity : The best time management strategies will increase your productivity while freeing up personal time.
• Spiritual growth: Noted speaker Jim Rohn considered spiritual growth key to personal development , whether that’s through religion, meditation or a connection to nature and the universe.

By identifying these aspects of overall well-being, you can embark on a personal development plan suited to your individual goals and needs.

What are the benefits of a personal development plan?

The decision to create a PDP is your first step toward achieving your goals. It shows a commitment to inner growth and a desire to lead a happier and more fulfilling life. As you dive in, you will develop a clearer understanding of yourself. This clarity fosters self-awareness through introspection. Your plan is not a “wish list” but rather a process of designing a more purposeful existence.

Your plan also provides clarity in making decisions that align with your values and goals. This calibration of your inner and outer worlds enhances personal motivation with a renewed sense of purpose. Monitoring your growth in desired areas of personal development likewise builds resilience as you see yourself more confidently clearing hurdles and navigating setbacks.

Furthermore, a professional development plan emphasizes continuous learning. This augments your adaptability skills so that perceived threats seem more like opportunities. You develop a growth mindset that builds your character and makes you more attractive to others, both personally and professionally. Every task becomes easier as you build a more enriched, empowered and purposeful life.

How do I create a personal development plan?

Crafting a PDP requires commitment. You must be willing to devote quiet time to deep introspection of who you are and who you want to become. With this understanding, you can set specific goals tailored to your personal growth. Each goal should be paired with strategic actions that are stepping stones toward your self-actualization.

It sounds like a lot to take on—but embarking on this journey does not need to be difficult. A personal development plan template provides structure, acting as a roadmap to guide you one step at a time on your lifelong journey.

Use this personal development plan template to get started.

Let’s begin with a personal development plan example to use as your own template.

1. Create a vision statement

Think deeply about what you aspire to and what inspires you. Make a list in multiple columns that addresses where you want to go and what truly motivates you on a daily basis. Then, narrow that list down, crossing off items where desire and motivation don’t align. Start from what remains to develop your personal growth vision statement.

2. Commit to a deep self-assessment

Now that you have brought into alignment what you want to achieve and what motivates you to get there, assess yourself. Identify your personal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats—that is, perform a personal SWOT analysis . Just as these analyses help businesses assess their standing, they also help individuals in developing a plan for personal development.

3. Set SMART goals

Next, set personal development goals for yourself. But remember: Goals are not wishes or dreams. Setting goals for personal development is simple, but it requires discipline. Set your personal goals with the SMART goal strategy in mind—determine goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. To facilitate the ease and success of this stage, consider using a goal-setting worksheet .

4. Determine action steps

Now that you know where you want to go, the challenge lies in getting there. Determine the course of action to achieve what you desire. Some personal development goals may only need a few action steps. Others may require more. The point here is to map out the actions you need to take to achieve your personal goals. Set realistic deadlines that help keep you on track, adhere to them and adjust only when necessary.

5. Use all available resources

Putting step 4 of your personal development plan into action may be the most difficult. Thankfully, you do not need to attempt it without guidance. Experts can assist you. Take time to use available resources such as personal development courses and personal growth books . These proven experts will do more than guide you with tools and strategies; they will inspire you during your growth journey.

6. Track your progress

Tracking your personal development progress is vital to your plan. If you used a SMART goal worksheet to set deadlines, review the tasks regularly to ensure you are staying on track while also setting future goals. You may consider keeping a daily journal. If you choose this method, consider expressing gratitude in your journal, which can provide personal development benefits.

7. Review and adjust

Tracking your daily progress also offers you the opportunity to review and adjust your personal development plan. Go back and look at your worksheet and journal each week with time set aside for a monthly review. If you did not meet your goals, don’t be hard on yourself. You may simply have aimed too high starting out. Adjust your goals and timelines accordingly. And when goals are met, set new ones in incremental steps that adhere to the SMART goal-setting approach.

Ready to maximize your potential but still want help creating your personal development plan? The Win the Day Accelerator, hosted by James Whittaker, can help! The 8-part program is designed to unlock your full potential and help you achieve extraordinary results, personally and professionally.

Photo by mimagephotography/Shutterstock.com

Bryan Lindenberger

Bryan enjoys the digital space where arts and technology meet. As a writer, he has worked in education, health and wellbeing, and manufacturing. He also assists smaller businesses in web development including accessibility and content development. In his free time, he hikes trails in central Florida.

5473 Blair Road, Suite 100 PMB 30053 Dallas, TX 75231

Copyright © 2024 SUCCESS Magazine. All rights reserved.

How to Create Strong Individual Development Plans (With Examples)

Introduction to individual development plans, why do your team members need individual development plans, components of a strong individual development plan, how to write a strong individual development plan, examples of individual development plans, individual development plan template (free), wrapping up.

Other Related Blogs

What is an Individual Development Plan?

• Personal and Professional Growth: Individual development plans are crucial for both team members and managers because they facilitate personal and professional growth. They allow individuals to identify their strengths and areas in need of improvement, which is the foundation for continuous development.
• Concrete Goal Setting: IDPs enable team members to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals . This level of goal specificity provides a clear direction for improvement and helps individuals stay focused on their development objectives.
• Performance Improvement: IDPs are instrumental in improving performance. By addressing areas that need development, team members can enhance their skills, knowledge, and capabilities, ultimately contributing to the overall success of the team and organization.
• Alignment with Organizational Goals: Individual development plans help align personal aspirations with the team’s mission and objectives. This alignment ensures that team members are actively contributing to the team’s success while pursuing their own professional growth.
• Feedback and Progress Tracking: IDPs establish a framework for continuous feedback and progress evaluation. They help team members and managers assess how well individuals are advancing toward their goals, providing a structured means of tracking growth over time and promoting accountability.

• The individual development plan should include a skills assessment that identifies areas for improvement and potential learning opportunities.
• Creating a step-by-step action plan with timelines can help you progress toward your goals while providing a framework for ongoing feedback and evaluation of progress.
• Regular assessment of the plan is crucial to ensure success and adjust as needed.

Professional Goals and Aspirations

Strengths and talents, development opportunities, action plans.

• Social Intelligence: Building Strong Workplace Relationships as a Leader
• 7 Free Templates of Performance Review and Helpful Resources
• Unleashing the Potential of Lifelong Learning: A Journey of Growth
• Top 10 Team Building Activities That Smart Managers Are Using In 2023
• 7 Examples Of Succession Planning To Maintain Growth And Stability
• How to Coach an Underperforming Employee? 5 Manager Hacks to Save Your Team
• Navigating Growth: An In-Depth Example of a Learning and Development Strategy
• How to develop the 8 Conceptual Skills every Manager needs?
• 11 Important Signs Of Overwork No Manager Should Miss
• What Is The Contrast Bias? How Can Managers Defeat It?

Review the Past Performance

Set realistic goals, create an action plan, define a timeline, evaluate regularly.

IDP Example #1: Team Manager Sarah

• Improve team management skills: Develop skills to manage and  motivate team members effectively.  Implement a new system for tracking and measuring team performance.
• Develop project management skills: Implement a new system to improve project execution and delivery.
• Enhance communication and collaboration skills: Practice these skills in team meetings and one-on-one conversations with team members to ensure smoother operations.
• Develop strategic thinking skills: Practice developing and implementing a strategic plan for the team.
• Find relevant courses or workshops: Select a team management course or workshop to attend within the next three months. Similarly, look for courses on communication and collaboration skills that can help overcome hurdles.
• Implement a new team performance tracking system: Find a new method for tracking and measuring team performance. Implement the new system within the next six months and monitor progress.
• Implement new project management system: Research and select a new one to implement within the next six months. Train team members on the new system and monitor progress.
• Develop and implement a strategic plan for the team: Meet with team members to gather input and ideas for a strategic plan. Develop a plan and present it to the supervisor for approval within the next six months.
• Monitor progress and adjust goals as needed: Monitor progress regularly and adjust plans as needed. Seek feedback from team members to ensure goals are aligned with team needs and expectations.

IDP Example #2: Team Manager John

• Enhance technical leadership skills: Effectively provide technical guidance and support to the team.
• Improve project management skills: For leading projects and ensuring successful delivery within budget and timelines.
• Foster a culture of continuous learning:  Encourage team members to engage in ongoing learning and skill development. 
• Attend leadership workshops/conferences: Identify relevant leadership workshops or seminars in the software development industry. Register and attend at least two events within the next year to gain insights into effective technical leadership.
• Mentor junior team members:   Assign mentorship roles  to experienced team members and guide junior developers. Regularly meet with mentees to discuss their progress, challenges, and career aspirations.
• Lead a complex project: Take on a difficult task to demonstrate technical leadership. Coordinate with team members, facilitate effective communication, and ensure the project’s successful execution.
• Implement a learning and recognition system: Research and introduce a learning management system that enables team members to access relevant learning resources. Establish a recognition program to acknowledge and reward individual and team achievements.
• Follow the process: Start by conversing with your team members to understand challenges from their perspectives and share from your own. List the common areas of improvement that you want to work together on for the next period.
• Initiate a realistic plan: Based on the discussions, create a set of goals for your team members. Ensure the goals are SMART and practical , and supplement them with the resources and support required to achieve them within the set timeline.
• Talk of reviews: The best way to use IDPs with your team includes making them holistic and relevant to the team members. Thus, as a manager, you should provide support through reviews and checks to resolve queries and concerns as they come. You can integrate IDPs into your performance management system to improve it!
• Remember that IDPs are not one-size-fits-all: Individual needs and growth pathways are different. While a template can help you start, be ready to accommodate your team’s and individual members’ varied needs. It will show care toward their growth – enabling a relationship based on mutual trust.

Deeksha, with a solid educational background in human resources, bridges the gap between your goals and you with valuable insights and strategies within leadership development. Her unique perspectives, powered by voracious reading, lead to thoughtful pieces that tie conventional know-how and innovative approaches together to enable success for management professionals.

Deeksha Sharma

Boost your problem solving skills to overcome challenges.

Take the free problem solving assessment to sharpen your problem solving skills for a successful career.

What are some examples of individual development plan?

How do you write an individual development plan, how do you write a good idp.

Growth Mindset Training For Leaders: When Should You Take It

How to find an executive coach a 5 step guide for managers, shivani pande uncovers the making of a manager , 7 underrated ted talks for managers you must watch.

How to Craft a Personal Development Plan that Inspires Meaningful, Long-Term Results

Overview : This in-depth guide provides a comprehensive 7-step roadmap to create a customized personal development plan template to help you actualize your true potential. It also provides a personal development plan template you can use (with examples).

______________

I leaped into the personal development world with a copy of Tony Robbins’ Personal Power program in the early 1990s.

If you’re old enough and living in the States, you know the one I’m talking about (late-night infomercials).

I was 18, and this audio program made a measurable difference in my outlook and behavior.

From that moment onward, I was hooked on personal development.

I jumped from seminar to seminar, book to book. Investing every possible moment I had, I covered a lot of ground in my first five years.

Reflecting over 30 years on my journey, I now see I was missing several vital ingredients essential for long-term, healthy development back then.

In this guide, I will share with you lessons learned and provide a roadmap for crafting a powerful Personal Development Plan. (Also, toward the bottom of the guide, you can download a personal development plan template and an example plan.)

Let’s dive in …

What is a Personal Development Plan?

A personal development plan is like a business plan for an individual. A personal development plan creates a roadmap for an individual’s growth in key categories of life and work.

There’s no set formula or template for creating a personal development plan.

Your plan can be a half-page, a full-page, or 20 pages long. It’s entirely up to you.

To clarify, “individual development plans” are generally more geared toward career development than a personal development plan (or “self-development plan”), but they all share common attributes.

The primary question a Personal Development Plan helps answer is:

Where am I going to place my available time and attention?

Personal Development Definitions

If you examine most people over a decade, you’ll observe little or no change in their development and behavior.

Development implies a permanent change in the structure of your being including your body, brain, or consciousness.

Just because you adopt a new habit , for example, doesn’t mean you have or will grow from it. If this new habit leads to internal growth over time , however, it will facilitate your development.

It’s all too easy to believe we’re developing when we’re not. I know I deceived myself for many years and there’s evidence of this throughout personal development communities.

Reading books in this genre, for example, doesn’t mean you’re developing. You might just be acquiring more ideas.

Personal development books can potentially provide a roadmap for development in certain areas, but real development comes through practice and repetition .

Our behavior and the development of skills, aptitudes, and desired tendencies are where we can observe signs of permanent change.

Personal Development Is Not Self Help

Self-help implies there’s something wrong with us.

The multi-billion-dollar self-help industry profits by subconsciously communicating these “deficiencies” to its unsuspecting audience.

Actual personal development is how humans realize more of their innate potential.

In an ideal environment, this process happens naturally .

Because this perfect environment doesn’t exist in society, the call for personal development is an individual’s choice. It’s up to each individual to say “yes” to their hero’s journey .

Why Personal Development Plans Are Important

When you don’t have a vision, a plan, or a goal, where does your attention go?

For most people, attention goes to entertainment and distraction. Sight, sound, and motion captivate our brains.

Television series, films, video games, social media, sports, and stock prices hook the primitive parts of our brains.

Even if you’re an overachiever who defines yourself by accomplishments and external status, your attention likely gets fixated on more work, higher productivity, and making more money. That’s fine, but this effort doesn’t necessarily support our personal development goals.

When entertainment, distraction, and workaholism consume our attention, something doesn’t feel right within us.

We may not identify it, but a deeper part of us isn’t fulfilled.

Focusing on Growth Needs

Psychologist Abraham Maslow noted that when individuals mainly focus on meeting their basic human needs like physiological needs, security, fitting in, and being liked and respected, they become neurotic.

Self-actualizing individuals, in contrast, are more focused on their growth needs.

Their motivation stems from an internal directive called intrinsic motivation instead of being driven by external forces. (All of our basic human needs are external.)

To have a full and meaningful life requires us to open to deeper aspects of ourselves.

A personal development plan can help us do just that.

But most people don’t know what’s available to them. I certainly wasn’t aware of the options when I started my journey.

Youthful enthusiasm and naivete guided those early years.

If you go to personal development seminars or read books in this genre, you may only think within the confines of the illustrations these resources provide.

7-Step Roadmap to Creating Your Personal Development Plan

Before we jump in, here’s a quick overview of the steps for creating your personal development plan:

Step 1: Discover the Human Potential Landscape Step 2: Envision Your Future Self Step 3: Select your Current Areas of Focus Step 4: Determine Your Key Practices Step 5: Establish Personal Development Goals Step 6: Set Your Schedule for Deliberate Practice Step 7: Monitor Your Ongoing Progress

Step 1 is what’s missing from many people’s approach to personal development.

So we’ll start our journey with a larger vision for our human potential.

Note : Toward the bottom of this guide, you can download a personal development plan template based on this roadmap.

STEP 1: Discover the Personal Development Landscape

One thing I was missing from my personal development journey was a roadmap of the terrain. How can you navigate through your development without a map?

Every good explorer has one. Such a map shines a much-needed light on the diverse areas of our potential.

A reliable map of human potential wasn’t readily available in the early 90s.

The fields of transpersonal psychology, developmental psychology, integral theory, and neuroscience, however, were converging on one.

Theorist Ken Wilber played a major role in synthesizing many fields of research into a cohesive whole.

Personal Development Categories

In my experience, I’ve found it helps to take an integrated approach to your personal development plan.

That is, know your menu of options so you can select from multiple areas that interest you.

To create a map for our development, we need to know the categories available to us. These categories include:

• Lines of Intelligence (also called Streams of Development)

Skill Development

Major life categories, behavioral change, personality development.

Let’s look at each of these categories in more detail.

Available Lines of Intelligence

While we used to associate “intelligence” with IQ; we now know there are many forms of intelligence.

One popular model comes from the pioneering work of Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner and his Multiple Intelligence theory. 1 Gardner, Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences , 2011.

In Gardner’s model, there are now nine lines of intelligence:

Logical-mathematical intelligence : logic, abstractions, reasoning, numbers, and critical thinking. This intelligence is associated with IQ and intellectual aptitude. This line is also referred to as cognitive intelligence as explored in Jean Piaget’s research.

Linguistic intelligence : words, languages, reading, writing, telling stories, and memorizing words.

Intrapersonal intelligence : to know oneself including one’s strengths and weaknesses, emotional triggers, and motivations. One’s ability to be introspective and self-reflective. Psychologist Daniel Goleman popularized this as  Emotional Intelligence .

Kinesthetic intelligence : one’s ability to control one’s body and one’s skill in using it. Also called body intelligence or body-mind connection.

Musical intelligence :  sensitivity to sounds, pitch, rhythms, tones, meter, melody, etc.

Visual-spatial intelligence : spatial judgment and the ability to visualize and imagine with the mind’s eye.

Interpersonal intelligence : sensitivity to others’ moods, feelings, temperaments, motivations, and their ability to cooperate with others. Goleman popularized this as  Social Intelligence .

Naturalistic intelligence : sensitivity to one’s environment; the ability to recognize flora and fauna; nurturing and relating to one’s natural surroundings.

Existential intelligence : sometimes called spiritual intelligence; relates to one’s understanding of oneself concerning reality or the cosmos.

Integral Theory’s “AQAL” Model of Human Development

Additional Perspectives from Developmental Research

Other developmental researchers have studied the stages of growth in morals, values, worldviews, emotions, contemplation, spirituality, needs, and psycho-sexual development.

Do you see the diverse range of our potential?

In  Integral Life Practice , Ken Wilber, et al. group these “streams of development” into four categories:

• Cognitive development
• Self-related intelligence (including basic human needs , morals, values, and self-identity)
• Talent lines of development (including musical, visual-spatial, mathematical, and kinesthetic)
• Everything else (including spiritual, aesthetic, emotional, psychosexual, and interpersonal)

We each have a different base level of development in each line of intelligence and an innate potential we can realize through deliberate practice.

Our environment often thwarts this potential in early childhood. As adults, our responsibility is to resume this upward march. A personal development plan can help us with that!

Skill development is a broad category that includes areas where you show interest and/or ability. You can develop skills for personal or professional reasons.

There are skills in problem-solving , communication , collaborating, drawing, computer programming, bookkeeping, writing, analyzing, martial arts, persuading, musical instruments, negotiating, learning , presenting, goal setting, listening, managing, planning, reasoning, and predicting, to name only a few.

All skills are associated with at least one line of intelligence listed above. With sufficient interest, practice, and the right methods, individuals can develop any skill.

One way to get more clarity on your natural skills is to take the free VIA Character Strength survey . Your natural strengths often translate to specific skills.

The Wheel of Life Exercise

In your pursuit of personal development, you may have come across the Wheel of Life .

The Wheel of Life is a standard tool that coaches use to illustrate the various categories of one’s life, measure an individual’s status in each area, and set goals to improve in those areas.

Your wheel might include physical health, relationships, social, finances , professional, personal growth, spirituality , creativity , and fun.

The message behind the Wheel of Life is that development occurs through conscious effort and being intentional about how you grow within these key categories.

Who doesn’t have behaviors they would like to change?

We all have set patterns of behavior that get entrenched by unconscious repetition.

Making positive changes to these habits requires repatterning the brain.

For lasting change to occur, we repeat the new habit or behavior over time under various conditions.

The time necessary to install a new habit varies; research suggests it takes 66 days on average. 2 https://www.spring.org.uk/2009/09/how-long-to-form-a-habit.php I’ve found that it’s usually much less.

Why do many personal development programs fail to produce long-term results? Because these programs are “one size fits all.”

Research shows there is a range of psychological types. In the Enneagram system, there are nine primary types and nine levels of development within each one.

Each type has varying propensities, habitual patterns, strengths, weaknesses, fears, and potentials.

If you want to create an effective Personal Development Plan, be sure you’re aware of your psychological type. Each type has a different pathway to higher development.

As a business coach to high-performing entrepreneurs for over 25 years, I went through and used most (if not all) personality tests on the market, including popular ones like Myers-Briggs (MBTI), Human Design Engineering (HDe), and DISC.

In my opinion, the Enneagram is the most efficacious, robust, and useful. (MBTI and HDE are insightful too.)

You can take a free Enneagram test here . You can find scientifically validated paid tests online as well.

After you get your results, read more about your type and see if it resonates. Then, look for ways to develop your type. (On the Enneagram Institute website, they offer “Personal Growth Recommendations” for each type.)

STEP 2: Envision Your Future Self

Consider what the above information means about our potential: Developing any line of intelligence gives us greater sensitivity to the world around us.

We can now process information in new and deeper ways. Every time we grow in a line of intelligence, we perceive the world differently.

We are more aware than before. We have greater sensitivity to the world around us. Our possibilities are remarkable to ponder.

Nietzsche believed it was our destiny to be Ubermensch or Superman. An Ubermensch is an integrated or whole human being accessing his full potential.

Numerous researchers in developmental psychology have come to a similar conclusion, calling the final stage of development “Integrated.”

Maslow called this stage of development self-actualization and later, self-transcendence .

Cast Your Vision

Now, in Step 2, it’s time to create your vision for your future self .

Your vision (and personal development goals) will inspire you if it is true to who you are.

Sometimes we create a vision based on what we  should want or what we hope will gain approval from others—our parents, significant others, colleagues, or friends). Such a vision will lack inspiration and will feel meaningless to us.

Don’t worry about creating a “perfect” vision or the “right” vision. Just craft a sentence or two that inspires you right now.

STEP 3: Select Your Current Areas of Focus

In Step 1, you see a diverse range of options available. Learning about these options can be exciting, but it can also be overwhelming. If you nailed your vision in Step 2, you have more clarity.

Now, depending on your level of clarity, Step 3 can either be the easiest or the most difficult part of this process.

Even when you have a compelling vision for your future self, selecting areas of development to focus on can challenge us because we have limited time and countless options.

We can’t do it all. Creating an aggressive or complicated personal development plan with many goals backfires over time. I can attest to this from personal experience.

An aggressive plan will create additional internal resistance that undermines your efforts.

Over-planning sets you up for failure and discouragement. Eventually, you will burn out (lose motivation) and abandon your plan.

Be Mindful of Your Available Time

We’ll discuss scheduling in Step 6, but consider how much time you have available to invest in your development.

Let’s say you only have 30 minutes a day.

Is it reasonable to expect to make significant changes in six areas of your life within three months?

Developing new skills, for example, may take a minimum of 15 minutes of daily practice.

To set yourself up for success, I recommend picking up to three areas to focus on within the next 90 days.

Where Should You Start?

Select the areas that interest you the most. You’ll learn faster in these areas and have an easier time staying engaged with your practice.

So the question is: What’s most important to you right now ?

What are the areas you are most interested in developing now ?

To help answer these questions, it helps to know what you most value .

Narrow Down Your Search

Be aware of the tendency to overthink the selection process.

Better to dive into something for a month or two and then determine it’s not for you than to analyze your options. Analysis, as the saying goes, often leads to paralysis.

If you’re still having trouble deciding, go with the classic categories of Body, Mind, and Spirit.

• Body : pick an area that interests you like strength training, stamina, aerobics, or functional training.
• Mind : select one to three topics you want to explore. Read relevant books for each one.
• Spirit : consider focusing on gratitude, acceptance, kindness, compassion, meditation, or service to others.

I also recommend you include shadow work as part of an integrated program.

Include Important Lines of Development

While everyone is different and will create their plan to suit their needs, there are certain areas I believe to be foundational (for at least most people).

Cognitive Intelligence

Research shows that cognition is “necessary but insufficient” for other lines of development. For example, just because you have well-developed cognition doesn’t mean you’ll have moral intelligence.

One way to improve your cognition is to read books that challenge your understanding.

Emotional Intelligence (EI)

EI is, arguably, as important as cognitive development. EI relates to your physical and mental health, the quality of your relationships, and your leadership abilities (including self-leadership ).

One way to grow your emotional awareness is through meditation training . In the context of your personal development plan, meditation is a skill-building exercise. You are developing the skill of attention .

Intrapersonal Intelligence

Your level of self-awareness and knowledge of yourself influences your behaviors, moral development, and psychological development.

The Enneagram system can support the development of intrapersonal intelligence. Another way is to practice self-reflection and journaling.

See this in-depth guide on developing intrapersonal intelligence .

Kinesthetic Intelligence

Your awareness of your body defines the degree of your connection to your instinctive self. The more connected you are, the more mental balance you experience (and vice versa).

You can develop your body intelligence through practices like Yoga and Qigong as well as dancing and functional training. You can also use centering exercises , grounding techniques , and Zhan Zhuang  to increase body awareness.

Of course, there are other important aspects of your development. I singled out these four because they influence so much of our behaviors and decisions. Also, many of us are unaware of the profound role they play in our life experiences.

Pushing Beyond Professional Development

One thing I’ve observed in working with high-performing individuals is they tend to focus only on professional goals.

Many of us want to profit from our self-development plan. I’m not suggesting there’s anything wrong with that. Developing your abilities and talents should make you more marketable and of greater value to others.

However, watch the tendency to invest exclusively in this area, denying other aspects of yourself that are still important to a deeper part of you.

If you create a diverse personal development plan, you’ll increase your chances of actualizing your plan. You’ll also find it to be a more rewarding experience.

STEP 4: Determine Your Key Practices

Excellent books like Daniel Coyle’s The Talent Code and Anders Ericsson’s Peak: The New Science of Expertise  show that talent isn’t born but cultivated through deliberate practice .

Once you have selected the areas of your Personal Development Plan, the next step is to determine your practices.

These practices are the actions you are committing to doing consistently to develop in your particular areas of interest.

Examples of Practices

For example, if you want to improve your writing, write at least 1,000 words every day and edit what you write ruthlessly .

Want to learn to play the guitar? Pick up your guitar for at least 15 minutes every evening.

Want to increase your strength? Determine your training routine and follow through three or four days per week.

You may not know what practices to follow in the beginning. At first, you’ll research different topics through books, videos, and articles.

This exploration will help you to pick your practices. You may also consider hiring a coach or trainer to help you establish your practices.

STEP 5: Establish Personal Development Goals

Another common mistake people make with their personal development plan is to set BIG goals.

Big goals are useful for businesses but suboptimal for your self-development plan.

A big goal might be to master a particular instrument within 12 months. Such a goal will go unrealized.

As Sun Tzu wrote in The Art of War , “Every battle is won before it’s ever fought.”

To win the battle for your development in the war of distraction, set mini-goals instead.

Mini goals help you build momentum because they’re more readily achievable than big goals.

Yes, have a big vision . But only set mini personal development goals that are fun, engaging, and manageable.

Examples of Mini-Goals

Instead of mastering an instrument, for example, perhaps you establish a mini-goal like learning how to read sheet music or comfortably playing your favorite song.

If you’re just starting with strength training and you can only do ten consecutive push-ups, perhaps you set a goal of 30 push-ups.

If you want to improve as a public speaker, maybe you set a mini-goal to speak in front of a crowd at least once a week.

If you’re getting into meditation, and you can’t sit comfortably for more than a few minutes, maybe you commit to sitting for just 2 minutes once or twice a day for the next 21 days.

These types of personal development goals will inspire your practice and help you build positive momentum.

STEP 6: Set Your Schedule for Deliberate Practice

Once you know your practices, ensure you block off sufficient time for making progress.

Many people struggle with scheduling for two primary reasons:

• They underestimate how long things take. They get too ambitious with their expectations.
• They don’t honor their calendar unless it involves other people. Time scheduled for ourselves is the first thing to get bumped.

Watch out for both of these common patterns. If you don’t honor your time, I can assure you, no one else will.

Ground Your Plan to Reality

So first ask, How much time can I reasonably commit to my personal development plan?

The question isn’t what you should do; it’s what you think is reasonable and practical in the course of your busy life.

This infographic from Inc. illustrates how 500 chief-level executives spend their day. The average business leader invests 30 minutes a day in personal development—right before bed.

For most people, the two easiest periods to carve out time for your personal development plan are early morning and late evening.

Both of these times share the same two qualities:

• There are fewer distractions and
• You don’t have to interrupt your work/life flow to jump into your practices.

The key is to find times when you can be consistent and then establish a daily rhythm with your practice.

This way you don’t have to make a daily decision of whether or not to practice. You just practice!

Just 10 to 15 minutes is sufficient when you have a busy schedule. On the weekends, you can carve out additional time.

STEP 7: Monitor Your Ongoing Progress

Feedback facilitates the learning process. Athletes and musicians excel when they have experienced coaches to provide the right practices and effective feedback .

In Daniel Coyle’s examination of exceptional talent, he found that having a masterful coach was one of the common denominators for producing talent. 3 Daniel Coyle, The Talent Code , 2009.

Be Aware of Your Overall Mindset

One reason many people fail to develop is because they have a fixed mindset . Individuals with a fixed mindset are more driven to avoid looking foolish than by the desire to learn. They evade any constructive or critical feedback from others.

In contrast, someone on the path to self-mastery accepts failure and mistakes as part of the learning process.

In The Art of Learning , chess master and tai chi champion Josh Waitzkin explains how he became a tai chi champion by challenging superior opponents.

Instead of sparring with opponents of equal or lesser ability, he sought more skilled martial artists. He was often defeated, but he learned quickly.

The Important Role of Attention

Other than outside feedback, the other key to monitoring your progress is to increase your awareness as you practice.

The goal is to become fully present-minded with your practice. (To assist in this process, try using something like The Mastery Method to increase your mental alertness and self-awareness.)

When you bring more awareness to your practice, you ignite an internal feedback loop that facilitates faster learning.

How to Develop Awareness

One way to develop greater awareness is through mind training.

Breathing techniques and meditation help develop parts of the brain (prefrontal cortex region) associated with awareness.

It’s also important to enter a centered state before you practice. It only takes a minute or two, and it will speed up your results.

Do Periodic Check-Ins

Finally, check in with your personal development plan often.

Scan it weekly and revisit it each month to see if there are any adjustments you want to make.

Are you making progress toward your personal development goals? If not, why not?

Evaluate and make course corrections as needed.

Your Personal Development Plan Template (Fillable)

To help you create your plan, I’ve designed a personal development plan template based on the roadmap and principles outlined above. The template is fillable.

Your free kit includes:

• Print-ready PDF of this guide
• Fillable personal development plan template
• Personal development plan example that’s already filled in

Download your free personal development plan kit below.

Note: After you enter your email, you’ll be redirected back here. Links to your free assessment templates will be right here.

Build Your Own Personal Development Plan Template

If you would prefer to create your own template, it’s easy to do. Just include the following elements we just discussed:

• Personal vision (the results from Step 2)
• Areas of focus (the categories selected in Step 3)
• Skills (you’re in the process of developing)
• Practices (you’re using to develop your skills and lines of intelligence from Step 4)
• Mini goals (associated with your skills from Step 5)

All of this information can fit on a single-page template. It will take effort to set up your plan, but once you do, it requires little energy to maintain and update.

Ready? It’s time to create your own Personal Development Plan.

Make Your Personal Development Plan Clear and Practical

It’s important to keep your personal development plan as simple and concise as possible.

The more complicated and robust your plan becomes, the less likely you are to follow through.

For years, I kept my plan on my desk. A 10-second glance at the document was often all I needed.

I used to help my clients create elaborate results plans that often grew into large report-sized documents. We found they were less functional the bigger they became. Eventually, we reduced these plans down to a single page.

Keep your plan to a single page if possible. A one-page personal development plan makes it easy for you to check in often.

Books Related to Personal Development Plan Roadmaps

First, here are a few excellent personal development books cited in this guide:

Mastery by George Leonard

The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle

The Little Book of Talent  by Daniel Coyle

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck

From my experience, the most neglected step in creating a Personal Development Plan is understanding the terrain of human potential—what I attempted to summarize in Step 1.

Here are a series of books that opened my mind to greater possibilities years ago.

Integral Life Practice  by Ken Wilber, et al.

3 Vital Stages of Self-Discovery (and Activities for Each Stage)

A Practical Guide to Joseph Campbell and the Hero’s Journey

How to Change Your Mindset from Fixed to Growth

How to Transmute Sexual Energy: An Inner Alchemy Guide

About the Author

Scott Jeffrey is the founder of CEOsage, a self-leadership resource publishing in-depth guides read by millions of self-actualizing individuals. He writes about self-development, practical psychology, Eastern philosophy, and integrated practices. For 25 years, Scott was a business coach to high-performing entrepreneurs, CEOs, and best-selling authors. He's the author of four books including Creativity Revealed .

Learn more >

Our range of over 180 online courses are fully accredited, trusted by more than 3 million learners and ideal for training you and your team.

• Food Hygiene
• Health and Safety
• Safeguarding
• Asbestos Awareness
• Fire Safety
• Mental Health
• Health and Social Care
• Business Essentials
• Team training

Welcome to the Hub, the company blog from High Speed Training.

Select a topic to find the most up to date, practical information and resources produced by our experts to support you in your professional life.

• Health & Safety

A Personal Development Plan (PDP) Guide & Template

What is a personal development plan.

Personal development is an ongoing process that drives you to improve your knowledge, skills and experience, so that you can achieve your goals. A personal development plan (or PDP) is a method of focussing your goals into achievable steps, which helps you keep track of your personal development.

Download Free PDP Example/Template

Why Should I Create a Personal Development Plan?

Your plan may be aimed at your education, career or personal goal, or a mixture of all three – that is up to you to determine. Whatever the case may be, a good plan will provide you with a clear sense of focus. It helps you map out a path towards your goals, strategise a plan to achieve them, record the actionable steps you will take, and set a timeframe for completing them. Focussing your goals into a PDP helps you maintain your vision, keep on track to achieve your targets, and reflect on your progress.

Simply put, a PDP can help you build a clear understanding of what you want to achieve and how you are going to achieve it.

Interested in Learning More?

Let us help with your personal development goals this year. Choose from a wide range of  business essentials courses , whether it be  Leadership and Management ,  Starting a Business , or  Coaching and Mentoring . You could have your CPD recognised certificate in a matter of hours!

A clear plan can also support your positive mental wellbeing and improve your level of satisfaction. It can provide a sense of direction, purposefulness and a feeling of success as you start to fulfil your potential. All of these can have very positive impacts on your mental health. 

Therefore, discovering what your goals are, getting organised and giving yourself a sense of direction can be incredibly beneficial. This article will give you an understanding of how to write a personal development plan, as well as provide you with a handy template to support your development journey.

How to Write a Personal Development Plan

There are seven steps to writing a PDP:

• Set yourself goals.
• Prioritise those goals.
• Set yourself deadlines for when you want to achieve them.
• Recognise threats and opportunities.
• Develop your skills or increase your knowledge.
• Use your support network.
• Measure your progress.

1. Set Yourself Goals

The first step is to set yourself goals . Think about what you want to achieve, whether that’s within a few weeks, within a year, or over your lifetime.

Deciding what you want is not only the first step in planning, it’s also the hardest. Once you’ve figured out what you want to do, that goal will provide clear direction and a structure for your resulting plan.

At this stage, your goals will feel big. You might be wondering how you are ever going to achieve them. Don’t worry – the next step is to prioritise and turn those goals into smaller, actionable steps that will support you on your way to achieving them.

2. Prioritising Your Goals

Now that you have your goals, the next stage is to break them down into smaller steps. When doing this, it’s important that your goals are SMART:

• Specific. Avoid large, ambiguous steps. These won’t support you on your way to achieving your goals. Insted, make sure that your goals are specific and clearly highlight the skill, knowledge or experience you want to develop.
• Measureable. You need to be able to monitor and reflect on your progress. Therefore, your goals need to be measurable, such as by setting a goal to develop your SEO knowledge with a measurable target of growing your website traffic by a set, defined percentage.
• Attainable. Your goals need to be achievable and realistic. You need to think about if it is something you can realistically achieve with the time and resources you have. If not, you will likely be setting yourself up for failure. 
• Relevant. It’s important to keep your overall goal in mind and make sure that every step you take is supporting you to achieve it. You don’t want to be spending time doing things that don’t get you where you want to go.
• Time-bound. Set yourself key targets to achieve and deadlines in which to achieve them. This will help you stay focussed on achieving your goals. However, it’s important to make sure you are realistic in what you can achieve in any given period. Don’t try to achieve everything all at once. It’s unrealistic and you won’t be setting yourself up well to achieve them. Remember that personal development is a journey – your PD plan can continue to grow and develop as you take those steps towards your goals.

Once you have your goals, you’ll need to prioritise them. 

In your PDP, you should be setting yourself mini goals to make the big ones happen.

For example, if you wish to pursue a career in academia as a senior lecturer and then a professor, a necessary step to succeeding in this goal is to achieve a PhD. So that would be one of your long-term goals. You then need to break it down into steps, such as:

• Learn about the PhD application process.
• Find a suitable university and supervisor for a PhD.
• Look at routes for funding.
• Find studentships to apply for or apply to your university of choice.
• Write and submit your PhD application.

3. Set Yourself Deadlines

Knowing when you want to achieve a goal is crucial, and picturing your future is an important source of motivation and inspiration.

Having goals and a set deadline will drive your motivation to achieve them. For example, if your goal is to buy a home, knowing when you want to achieve it will help you calculate exactly how much money you need to save each year in order to get your deposit. The same is true for your skills, knowledge and experience development. As mentioned above, setting realistic and time-bound goals are essential to achieving them. 

One good way to understand more about achieving your goals is to speak to those who have previously trodden a similar path. Learning about  their experiences can help you understand key barriers to, or methods of, success that may also be applicable to your PDP.

4. Recognise Threats and Opportunities

When considering your goals, you should identify your own strengths, consider areas of weakness you can develop, look at the opportunities available to support you in achieving your goals, and any threats that may hinder you in your progress. This is called a SWOT analysis. Note that these threats may be external or they may be core skills that you can develop as part of your PDP.

For example, a lack of motivation could hinder your plans to apply for a PhD. However, once you’ve identified your tendency to procrastinate or lose focus, you can put in place methods that will keep you motivated.

There are also going to be things that you could do, and connections with people or resources you could take advantage of, that will help you on your way. These are your opportunities that you should commit to doing.

For example, if there’s a conference coming up, take advantage of that. Go along and network, stay up to date on the latest knowledge, or even present a paper. These are all opportunities that could help you achieve your goals.

5. Develop Yourself

Once you have an idea of what could help or hinder you, this is when you can capitalise on those opportunities you recognised. Make an action plan about how you’ll make that progress.

Whatever it is that hinders you, there’s a way to stop it. Your plan is the first step to making sure you stay on track. 

So, why not take a look at how to upskill yourself , develop transferable skills in today’s rapidly changing jobs market, or even discover an online learning opportunity .

6. Use Your Support Network

The next thing you need to realise is that:

You don’t have to do everything by yourself.

And you shouldn’t. The support network around you is a valuable asset, so use it and don’t underestimate it.

In your PDP, list the people who can help you. This could be a financial advisor, a friend, or a colleague. People are often so happy to help you, more than you might realise.

7. Measure Progress

After you’ve achieved some progress, whether it’s big or small, take time to reflect on how far you’ve come.

Recognising what has gone well is an effective way to bolster your motivation and remain dedicated.

And after a setback, this is another time to take stock.

Wallowing – briefly – is a good way to feel what you need to without holding on to it. Holding onto sadness, anger or frustration, however, will only deter you. These emotions will take you nowhere and will only hinder you.

You should also spend a little time figuring out why it went wrong. Can you identify a skills or knowledge gap? 

 If you can, then you can get yourself back on track by focussing on your next step. This will reignite your sense of purpose and help you regain control, which is integral to making progress.

Continue to reflect on your progress. You can gain significant insight from your reflections and this can help you grow. Remember that you should update your plan where necessary. Don’t overload it at any one time but, once you have achieved your small steps, reflect and then update your plan to focus on your next move.

Free Personal Development Plan Example & Template

In this article, we have discussed how you can create your own personal development plan, so you should now feel ready to start considering your goals and developing your own plan. To help you produce an effective personal development plan, we have created an editable template that you can use. Take a look at our example PDP, and download your free template below:

Further Resources:

• How to Upskill Yourself
• What are Personal Development Goals for Work?
• Using Key Phrases in Performance Reviews & Appraisals
• Resilience Quiz
• Resilience in the Workplace: What are the Benefits and How Can Businesses Develop It?
• How to Stand Out in a Virtual Interview: Preparation Tips
• What is CPD? A Guide to Continuing Professional Development
• Writing A Professional Development Plan – Example & Template
• Business Essentials Courses

Post Author

Her favourite article is Five Top Learning and Development Trends for 2020

You may also like

• Skip to main content
• Skip to header right navigation
• Skip to site footer

Sources of Insight

Unleash Your Greatest Potential

Personal Development Plan Guide and Example

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” — C.S. Lewis

For the past several years, I’ve had the privilege of coaching individuals in high performance at Microsoft, one of the world’s leading technology companies.

In my work with these individuals, I’ve seen the power of setting goals, taking action, and continuously striving to improve.

Through our coaching sessions, we’ve developed personal development plans that have helped these individuals achieve their goals, expand their skills and knowledge, and build more fulfilling and successful lives.

In this article, I want to share with you the insights I’ve gained from my work as a coach, and explain why a personal development plan can be such a powerful tool for unlocking your potential and achieving your goals.

Whether you’re looking to advance your career, deepen your relationships, or simply become a better version of yourself, a personal development plan can help you get there.

So let’s dive in and explore the power of personal development planning.

What is a Personal Development Plan?

A personal development plan is a document that outlines your goals for personal growth, as well as the actions you will take to achieve those goals.

It typically includes a list of specific objectives, action steps, timelines, and strategies for overcoming obstacles or challenges.

The purpose of a personal development plan is to help you become more self-aware, identify areas for improvement, and create a roadmap for achieving your goals.

Personal development plans can be used in a variety of contexts, such as professional development, academic pursuits, or personal hobbies and interests.

By setting clear goals and taking action towards them, you can improve your skills, knowledge, and overall quality of life.

Why Write a Personal Development Plan?

One compelling reason to write a personal development plan is that it can help you become more intentional and purposeful in your life. Without a plan, it’s easy to get stuck in a routine, feeling like you’re just going through the motions.

A personal development plan can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses, set goals that align with your values, and take action towards those goals.

It can also help you stay focused and motivated, even when facing obstacles or setbacks.

Another reason to write a personal development plan is that it can help you build self-awareness and self-confidence.

By taking the time to reflect on your strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement, you can develop a deeper understanding of yourself and your potential. This can help you feel more confident and empowered to take on new challenges, try new things, and pursue your passions.

Writing a personal development plan can also help you cultivate a growth mindset. Rather than seeing your abilities and talents as fixed or innate, a growth mindset emphasizes the idea that you can always learn and grow.

By setting goals and taking action towards them, you can develop new skills, expand your knowledge, and become a more well-rounded and adaptable person.

Ultimately, writing a personal development plan can help you create a more fulfilling and satisfying life.

By setting and achieving goals that are meaningful to you, you can build a sense of purpose and accomplishment. You can also develop stronger relationships, contribute more to your community, and lead a life that reflects your values and priorities.

How to Write a Personal Development Plan

While there are many ways to structure a one-page personal development plan, here is one example of a framework that can be effective:

• Start with a clear goal or objective for your personal development. This could be a skill you want to learn, a behavior you want to change, or a career goal you want to achieve.
• Identify specific action steps that you can take to work towards your goal. These should be tangible and measurable, such as reading a certain number of books, attending a workshop, or practicing a skill for a certain amount of time each week.
• Consider any resources or support that you might need to achieve your goal, such as a mentor or coach, additional training, or access to specific tools or technology.
• Set a timeline for your personal development plan, including specific milestones or checkpoints along the way to track your progress.
• Identify potential challenges or obstacles that you might face and brainstorm strategies to overcome them.
• Reflect on your progress regularly and make adjustments to your plan as needed.

Remember that a personal development plan should be customized to your individual needs and goals, so feel free to adjust this framework to suit your specific situation. The key is to keep your plan focused, actionable, and measurable, so that you can make real progress towards your goals.

Example of a Personal Development Plan

Here’s an example of a one-page personal development plan:

Objective : Improve my public speaking skills

Action Steps :

• Join a public speaking club and attend regular meetings
• Practice speaking in front of small groups of friends or colleagues
• Attend a public speaking workshop or training program
• Read books or articles on public speaking techniques
• Record myself speaking and review the footage to identify areas for improvement

Resources/Support :

• Find a mentor or coach who can provide feedback and guidance on my speaking skills
• Join a supportive community of speakers who can offer feedback and encouragement
• Attend public speaking club meetings weekly for the next six months
• Practice speaking in front of small groups at least twice a month
• Attend a public speaking workshop within the next three months
• Read at least one book on public speaking within the next month
• Record myself speaking once a month and review the footage to identify areas for improvement

Potential Challenges :

• Nervousness or anxiety when speaking in front of groups
• Lack of time or competing priorities

Strategies for Overcoming Challenges :

• Practice deep breathing and visualization techniques to reduce anxiety
• Schedule regular practice sessions in my calendar to ensure I make time for them

Regular Reflection :

• Check in with my mentor or coach on a monthly basis to review my progress
• Reflect on my progress every three months and adjust my plan as needed.

Unlock Your Potential: The Power of a Personal Development Plan

A personal development plan is a powerful tool that can help you achieve your goals, build self-awareness and self-confidence, and create a more fulfilling life.

By setting clear objectives, identifying action steps, and developing strategies for overcoming challenges, you can become more intentional and purposeful in your daily life.

You can also cultivate a growth mindset, expand your skills and knowledge, and become the best version of yourself.

Whether you’re pursuing professional success, academic achievement, or personal growth and fulfillment, a personal development plan can help you stay focused, motivated, and on track.

So take the time to write your own plan, and start taking action towards the life you want to live.

You Might Also Like

Personal Development Hub What is a Growth Mindset? What is Personal Development? Best Personal Development Books Best Personal Development Products Best Personal Development Quotes Change Your Values, Change Your Life Naturalness Bias Own Your Personal Development