WELCOME TO THE NEW YOU
Do you feel fully in control of your career? Or does it sometimes seem that things just happen to you and drag you along? Do you have a clear and inspiring vision of what you want to achieve in the future? Most importantly, are you actively taking decisive steps to pursue the career of your dreams?
If your answer to any of these questions is
“NO,”
then you risk being disappointed.
Creating an Actionable Personal Development Plan
Many people drift through their careers, going wherever the corporate currents move them, only to be washed up on a beach somewhere at the end of it, tired and disappointed. You have to be proactive and take control, preferably at an early stage. Think about where you’d like to end up, put a plan in place to get there and get started. Personal Development Planning is simply a structured way to help you do just that.
Before you start with any personal development activities, it’s so important to think about what “satisfaction” means to you. This will be different for everyone, so although we can pass on some personal development skills to help you, here at The Mentoring Effect we don’t ascribe to a “one size fits all” approach.
Some of us get fulfilment from ascending the career ladder as quickly as possible while trying out as many different job descriptions as possible, while others prefer to find a niche for themselves and develop a specific skill set.
Our advance tips ensure that you have all the necessary skills at your fingertips so that when an opportunity arises, you are in a position to take advantage of it. It’s crucial you take a planned, systematic approach to developing your skillset.
Having a business mentor like we offer at The Mentoring Effect here in Perth can help you with this. Our business experts will help you create a personal development plan that will serve as a measurable starting point for your success.
SWOT, PEST and SMART
There are many tools available to help you reach your career goals. Popular ones like SWOT and PEST analysis are invaluable, as are techniques like learning to set SMART goals. When used to consider your personal and career development, these tools mean that you will come away with a well thought out roadmap that you can follow for your career.
The SMART mnemonic is an easy way of setting precise, motivation goals:
S– Specific. It’s vital that your goal isn’t vague but that it focuses on a specific outcome.
M– Measurable. There needs to be a clearly articulated end. This is a place where you can know exactly when your objective has been reached.
A–Achievable. It’s essential that you set goals that are reasonable and that are possible for you to accomplish. Make sure your timeline for achieving them is realistic too. If you set impossibly high goals for yourself, you run the risk of becoming frustrated and demoralised, and eventually you’ll lose confidence in your abilities.
R– Relevant. Your short-term goals should match what you’re trying to accomplish in the end. They should form foundational stepping-stones to that end.
T– Time-bound. It’s important to set a deadline for yourself by which you must achieve those aims. If you don’t, procrastination sets in and you may never push yourself to accomplish them.
Keep Your Goals Simple, Doable, Measurable.
The key here is not to have too many goals. Home in on the One Goal and you’ll see that all the others usually lead back to this. Having too many goals not only complicates matters, but it also requires an elaborate system to keep track of them all. You’ll laser-focus all your energy if you pick the one you’re most passionate about, and you’ll be much more effective in your efforts.
Think about the one thing that you want that will change your career the most. Estimate how long it will take to get it. Do you need a year? Two? Or five? Try not to take too long, or you’ll find it difficult to remain motivated. Be sure it’s something that you really want to achieve and not something your parents, partner or boss wants for you.
Create smaller sub-goals. What can you do this month to step towards the objective? Do you need to enrol in a course or read some books? Perhaps your first step is finding a business mentor. Talk to us here at The Mentoring Effect here in Perth, Australia, and we’ll set you up with one of our expert business coaches or mentors. They can help you out with personal development tips and advice on the best personal development activities to pursue.
Working Towards Multiple Goals?
You may be asking what to do if you have more than one goal. While this isn’t recommended for most people, there are dynamic individuals for whom having just one goal is unthinkable.
There are a couple of possible ways of working with this. Firstly, you could focus on one goal at a time. For instance, enrol in that course that will take you in a management direction. Work on it for a few months until you’re in a groove with it and it’s part of your life. Then you can turn to the second and work on that.
A second way of working with more than one goal at a time is to focus on them both at the same time, being careful not to spread yourself too thin. Perhaps you could, for example, concentrate on one of the goals in your business hours. You could then work on the other one after-hours. This way you will still maintain effectiveness.
The three main areas to look at when preparing your personal development plan have been put together by our expert business coaches:
First, you must know yourself and understand your needs, goals and values. Many people do not stop and take the time to consider this vital information. We give you the space to do that here.
Second, clearly define your career goals and objectives. This gives you direction and a very real sense of where you’re heading.
Third, create, on paper, your personal development plan.
Immediately Access Your Downloadable Action Plan Right Now…
Personal Development Plan Worksheet
You can tailor it to use over the next few months. You decide the timeline. Fill in your goals and what action steps you intend to take to get there. You must take the time to set a realistically achievable target and get them down in black and white.
There’s place on the form to fill in any obstacles you may encounter and a section for you to brainstorm possible solutions to those. This saves you being blindsided when difficulties occur, as they always do. To make it official and to hold yourself accountable, mindfully sign the form at the bottom.
We also provide you with a worksheet where you first need to fill in your current position. This is your starting point- where you are right now. Then you choose a mission statement for your career.
Many of us are familiar with our companies having mission statements, but how many of us have our own?
This will get you thinking about what you intend to accomplish and why you even want that. Is it because others have pressured you into working for it? Is it out of a sense of duty or loyalty that you are on the path you’re on? Or is it because it’s something that you are passionate about and have a real motivation for?
Our personal development tips help you break your
overarching goals down into smaller, medium-term steps.
Our business coaches here in Perth get you looking at your skills in our expertly designed skills audit. We often underestimate just how many abilities we have. For instance, we may not think of that second language we speak as being noteworthy, but it is a marketable skill.
Once you start putting them down on paper, you’ll realise that you’re way more skilled than you thought. Our business mentors encourage you to specify the skills that need to be improved on, thus giving you actionable steps for you to enhance your competency and thereby boost your confidence.
Start Your Better, Brighter Future, Right Now
We hope these tips from our expert business coaches at The Mentoring Effect here in Perth have given a sense of purpose and direction you have been looking for.
But that’s not all!
We still have more to offer.
Download our Action Plan and Personal Development Worksheet below, both of which are full of actionable, useful tips customised for you to help fast-track your progress towards successful realisation of your objectives.
And here’s the icing on the cake— it comes free of cost.
We understand you want to be successful in life as well as your career.
But success only comes to those that ACT.
Ask yourself: are you ready to get started right now?
Let’s take this journey together.
Let’s start today with your customised Action plan and Personal development Worksheet.
