Discover Self

Personal development planning is all about creating a long term goal for you career and then planning how your will get there.

However, before you can know what you want to do in the long term, some serious reflection is in order. What are you good at ? What are you not so good at ? What opportunities are available ? And are there factors beyond your control that could impact you goals?

To answer these question what we studies is management Gurus have accepted two classic tools, SWOT and PEST which can be applied in personal situations. Through this analysis you will gain a solid understanding of where are you now, and where you would be well suited to go with a high chances of success.

Personal SWOT

In business, we use SWOT analysis to to identify the strength and weakness of any organization and the opportunities and threat it is facing. Just like that for single person the strength of an individual say what are you good at, the weakness say what is minus point and where the improvement is required. If person start know where he is not good, he understand that someones help can be taken.

Taken together, you strengths and opportunities help you to identity potential long term career goals. Your weakness and threats you face are the things which you need to manage, mitigate or planned to ensure the goals remain achievable. Management Gurus use four Quadrant to write the question and answers show in Fig 1.

Strengths :
Do not limit your self up to work skills, think of all the experience you have had, opportunities you have ad to grow, which may include your education, aptitude, personality factors, interests. Answers the following type of questions.

1. What are you really good at ?
2. What skills do other people recognize in you ?
3. What do you do better than most people you work with ?
4. What do you get recognized or rewarded for ?
5. What, about yourself, are you most proud of or satisfied with.
6. What experiences, resources, or connections do you have access to that other's don't have.

Remember to ask friends, relatives, partners, neighbor, your peers if required.

Weakness : 

We all have weakness, the trick is to identify and work upon as an improvement area. Use the following question to identify the same.

1. What do you try to do that you are masters of it.
2. What do you do just the sake of doing or just to fill the job requirements.
3. Are there any personality aspects which hold you back by going forward.
4. Where are you vulnerable.
5. Where do you lack of experience, resources or connections where other go more.

Unlike the S section, limit your self to the weakness which actually may affect your career progression.

Opportunity :

Now that as you have looked inside your self, you turn your attention to outside and identify the elements that can build on or take advantage of that will improve your chances of success. This is best done by setting aside some time and brainstorming in an attempt to uncover new and innovative ideas that may not have occurred to you before.

1. In what ways you can maximize your strengths
2. What are the opportunities open to those who do things well.
3. What would you love to do that you are good at ?
4. How can you minimize your weakness.
5. If you weaknesses did not hold you, what could you be.
6. Where do you see the most potential growth for your self, Within your company, in different company, in same industry, different industry or a different career altogether.

Threats :

If the threats are not in control they can be planned for. It is called mitigation plan. That's why it important to identify all possible threats and do a mitigation plan. The more you know about them, the less you are to be "blindsided" by something unexpected. Now you  might feel that you would rather avoid looking at threats as they can cause worry, fears and stress. The reality is you will encounter much more anxiety if you do not think about potential threats.

Remember, a threat loses much of its sting when it is managed and prepared for. Ask your self the following questions.

1. Do you have a weakness that need to be addressed before you go ahead.
2. What problem your weakness cause if remain unchecked.
3. What set backs may I face.

Personal Development Plan

Are we fully in control of our career ? Do we have a clear and inspiring idea of what we want o achieve in future? Are we actively taking a steps to reach to the career goals and to pursue dreams?

If you are not taking steps or doing something towards career goals, which is you dream, you take risk not to achieve them.  If you put the course of action to your dream on your organization, your boss, your parents originally - you risk not going where you want to go, and not doing what you want to do. After all if you are not working to realize your dreams, you are working for some one else's dream.

All too often, this abdication of career direction happens without even you realizing ti. See if you are recognize your self in this below scenario.

Mr. Mehta has been in a current position from last 3 years. He is doing his job comfortably, he knows what is expected, his senior was a good person, his peers are his friends, life was stable and good in this roll. Few more months passed and now he started looking at calender and finding Friday mood in Wednesday afternoon hours. Mehta started wanting excitement and challenge. He wanted to have some thing more right away. He himself is in confusion that what he want, a promotion, a statuesque, more importance in job, job enhancement, money, cabin change, or a job change. This is the reason of higher attrition in today's time in corporate. 

Unfortunately, for Mr Mehta, no one ever told him that neither his company nor his boss was responsible for his career satisfaction. No one let him know the secret that if tomorrow you do the same what you do today, results of tomorrow are not likely to be different than today.

The need is to take a charge of self and proactively change the career the way one want. When one take back the control he realize that the only way you will achieve what you want, personally or professionally is to think about where you want to go,  put in place the plan to go there and then start moving.

Surprisingly, One who do this personal development plan is you yourself, we ourselves. Personal development planning is just a structure way of doing below points.

1. Understand yourself so that you can set meaningful goals.

2. Decide and define goals in terms of what you want to achive and the steps you need to be get there.

3. Last, identify the gaps in your skills and experience and create an action plan that will fill them in to start to move closer and closer.

So start the process right now. Stay connected for more details.

Discover who are you are for what you are.