Many of us believe that learning happens only in schools. We fail to see that learning is in fact an on-going process and it can happen to anyone, anywhere and anytime. As individuals living in this fast moving society, it is crucial that we remain knowledgeable and competitive. What we know and how proficient we are in the skills that we have acquired determines our “market-value”, efficiency and competency level. It is therefore important that we “invest” in ourselves to constantly upgrade by continuously learning new skills or bettering those that we have already acquired. However, most of us will ‘entrust’ this important role to our HR / Training Manager or our immediate supervisor. We fail to realize that it is actually our own responsibility to ensure that we continuously learn and improve. They may be facilitators that will help us identify areas which we may need to seek improvements but the responsibility of self-development lies ultimately on our shoulders and not just theirs.It is important to remember that we will end up with what we created that is why it is of importance that we put in the commitment, care and attention that is needed. We will have to decide how important it is to develop our inner strengths or overcome our flaws and the amount of time and effort that we would want to invest in so doing. In order for us to build a successful self-development program, it is critical that we understand and apply some fundamental principles of self-development. For a self-development program to succeed, we will have to :
- Keep our program as simple as possible and be realistic about it.
- Be patient with ourselves. We have to remember that we cannot change the world or ourselves in a day.
- Try to built in continuity and consistency.
- Make that commitment to persist until we have the habit or skill that we want established.
- Develop an attitude of experimentation and try to adopt a “beginner’s mindset” so that routine will not dull our attention.
- Try to incorporate learning or training opportunities into our day-to-day activities
- Stay flexible and allow ourselves to learn from mistakes.
Drawing up a Personal Development Program
Setting Realistic Goals
It is important to set goals and have targets to work towards. These goals can act as a form of measurement to help us gauge how far we are from our current status to our desired situation. Goals can be both short-termed or long-termed. We can project as far as we want, but we must always remember to keep them practical.We can set goals in the area of career, social life, health or family related. To begin, we will have to decide what we would like to accomplish in the next month, six months from now, one year from now or even five years from now. Write out these goals in the different areas and rank them in order of importance.
Spotting Facilitators to Accomplish Goals
Next, we will have to make a list of the specific things that we must do to accomplish our goals. These facilitators can be people or actions that will help to motivate us.This may include setting up a time-table, finding someone who can help us to be accountable or provide encouragement to spur us on. We can even set up reminders in our computer or on our desk and so on. It is also important that we set in check-points for review and to note changes and improvements.Another important facilitator to take note of is our mind which can provide powerful motivation and encouragement through affirmations with thoughts, images or feelings. It can also create fear, worry and even negative “vibes” that may prevent us from moving forward in making that change. Therefore, it is important that we learn how to manage our minds!
Identifying Interference that will Hinder
We all have habits and thought patterns that create resistance and prevents us from doing anything that is not of our routine! Identify these habits and the steps we can take to minimize their impact on ourselves and if possible, work out ways to eliminate them.If possible, we may even want to try and work with someone whom we can be accountable to so as to ensure that we do not “create” excuses for ourselves to avoid carrying out our self-development program.
Establishing Specific Steps & Taking those Steps
After identifying the facilitators and the interference, we will have to carefully decide what practical steps we would need to take in order for us to reach our goals. There is a need to be very specific about how much we are willing to commit to in terms of time, money and effort. Then, we will have to set some kind of timetable along with it indicating when we will do it and even how we are going to do it.
Remember, no one is responsible or accountable for our self-development except us! So what we make of our self-development program is up to what we want to achieve at the end of it.
Material from (16 May 2011): http://www.markwell-intl.com/s-article-selfdev.htm