Guide to personal development

“You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight.”– Jim Rohn

When talking to people about personal development, I come across tons of misconceptions. So let me clear up a major one right away.

For successful personal development, you need exactly two conditions:

• You want to change something about your life
• You’re not happy with the results you got so far
  

And that’s it.

Specifically, you do NOT need to know exactly what you want. You’d be surprised by how many clients come to me for life coaching when they don’t know what they want from life – they just know that whatever they have at the moment is not it.

(Though if you keep reading on below, you will learn a way to find out what you really want.)

As long as you satisfy the two conditions above, making a personal development plan is for you!

Why make a personal development plan?

Making a personal development plan comes down to two main things. Helping you figure out:

• What do you want from life?
• How will you go about achieving it?

You could certainly achieve personal development without a plan. A lot of people have.

But a plan vastly increases your chances to move towards a life that you find fulfilling and satisfying every day. Having a plan gives you:

• A much better understanding of what you really want from life (hint: money is almost never the answer)
• A list of specific actions you can take to advance towards your goals in life, so you never feel stuck again
• A clear understanding of obstacles that trip up a lot of people, and how to avoid them
• Durable growth and improvement

Sounds good? Then read on!

How to Make a Personal Development Plan

Below, I share the personal development planning method I use with my life coaching clients. It’s based on something called The GROW Model and might seem fairly straightforward, but it’s insanely powerful.

There’s a lot of clear structure underneath the surface, and if you follow the plan step-by-step as outlined, you will blast through any obstacles in your way. You will find a clear vision of what you want from life, as well as a specific action plan on how to get there. Say “goodbye”, procrastination! Say “hello”, fulfilling life full of growth and opportunities!

Speaking of action – I give you several exercises in the following guide.

Now, you could certainly just read through it and learn a few things. But if you actually grab a pen and paper (or open up your favourite word processor) and go through the exercises as you read, you will benefit far more than if you just passively read this article.

After all, you came here to change your life, and change requires taking action.

Or, in other words, you wouldn’t read the ultimate guide to baking a mean cake and then sit around and hope for it to appear, would you? You would go ahead and follow the instructions and make it appear!