The last few years about this time, I wrote about ways to achieve goals and accomplish New Years resolutions. Recently I read a something that made me thing beyond individual goals. When you accomplish a goal, yet the feeling is of failure, not achievement, then your goal and values are not aligned. This idea made me think about goals in a broader way in life.

When setting goals, task steps are the pavers on your path to accomplishment. Accomplished goals are the cobblestones of your road of life-time achievements. Your achievements define who you are as a person.

The light bulb went off as I started working on a strategic three to five year plan for my organization. I realized people need strategic plans also. Having a personal development plan helps you select goals to complete life fulfilling achievements. Like goal setting, a personal development plan is a cyclic process.

First, identify and clarify your values. On the surface this seems simple. As you work through it you may find it more difficult than you imagined. There are plenty of exercises to help you identify your values. Simon Sineck’s START WITH WHY is a great resource to reveal your values.

Next, figure out what you desire to accomplish in your life. Stephen Covey talks about what you want your obituary to say. Unless you have reason to believe it is likely you will die in the next three to five years, perhaps thinking about what you want people to say about you in five years may be a better example. As you think about your accomplishments remember the many facets of your life. The facets in your life cause you to focus on events and opportunities in different ways. Some facets of life include personal, family, spiritual, health, community, and professional. A goal that covers multiple areas of your life will feel more fulfilling when accomplished.  General people can only focus on fewer that four big goals at anytime.  Aligning large and small accomplishments in each area helps improve opportunities for success.

In the third step, write down what what and when you want to accomplish goals in each area. You do not need to complete all the detailed planning for each goal at this time. You do need to identify general activities you need to complete to move towards your vision in step two.

The fourth step of your personal development plan involves the detailed planning of the first goals you need to complete. This step is the goal setting cycle I described in Reflect, Plan, and Act https://christopherstcyr.wordpress.com/2014/01/01/time-to-reflect-plan-act/. As you move along your road in life, you accomplish goals and find it is time to plan the next goal. That next goal is defined in your personal development plan.

Plan daily activities from the task steps in your goal setting tool. Putting your task steps on a calendar increases the likelihood you will do those things you say you want to do. Remember life is what happens when you are busy making other plans, so plan on set backs and side trips. Just because you were unable to make vacation reservations today because your furnace melted down does not mean you failed. It means you fix the furnace and reschedule the time to do your vacation planning.

No matter where in life you find yourself, a personal development plan is the map that helps you figure out which road to take next. Your personal development plan should include an assessment of your values so your achievements are aligned. You should look out three to five years in all aspects of your life, personal, family, spiritual, health, community, and professional. Your plan should have basic goals for your journey, flushing out details as you move along in life. A personal development plan helps you become the person you want to become, achieve accomplishments important to you, and experience life in your terms. Take time to create your road map for your life today.

Photo Credits

Stepping stones from pxhere.com  Creative Commons Zero License

The Light by Anne_Llse Helnrich from flickr.com Creative Commons Attribution License

Road Pavers by Patrick Gantz from pxhere.com Creative Commons Zero License