This post is all about how to successfully create a personal growth plan.

Maybe you want to make a change but you’ve never had the courage to do it or where to start. Maybe you find it overwhelming to make all the changes you want to make.

Or maybe you are the kind of person who gets super excited in the beginning, making plans and being super motivated, but then you start losing sight and motivation and abandon all those plans and promises to change for the better.

Whatever has stopped you from becoming a better person, whether you fear, excuses, or external reasons…, I want you to put it all behind you and start a new page.

Grab a notebook and a cup of coffee (or tea) and get ready to learn how to create a personal growth plan to help you keep on and become the person you’ve always dreamed of being.

In this blog post, I will teach you how to take all those changes you’ve wanted to make and map them out in a personal growth plan to make them a reality.

Why is it important to have a personal growth plan?

If you are here and still don´t know why is it important to create a personal development plan, let me ask you a question. 

Knowing you are here, I’m going to assume you´ve never written a personal development plan or anything of the kind, so my question to you is: How has that been working for you? Are you in any way one step closer to becoming your best self? Has just reading all those self-help and the personal development advice you’ve come across helped you become a better person?

However spontaneous you may like to be, the truth is that without a plan, without a direction, and a series of clear and actionable steps to follow, you´ll find it extremely difficult to achieve your goals no matter what they are.

And you just need to look at your past experiences to convince yourself of this.

That is why a personal growth plan is so important. This plan is your personal roadmap that will help you achieve your dreams and become your best self without becoming overwhelmed and scared.

But not only that, because this map will help kill the insecurities and fears we face whenever we talk about change.

So, now that you know the importance of a personal development plan my question to you is: are you ready to learn how to create a killer personal growth plan?

How do you write a killer personal development plan

As we just saw, a personal growth plan is designed to help you specify exactly what it is you want to change about yourself and how can you achieve just that to become your best self.

To create a personal development plan you´ll need to follow these 5 simple steps. Let´s start with the first one:

1º Step to create a personal development plan. Awareness

To know what you actually want to change and improve about yourself, you´ll first have to do something that I like to call a life audit.

A life audit is a self-reflection and awareness exercise to help you figure out the part of your life where you are thriving and the ones that need a little improvement.

To help you make this process a lot easier we are going to focus your personal growth plan based on the life areas categories which are: finances, personal growth, spirituality, health, and emotional/mental health.

To start with the life audit answer the following question by ranking them from 1-10 in the fastest way possible, meaning don´t think your answers, simply write the first thing that comes into your mind: 

Personal Growth/ Spirituality

• Do I make time for learning how to improve my skills and knowledge?
• Do I have set for myself goals that I’m working towards to improve your self?
• Do I invest time in my daily life to learn about personal development through books, blog posts, and podcasts…?
• Do I have regular practices that help me connect with myself (like journaling, meditation, mindfulness, reading, etc.)?
• Do I have a healthy relationship with myself?

Mental health

• Do I have a growth or a fixed mindset?
• Do I know how to manage my stress?
• Is my mind a safe and encouraging space?
• Do my limiting beliefs control my actions?
• Am I kind to and make healthy decisions for myself?

Physical Health

• Does my body get enough physical exercise throughout the day?
• Do I eat a healthy and nourishing diet?
• Do I have a healthy sleep schedule?

Relationships

• Do I have a support group ( friends, family) that I can count on?
• Do I spend quality time with other people?
• Do I have deep connections with other people?
• Are the relationships that I have with others(romantic or platonic) healthy?

Recreation

• Do I make time to relax and disconnect?
• Do I allow myself to have fun without feeling guilty?
• Do I make time for hobbies and activities outside of work?

Finances

• Do I make smart choices when it comes to money?
• Do I let money control my life (how I spend my time, my choices, my emotions)?
• Do I know how to manage my money?
• Do I have a financial plan/ goals for the future?

Career

• Do I feel passionate about my work?
• Do I feel valued and respected in my place of work?
• Does my work fill me with a sense of purpose and fulfillment?
• Do I feel like the work I do has a positive impact on the world?

Step 2. Life areas

Once you have answered all the questions I want you to choose two areas that you will be focusing on for the next steps. 

They don´t necessarily have to be the life areas that have the lowest scores, but rather the ones that you feel more excited to work on and the ones you feel most drawn to.

The reason why we are choosing only two areas to work on is to avoid feeling overwhelmed by trying to tackle everything a the same time.

Don´t forget to establish your why once you have chosen the two personal growth categories that you are going to work on.

You can determine your why by simply asking yourself why have you chosen that category and what motivates you to become better in this area of f your life.

Step 3. Establish what you want to work on

At this point, we have done a little life inventory to asses where is our starting point including all the life areas that make up our life. We have also decided on the two categories we are going to focus on for the moment.

So the next step is to actually establish what is it we want to change in these personal development areas.

To do to just this, here are a couple of questions to help brainstorm your personal development goals:

• What does this area of my life look like right now?
• What do I feel like it’s missing?
• What things do I like about this part of my life?
• What would make me feel fulfilled in this area?
• How would I like this part of my life to look in 5 years’ time?
• What would you need to change in order to score 1 point higher?
• What would need to change in order to score a 10?
• What actions can I take in the next 4-7 months to improve this area of my life?

Based on your answers I want you to create a list of goals that will include a series of actions that will improve your score and you’re fulfillment in this life area.

Try to prioritize these goals so that at the end you have a list of 3-5 goals.

4º Step. Create your personal growth plan

 Now that you have this list of goals, I want you to take each of them individually and set those goals using the T.A.R.G.E.T. method, which you can find detailed explained in this article.

However, setting these goals isn´t the only step when creating a personal development plan.

Step 1: Divide your goals into actionable steps

The next thing I want you to do is to break these goals into actionable and simple steps to make achieving these goals more manageable.

So for example, if one of your goals is to achieve your financial independence, we could break down this goal into the following steps:

• Research the different ways to achieve financial freedom
• Read stories about people who achieved this goal and how they did it
• Choose a method to become financially free from the ones I have been studying
• Learn more about this method chosen (read books, watch videos, follow the experts in that field)
• Start taking action to make money following the techniques and methods I have learned about

Step 2: Prioritize tasks and establish deadlines

Once you have established your goal and the steps you need to accomplish them, it´s time to prioritize the tasks and steps you have written and assign them a deadline. 

This step will help you avoid the mistake of procrastinating everything, push yourself to get out of your comfort zone, and actually motivate you to complete those steps and tasks.

Don´t forget to set deadlines that are realistic and achievable, but at the same time do not exceed the time limit to complete this step. The trick is to find a balance between a deadline that is achievable but still provides a challenge.

Step 3: Set milestones

Milestones are mini-goals that led up to the main goal. You can use them to keep yourself motivated throughout your journey and have something to look forward to.

To set milestones start at the top, the main goal, and work your way down to the beginning, where you are now. Remember to celebrate those milestones and reward yourself every time you achieve one.

Final step to creating a personal growth plan. Accountability

Once you have defined and worked on the previous steps and have started to follow your action plan, don´t forget about measuring your progress and evaluating your performance and achievements.

To give you an example these measures could be things like the amount of time you are investing in this goal. Or evaluating if there are any steps or tasks that you had not foreseen and need to include in your checklist? Are you satisfied with the progress you are making?

Important things to include in your action plan

• A clear and well-defined description of your goal. I know this is technically the first step, but I write it here again to mark the importance of having a clear idea about what you desire.
• The tasks you need to carry out to accomplish the goal
• The different resources and skills you´ll need to reach your goal
• Set various measures by which you can evaluate your progress. This simply consists of thinking about all the ways you could measure your progress, including the milestones you have established yourself or any other tool you can think of that can help you track this.
• Map out dates in your calendar to keep you on track with your plan
• Add daily reminders on your phone for the habits you need to stick to.
• Print your personal growth plan and hang it somewhere you can see it daily. Don´t forget to include your why in your plan!
• Find someone to help you keep yourself accountable. If you are someone who finds it difficult to stick to your own plans, tell a friend or family member about your goals and promise to keep them updated to keep yourself accountable. You could even encourage them to do this exercise with you, so you’re in it together!

Once the deadlines have been met, redo the life audit you did in the first step to see how those areas of your life that you have focused on have improved.

If you have successfully accomplished improving your scores in these life areas (which I´m sure you will), go ahead and choose another two to repeat this process with!

Now I have a little surprise for YOU: With the purpose to help you, I have created this FREE worksheet, especially for you designed to help you create the best personal development plan to become your best self in 2023!

You can grab your free copy now by clicking on the image, or with this link right here!

I hope you enjoyed this blog post on how to write a killer personal growth plan. Success is not something that you can achieve in one day or one week. It´s a path filled with struggles, teachings, blessings, setbacks…

However, it´s not impossible and I hope the steps in this post will help to make that journey a little easier and more enjoyable and become your best self!

What does your personal development plan look like? I would to read you in the comments!