Personal development is no rocket science and one really needs to have patience and believe in oneself. There is no specific formula and you can’t expect miracles to happen all of a sudden. Personal development requires meticulous planning and careful analysis. As an individual, you need to know in which all areas, you need to work hard or what all new skills would help you deliver more than hundred percent. Simply joining a course without understanding the need to join it and how it would help in your career is of no use. Never join anything unless and until you yourself are fully convinced.

You need to first know what your goals and objectives are. Ask yourself as to why do you need personal development? Why do you have to take the pain of attending training sessions, or taking time out to upgrade your knowledge? What is your vision in life? Personal development planning refers to the process of creating a detailed action plan as to what should be an individual’s course of action and how should one approach to gain as much knowledge as he can and acquire additional skills. Without a proper plan, trust me, you would end up in a big zero. Do not look for shortcuts in life. It is always better to adopt a step by step approach. Never do anything in a rush.

Let us go through various steps in the whole process of personal development planning:

1. Know your goals and aspirations in life. What do you want to be in your life and where would you like to see yourself five years down the line? Remember, goals need to be realistic. Write your goal on a piece of paper. You need to be very clear and confident about it. Be honest to yourself.

2. Do a SWOT analysis of yourself. Understand your strengths. There are very few people who actually know their weaknesses and areas of improvement. Sit and jot down what all new things you would like to learn which would eventually help in your career.

3. Understand what would be the best available option which would help you acquaint with the latest developments in your respective fields or keep you abreast with latest technologies, softwares and so on. Is it reading books or surfing various websites or discussing with colleagues or for that matter enrolling in various additional courses? You need to be very clear about the medium.

4. Thorough research is extremely important. Do sit with your superiors, friends or someone you really look up to for their advice and guidance. Take their suggestions and understand if you really need to spend money on a particular course and would you be able to earn back the entire amount? If you are taking admission in a particular course, do not forget to check its authenticity and relevance so that you do not have to regret later.

5. Be extremely focussed in life. Never lose hope. Learn to accept failures with a smile and make sure you do not repeat them.

6. Be patient enough. Give your hundred percent to whatever you do. Anything done half heartedly yields no results.

7. As you learn new things and acquire new knowledge, try to implement the same in your day to day work as well. Find out whether newly acquired skills have actually made your work easier or not? Regular monitoring of work is essential. Take regular feedbacks from your Bosses.

8. Do not get demotivated if the results are not positive at the first attempt. You need to give yourself some time.