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A Personal Development Plan (PDP) Guide & Template

What is a personal development plan.

Personal development is an ongoing process that drives you to improve your knowledge, skills and experience, so that you can achieve your goals. A personal development plan (or PDP) is a method of focussing your goals into achievable steps, which helps you keep track of your personal development.

Download Free PDP Example/Template

Why Should I Create a Personal Development Plan?

Your plan may be aimed at your education, career or personal goal, or a mixture of all three – that is up to you to determine. Whatever the case may be, a good plan will provide you with a clear sense of focus. It helps you map out a path towards your goals, strategise a plan to achieve them, record the actionable steps you will take, and set a timeframe for completing them. Focussing your goals into a PDP helps you maintain your vision, keep on track to achieve your targets, and reflect on your progress.

Simply put, a PDP can help you build a clear understanding of what you want to achieve and how you are going to achieve it.

Interested in Learning More?

Let us help with your personal development goals this year. Choose from a wide range of  business essentials courses , whether it be  Leadership and Management ,  Starting a Business , or  Coaching and Mentoring . You could have your CPD recognised certificate in a matter of hours!

A clear plan can also support your positive mental wellbeing and improve your level of satisfaction. It can provide a sense of direction, purposefulness and a feeling of success as you start to fulfil your potential. All of these can have very positive impacts on your mental health. 

Therefore, discovering what your goals are, getting organised and giving yourself a sense of direction can be incredibly beneficial. This article will give you an understanding of how to write a personal development plan, as well as provide you with a handy template to support your development journey.

How to Write a Personal Development Plan

There are seven steps to writing a PDP:

• Set yourself goals.
• Prioritise those goals.
• Set yourself deadlines for when you want to achieve them.
• Recognise threats and opportunities.
• Develop your skills or increase your knowledge.
• Use your support network.
• Measure your progress.

1. Set Yourself Goals

The first step is to set yourself goals . Think about what you want to achieve, whether that’s within a few weeks, within a year, or over your lifetime.

Deciding what you want is not only the first step in planning, it’s also the hardest. Once you’ve figured out what you want to do, that goal will provide clear direction and a structure for your resulting plan.

At this stage, your goals will feel big. You might be wondering how you are ever going to achieve them. Don’t worry – the next step is to prioritise and turn those goals into smaller, actionable steps that will support you on your way to achieving them.

2. Prioritising Your Goals

Now that you have your goals, the next stage is to break them down into smaller steps. When doing this, it’s important that your goals are SMART:

• Specific. Avoid large, ambiguous steps. These won’t support you on your way to achieving your goals. Insted, make sure that your goals are specific and clearly highlight the skill, knowledge or experience you want to develop.
• Measureable. You need to be able to monitor and reflect on your progress. Therefore, your goals need to be measurable, such as by setting a goal to develop your SEO knowledge with a measurable target of growing your website traffic by a set, defined percentage.
• Attainable. Your goals need to be achievable and realistic. You need to think about if it is something you can realistically achieve with the time and resources you have. If not, you will likely be setting yourself up for failure. 
• Relevant. It’s important to keep your overall goal in mind and make sure that every step you take is supporting you to achieve it. You don’t want to be spending time doing things that don’t get you where you want to go.
• Time-bound. Set yourself key targets to achieve and deadlines in which to achieve them. This will help you stay focussed on achieving your goals. However, it’s important to make sure you are realistic in what you can achieve in any given period. Don’t try to achieve everything all at once. It’s unrealistic and you won’t be setting yourself up well to achieve them. Remember that personal development is a journey – your PD plan can continue to grow and develop as you take those steps towards your goals.

Once you have your goals, you’ll need to prioritise them. 

In your PDP, you should be setting yourself mini goals to make the big ones happen.

For example, if you wish to pursue a career in academia as a senior lecturer and then a professor, a necessary step to succeeding in this goal is to achieve a PhD. So that would be one of your long-term goals. You then need to break it down into steps, such as:

• Learn about the PhD application process.
• Find a suitable university and supervisor for a PhD.
• Look at routes for funding.
• Find studentships to apply for or apply to your university of choice.
• Write and submit your PhD application.

3. Set Yourself Deadlines

Knowing when you want to achieve a goal is crucial, and picturing your future is an important source of motivation and inspiration.

Having goals and a set deadline will drive your motivation to achieve them. For example, if your goal is to buy a home, knowing when you want to achieve it will help you calculate exactly how much money you need to save each year in order to get your deposit. The same is true for your skills, knowledge and experience development. As mentioned above, setting realistic and time-bound goals are essential to achieving them. 

One good way to understand more about achieving your goals is to speak to those who have previously trodden a similar path. Learning about  their experiences can help you understand key barriers to, or methods of, success that may also be applicable to your PDP.

4. Recognise Threats and Opportunities

When considering your goals, you should identify your own strengths, consider areas of weakness you can develop, look at the opportunities available to support you in achieving your goals, and any threats that may hinder you in your progress. This is called a SWOT analysis. Note that these threats may be external or they may be core skills that you can develop as part of your PDP.

For example, a lack of motivation could hinder your plans to apply for a PhD. However, once you’ve identified your tendency to procrastinate or lose focus, you can put in place methods that will keep you motivated.

There are also going to be things that you could do, and connections with people or resources you could take advantage of, that will help you on your way. These are your opportunities that you should commit to doing.

For example, if there’s a conference coming up, take advantage of that. Go along and network, stay up to date on the latest knowledge, or even present a paper. These are all opportunities that could help you achieve your goals.

5. Develop Yourself

Once you have an idea of what could help or hinder you, this is when you can capitalise on those opportunities you recognised. Make an action plan about how you’ll make that progress.

Whatever it is that hinders you, there’s a way to stop it. Your plan is the first step to making sure you stay on track. 

So, why not take a look at how to upskill yourself , develop transferable skills in today’s rapidly changing jobs market, or even discover an online learning opportunity .

6. Use Your Support Network

The next thing you need to realise is that:

You don’t have to do everything by yourself.

And you shouldn’t. The support network around you is a valuable asset, so use it and don’t underestimate it.

In your PDP, list the people who can help you. This could be a financial advisor, a friend, or a colleague. People are often so happy to help you, more than you might realise.

7. Measure Progress

After you’ve achieved some progress, whether it’s big or small, take time to reflect on how far you’ve come.

Recognising what has gone well is an effective way to bolster your motivation and remain dedicated.

And after a setback, this is another time to take stock.

Wallowing – briefly – is a good way to feel what you need to without holding on to it. Holding onto sadness, anger or frustration, however, will only deter you. These emotions will take you nowhere and will only hinder you.

You should also spend a little time figuring out why it went wrong. Can you identify a skills or knowledge gap? 

 If you can, then you can get yourself back on track by focussing on your next step. This will reignite your sense of purpose and help you regain control, which is integral to making progress.

Continue to reflect on your progress. You can gain significant insight from your reflections and this can help you grow. Remember that you should update your plan where necessary. Don’t overload it at any one time but, once you have achieved your small steps, reflect and then update your plan to focus on your next move.

Free Personal Development Plan Example & Template

In this article, we have discussed how you can create your own personal development plan, so you should now feel ready to start considering your goals and developing your own plan. To help you produce an effective personal development plan, we have created an editable template that you can use. Take a look at our example PDP, and download your free template below:

Further Resources:

• How to Upskill Yourself
• What are Personal Development Goals for Work?
• Using Key Phrases in Performance Reviews & Appraisals
• Resilience Quiz
• Resilience in the Workplace: What are the Benefits and How Can Businesses Develop It?
• How to Stand Out in a Virtual Interview: Preparation Tips
• What is CPD? A Guide to Continuing Professional Development
• Writing A Professional Development Plan – Example & Template
• Business Essentials Courses

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How to Create a Personal Development Plan: 3 Examples

For successful change, it is vital that the client remains engaged, recognizing and identifying with the goals captured inside and outside sessions. A personal development plan (PDP) creates a focus for development while offering a guide for life and future success (Starr, 2021).

This article introduces and explores the value of personal development plans, offering tools, worksheets, and approaches to boost self-reflection and self-improvement.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Goal Achievement Exercises for free . These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients create actionable goals and master techniques to create lasting behavior change.

This Article Contains

What is personal development 7 theories, coaching in personal development and growth, how to create a personal development plan, 3 examples of personal development plans, defining goals and objectives: 10 tips and tools, fostering personal development skills, 3 inspiring books to read on the topic, resources from positivepsychology.com, a take-home message, frequently asked questions.

Personal development is a fundamental concept in psychology and encompasses the lifelong process of self-improvement, self-awareness, and personal growth. Crucial to coaching and counseling, it aims to enhance various aspects of clients’ lives, including their emotional wellbeing, relationships, careers, and overall happiness (Cox, 2018; Starr, 2021).

Several psychological models underpin and support transformation. Together, they help us understand personal development in our clients and the mechanisms and approaches available to make positive life changes (Cox, 2018; Passmore, 2021).

The following psychological theories and frameworks underpin and influence the approach a mental health professional adopts.

1. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

As a proponent of the humanistic or person-centered approach to helping people, Abraham Maslow (1970) suggested that individuals have a hierarchy of needs. Simply put, they begin with basic physiological and safety needs and progress through psychological and self-fulfillment needs.

Personal development is often found in or recognized by the pursuit of higher-level needs, such as self-esteem and self-actualization (Cox, 2018).

2. Erikson’s psychosocial development

Erik Erikson (1963) mapped out a series of eight psychosocial development stages that individuals go through across their lifespan.

Each one involves challenges and crises that once successfully navigated, contribute to personal growth and identity development.

3. Piaget’s cognitive development

The biologist and epistemologist Jean Piaget (1959) focused on cognitive development in children and how they construct their understanding of the world.

We can draw on insights from Piaget’s stages of cognitive development, including intellectual growth and adaptability, to inform our own and others’ personal development (Illeris, 2018).

4. Bandura’s social cognitive theory

Albert Bandura’s (1977) theory highlights the role of social learning and self-efficacy in personal development. It emphasizes that individuals can learn and grow through observation, imitation, and belief in their ability to effect change.

5. Self-determination theory

Ryan and Deci’s (2018) motivational self-determination theory recognizes the importance of autonomy, competence, and relatedness in personal development.

Their approach suggests that individuals are more likely to experience growth and wellbeing when such basic psychological needs are met.

6. Positive psychology

Positive psychology , developed by Martin Seligman (2011) and others, focuses on strengths, wellbeing, and the pursuit of happiness.

Seligman’s PERMA model offers a framework for personal development that emphasizes identifying and using our strengths while cultivating positive emotions and experiences (Lomas et al., 2014).

7. Cognitive-Behavioral Theory (CBT)

Developed by Aaron Beck (Beck & Haigh, 2014) and Albert Ellis (2000), CBT explores the relationship between thoughts, emotions, and behavior.

As such, the theory provides practical techniques for personal development, helping individuals identify and challenge negative thought patterns and behaviors (Beck, 2011).

Theories like the seven mentioned above offer valuable insights into many of the psychological processes underlying personal development. They provide a sound foundation for coaches and counselors to support their clients and help them better understand themselves, their motivations, and the paths they can take to foster positive change in their lives (Cox, 2018).

The client–coach relationship is significant to successful growth and goal achievement.

Typically, the coach will focus on the following (Cox, 2018):

• Actualizing tendency This supports a “universal human motivation resulting in growth, development and autonomy of the individual” (Cox, 2018, p. 53).
• Building a relationship facilitating change Trust clients to find their own way while displaying empathy, congruence, and unconditional positive regard . The coach’s “outward responses consistently match their inner feelings towards a client,” and they display a warm acceptance that they are being how they need to be (Passmore, 2021, p. 162).
• Adopting a positive psychological stance Recognize that the client has the potential and wish to become fully functioning (Cox, 2018).

Effective coaching for personal growth involves adopting and committing to a series of beliefs that remind the coach that the “coachee is responsible for the results they create” (Starr, 2021, p. 18) and help them recognize when they may be avoiding this idea.

The following principles are, therefore, helpful for coaching personal development and growth (Starr, 2021).

• Stay committed to supporting the client. While initially strong, you may experience factors that reduce your sense of support for the individual’s challenges.
• Coach nonjudgmentally. Our job is not to adopt a stance based on personal beliefs or judgment of others, but to help our clients form connections between behavior and results.
• Maintain integrity, openness, and trust. The client must feel safe in your company and freely able to express themselves.
• Responsibility does not equal blame. Clients who take on blame rather than responsibility will likely feel worse about something without acknowledging their influence on the situation.
• The client can achieve better results. The client is always capable of doing and achieving more, especially in relation to their goals.
• Focus on clients’ thoughts and experiences. Collaborative coaching is about supporting the growth and development of the client, getting them to where they want to go.
• Clients can arrive at perfect solutions. “As a coach, you win when someone else does” (Starr, 2021, p. 34). The solution needs to be the client’s, not yours.
• Coach as an equal partnership. Explore the way forward together collaboratively rather than from a parental or advisory perspective.

Creating a supportive and nonjudgmental environment helps clients explore their thoughts, feelings, and goals, creating an environment for personal development and flourishing (Passmore, 2021).

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A personal development plan is a powerful document “to create mutual clarity of the aims and focus of a coaching assignment” (Starr, 2021, p. 291). While it is valuable during coaching, it can also capture a client’s way forward once sessions have ended.

Crucially, it should have the following characteristics (Starr, 2021):

• Short and succinct
• Providing a quick reference or point of discussion
• Current and fresh, regularly revised and updated

Key elements of a personal development plan include the following (Starr, 2021):

• Area of development This is the general skill or competence to be worked on.
• Development objectives or goals What does the client want to do? Examples might include reducing stress levels, improving diet, or managing work–life balance .
• Behaviors to develop These comprise what the client will probably do more of when meeting their objectives, for example, practicing better coping mechanisms, eating more healthily, and better managing their day.
• Actions to create progress What must the client do to action their objectives? For example, arrange a date to meet with their manager, sign up for a fitness class, or meet with a nutritionist.
• Date to complete or review the objective Capture the dates for completing actions, meeting objectives, and checking progress.

Check out Lindsey Cooper’s excellent video for helpful guidance on action planning within personal development.

We can write and complete personal development plans in many ways. Ultimately, they should meet the needs of the client and leave them with a sense of connection to and ownership of their journey ahead (Starr, 2021).

• Personal Development Plan – Areas of Development In this PDP , we draw on guidance from Starr (2021) to capture development opportunities and the behaviors and actions needed to achieve them.
• Personal Development Plan – Opportunities for Development This template combines short- and long-term goal setting with a self-assessment of strengths, weaknesses, and development opportunities.
• Personal Development Plan – Ideal Self In this PDP template , we focus on our vision of how our ideal self looks and setting goals to get there.

“The setting of a goal becomes the catalyst that drives the remainder of the coaching conversation.”

Passmore, 2021, p. 80

Defining goals and objectives is crucial to many coaching conversations and is usually seen as essential for personal development.

Check out this video on how you can design your life with your personal goals in mind.

The following coaching templates are helpful, containing a series of questions to complete Whitmore’s (2009) GROW model :

• G stands for Goal : Where do you want to be?
• R stands for Reality : Where are you right now with this goal?
• O stands for Options : What are some options for reaching your goal?
• W stands for Way forward : What is your first step forward?

Goal setting creates both direction and motivation for clients to work toward achieving something and meeting their objectives (Passmore, 2021).

The SMART goal-setting framework is another popular tool inside coaching and elsewhere.

S = Specific M = Measurable A = Attainable/ or Agreed upon R = Realistic T = Timely – allowing enough time for achievement

The SMART+ Goals Worksheet contains a series of prompts and spaces for answers to define goals and capture the steps toward achieving them.

We can summarize the five principles of goal setting (Passmore, 2021) as follows:

• Goals must be clear and not open to interpretation.
• Goals should be stretching yet achievable.
• Clients must buy in to the goal from the outset.
• Feedback is essential to keep the client on track.
• Goals should be relatively straightforward. We can break down complex ones into manageable subgoals.

The following insightful articles are also helpful for setting and working toward goals.

• What Is Goal Setting and How to Do it Well
• The Science & Psychology of Goal-Setting 101

1. People skills

Improving how we work with others benefits confidence, and with other’s support, we are more likely to achieve our objectives and goals. The following people skills can all be improved upon:

• Developing rapport
• Assertiveness and negotiation
• Giving and receiving constructive criticism

2. Managing tasks and problem-solving

Inevitably, we encounter challenges on our path to development and growth. Managing our activities and time and solving issues as they surface are paramount.

Here are a few guidelines to help you manage:

• Organize time and tasks effectively.
• Learn fundamental problem-solving strategies.
• Select and apply problem-solving strategies to tackle more complex tasks and challenges.
• Develop planning skills, including identifying priorities, setting achievable targets, and finding practical solutions.
• Acquire skills relevant to project management.
• Familiarize yourself with concepts such as performance indicators and benchmarking.
• Conduct self-audits to assess and enhance your personal competitiveness.

3. Cultivate confidence in your creative abilities

Confidence energizes our performance. Knowing we can perform creatively encourages us to develop novel solutions and be motivated to transform.

Consider the following:

• Understand the fundamentals of how the mind works to enhance your thinking skills.
• Explore a variety of activities to sharpen your creative thinking.
• Embrace the belief that creativity is not limited to artists and performers but is crucial for problem-solving and task completion.
• Learn to ignite the spark of creativity that helps generate innovative ideas when needed.
• Apply creative thinking techniques to enhance your problem-solving and task completion abilities.
• Recognize the role of creative thinking in finding the right ideas at the right time.

To aid you in building your confidence, we have a whole category of articles focused on Optimism and Mindset . Be sure to browse it for confidence-building inspiration.

With new techniques and technology, our understanding of the human brain continues to evolve. Identifying the vital elements involved in learning and connecting with others offers deep insights into how we function and develop as social beings. We handpicked a small but unique selection of books we believe you will enjoy.

1. The Coaching Manual: The Definitive Guide to the Process, Principles and Skills of Personal Coaching – Julie Starr

This insightful book explores and explains the coaching journey from start to finish.

Starr’s book offers a range of free resources and gives clear guidance to support new and existing coaches in providing practical help to their clients.

Find the book on Amazon .

2. The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level – Gay Hendricks

Delving into the “zone of genius” and the “zone of excellence,” Hendricks examines personal growth and our path to personal success.

This valuable book explores how we eliminate the barriers to reaching our goals that arise from false beliefs and fears.

3. The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are – Brené Brown

Brown, a leading expert on shame, vulnerability, and authenticity, examines how we can engage with the world from a place of worthiness.

Use this book to learn how to build courage and compassion and realize the behaviors, skills, and mindset that lead to personal development.

We have many resources available for fostering personal development and supporting client transformation and growth.

Our free resources include:

• Goal Planning and Achievement Tracker This is a valuable worksheet for capturing and reflecting on weekly goals while tracking emotions that surface.
• Adopt a Growth Mindset Successful change is often accompanied by replacing a fixed mindset with a growth one .
• FIRST Framework Questions Understanding a client’s developmental stage can help offer the most appropriate support for a career change.

More extensive versions of the following tools are available with a subscription to the Positive Psychology Toolkit© , but they are described briefly below:

• Backward Goal Planning

Setting goals can build confidence and the skills for ongoing personal development.

Backward goal planning helps focus on the end goal, prevent procrastination, and decrease stress by ensuring we have enough time to complete each task.

Try out the following four simple steps:

• Step one – Identify and visualize your end goal.
• Step two – Reflect on and capture the steps required to reach the goal.
• Step three – Focus on each step one by one.
• Step four – Take action and record progress.
• Boosting Motivation by Celebrating Micro Successes

Celebrating the small successes on our journey toward our goals is motivating and confidence building.

Practice the following:

• Step one – Reflect momentarily on the goal you are working toward.
• Step two – Consider each action being taken to reach that goal.
• Step three – Record the completion of each action as a success.
• Step four – Choose how to celebrate each success.

If you’re looking for more science-based ways to help others reach their goals, check out this collection of 17 validated motivation & goal achievement tools for practitioners. Use them to help others turn their dreams into reality by applying the latest science-based behavioral change techniques.

17 Tools To Increase Motivation and Goal Achievement

These 17 Motivation & Goal Achievement Exercises [PDF] contain all you need to help others set meaningful goals, increase self-drive, and experience greater accomplishment and life satisfaction.

Created by Experts. 100% Science-based.

Personal development has a rich and long history. It is underpinned by various psychological theories and remains a vital aspect of creating fulfilling lives inside and outside coaching and counseling.

For many of us, self-improvement, self-awareness, and personal growth are vital aspects of who we are. Coaching can provide a vehicle to help clients along their journey, supporting their sense of autonomy and confidence and highlighting their potential (Cox, 2018).

Working with clients, therefore, requires an open, honest, and supportive relationship. The coach or counselor must believe the client can achieve better results and view them nonjudgmentally as equal partners.

Personal development plans become essential to that relationship and the overall coaching process. They capture areas for development, skills and behaviors required, and goals and objectives to work toward.

Use this article to recognize theoretical elements from psychology that underpin the process and use the skills, guidance, and worksheets to support personal development in clients, helping them remove obstacles along the way.

Ultimately, personal development is a lifelong process that boosts wellbeing and flourishing and creates a richer, more engaging environment for the individual and those around them.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Goal Achievement Exercises for free .

Personal development is vital, as it enables individuals to enhance various aspects of their lives, including emotional wellbeing, relationships, careers, and overall happiness.

It promotes self-awareness, self-improvement, and personal growth, helping individuals reach their full potential and lead fulfilling lives (Passmore, 2021; Starr, 2021).

Personal development is the journey we take to improve ourselves through conscious habits and activities and focusing on the goals that are important to us.

Personal development goals are specific objectives individuals set to improve themselves and their lives. Goals can encompass various areas, such as emotional intelligence, skill development, health, and career advancement, providing direction and motivation for personal growth (Cox, 2018; Starr, 2021).

A personal development plan typically comprises defining the area of development, setting development objectives, identifying behaviors to develop, planning actions for progress, and establishing completion dates. These five stages help individuals clarify their goals and track their progress (Starr, 2021).

• Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory . Prentice-Hall.
• Beck, A. T., & Haigh, E. P. (2014). Advances in cognitive therapy and therapy: The generic cognitive model. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology , 10 , 1–24.
• Beck, J. S. (2011). Cognitive behavior therapy: Basics and beyond . Guilford Press.
• Cottrell, S. (2015). Skills for success: Personal development and employability . Bloomsbury Academic.
• Cox, E. (2018). The complete handbook of coaching . SAGE.
• Ellis, A. (2000). Can rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) be effectively used with people who have devout beliefs in God and religion? Professional Psychology-Research and Practice , 31 (1), 29–33.
• Erikson, E. H. (1963). Youth: Change and challenge . Basic Books.
• Illeris, K. (2018). An overview of the history of learning theory. European Journal of Education , 53 (1), 86–101.
• Lomas, T., Hefferon, K., & Ivtzan, I. (2014). Applied positive psychology: Integrated positive practice . SAGE.
• Maslow, A. H. (1970). Motivation and personalit y (2nd ed.). Harper & Row.
• Passmore, J. (Ed.). (2021). The coaches’ handbook: The complete practitioner guide for professional coaches . Routledge.
• Piaget, J. (1959): The Psychology of intelligence . Routledge.
• Rose, C. (2018). The personal development group: The students’ guide . Routledge.
• Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2018). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness . Guilford Press.
• Seligman, M. E. (2011). Authentic happiness using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment . Nicholas Brealey.
• Starr, J. (2021). The coaching manual: The definitive guide to the process, principles and skills of personal coaching . Harlow: Pearson Education.
• Whitmore, J. (2009). Coaching for performance . Nicholas Brealey.

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11 Personal Development Plan Templates & Printables for 2024

There might be affiliate links on this page, which means we get a small commission of anything you buy. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Please do your own research before making any online purchase.

Looking for a personal development plan template to jumpstart your goals?

In life, you can almost guarantee that you’ll eventually come up against challenges that test how well you can cope.

Having a personal development plan makes you better equipped to handle the pressure in all aspects of your life.

But what exactly is a personal development plan?

This self-improvement tool helps you identify what you need to work on to achieve what you want and face the challenges that life throws your way . What you want could be related to improving the quality of your life, becoming a better version of who you are, or reaching greater heights in your chosen profession or your personal relationships.

Writing down your personal development plan conditions your mind to be receptive to opportunities that help manifest your goals. Neuroscience explains how this works.

In this article, we'll review 11 great personal development plan templates and printables.

First, let's start with a simple definition.

Table of Contents

Three Reasons Why You Need a Personal Development Plan

Working on personal development offers the following benefits:

1. Raises self-awareness – Working on your personal development is an opportunity to do some self-evaluation. It calls your attention to the aspects of yourself that need improvement. Through this exercise, you develop a clearer picture of your core values and get in touch with your authentic self. ( Check out this core values quizzes to help identify what matters most to you. )

2 . Gives you a confidence boost – As you see the positive results of improving yourself , you gain more confidence. And when you work on areas you’ve identified as your weaknesses, you transform them into personal strengths, making you even more confident in your abilities.

3. Strengthens you – As you continue to work on self-improvement, you will naturally work on improving your key strengths. You will learn how to utilize what you’re good at in order to get closer to your goals.

Now, if you're serious about personal development, then check out the Self Planner, which is designed to help you optimize your day, tackle your goals, and live a more fulfilled life .

The Components of a Personal Development Plan

An effective personal development plan follows a certain structure to help you achieve your goals of improving yourself. The process includes:

• Stating your goals
• Setting priorities
• Setting a deadline
• Identifying your strengths/skills that will help you achieve your goals
• Taking action
• Measuring progress

Below, we’ve rounded up a number of template samples to help you on your journey of self-growth.

11 Best Personal Development Plan Templates and Printables

1. personal development plan for self-improvement.

Download the PDF

If you’re looking for a self-improvement plan template, here’s something we designed to help you reach your goals. Featuring a red, white, and blue color scheme, this template, in landscape orientation, has three major sections where you identify:

• Activities/practices that promote general self-improvement
• Activities/practices that are good for the body
• Activities/practices that are good for the soul

Each section has three designated columns for writing down your daily, monthly, and year-end goals relevant to each of the major activities/practices that promote personal development.

2. Personal Development Plan (Areas of Life)

Perhaps you’re working on personal growth in different areas of your life and would like to organize your plans accordingly. If so, this template can help you. We designed it to have spaces where you can write down personal development goals in different areas of your life, such as:

• Relationships

Each box has sufficient space for writing the specific goals you’re working on, as well as additional details. With this template, you can access your self-improvement plans at a glance.

3. PDP Presentation Template

via SketchBubble

This template is specifically designed to help you flesh out your personal development plan.

In this presentation template, you’ll get to know yourself more deeply. You’ll have the opportunity to identify areas in your life that need improvement.

It allows you to pinpoint skills that you currently possess, and that you can utilize to achieve your goals. The slide template also helps you recognize areas where new skills are needed so that you can acquire them accordingly.

This template is available for PowerPoint, Google Slides, and Apple Keynote.

4. Simple Excel Template

Does it feel like you lack direction when it comes to your personal progress? Do you sometimes feel that your efforts are being wasted?

This simple template helps you find the deeper meaning in what you’re doing. It anchors you to what matters most—to the areas that are key to your happiness.

Each person has a unique source of inspiration. In this example, in order for the creator to find personal success , the following aspects need to be addressed:

What drives you to go the extra mile?

5. 3 Steps to a 5-Year Plan

This template was designed to help you identify your five-year plan , as well as your life and daily goals.

The creator of this template pinpointed five categories for your goals: personal, family/social, financial/equity, bucket list, and career.

There is a designated space where you can write your goals in relation to their groupings.

When using this template, you need to write down your life plans first. This part represents your long-term goals .

Dream as big as you can!

Next, the five-year plan contains the baby steps you need to take in order to reach your life goals. This might mean, for example, enrolling in a course that equips you for your dream career.

In goal-setting parlance, the five-year plan is equivalent to your short-term goals. ( You might want to check out this post for examples of short-term goals .)

Finally, the daily plan features all the actions you need to do to help you reach your five-year plan.

Want to become conversant in French? Then daily practice is in order. You might want to use an app to help you master a foreign language .

Aspiring to make a major purchase in five years’ time? Tracking your expenses could be the first step toward achieving this goal.

6. Minimalist PDP

If you’re looking for a minimalist template for your personal development plan, you might want to try this one from Myrko Thum.

In this plan, you will be able to identify areas in your life you want to develop. Myrko Thum lists at least seven areas:

• Juice (fun stuff, such as traveling and celebrations)

There is also a column for the goals you want to achieve, and another for setting deadlines for achieving them.

As with most templates, this one also has a column for success criteria, so you can measure if and when you’ve achieved your goal.

Lastly, a column is assigned for each of your action plans and some notes. This template is unnumbered, so you are free to list as many goals as you want.

7. Personal Growth Plan

Looking for something that helps track all your personal growth goals on a single page?

This template has every detail you need to plot out and track your personal growth. It helps you achieve goals, develop good habits, and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Best of all, all the information you need is laid out on a single page, such as:

• Focus for the week
• Important reminders
• Goals (with start dates and deadline)
• Health and fitness (meal and workout tracker)
• Mood tracker
• Habit tracker

8. Weekly Self-Reflection Worksheet

This worksheet is helpful if you’re working on being mindful of your well-being.

It features self-assessment questions that allow you to get into touch with your emotions and mental health.

The template also has dedicated spaces for keeping track of habits, routines, and activities that promote self-growth and personal development. It is downloadable in A4 size and comes in white, blue, gray, purple, and pink colors.

9. Positive Experiences Worksheet

People sometimes get stuck in negative mental loops. If this becomes a habit, it often leads to low self-esteem and an overall negative outlook on life.

Here’s a worksheet that provides several key words as writing prompts to help people who are stuck in negative thinking. It encourages them to reflect on their actions so they can recognize and affirm positive things they’ve done or experienced in their daily lives.

10. Wellness Journal

With everything that’s happening in our lives and all that’s vying for our attention, it’s challenging to find time for ourselves. This template makes sure that you have time to focus on yourself so you can be recharge and be grounded. That way, you can take on more next time life throws challenges your way.

There are spaces allocated for the following:

• Today’s positive thoughts
• Trackers for water, fruit, and vegetable intake
• Exercise [time and activity]
• Vitamins and supplements
• Just for me [a reward or something special that you might enjoy]

At the bottom of the page there is space for you to write your reflections on the day.

11. Becoming a Better You

This template compartmentalizes your personal development goals into pre-set subjects. This makes it easier to focus on specific areas of your life that you want to work on improving.

Some of these areas include:

For every subject, there are spaces allocated for writing up to three goals, as well as the due date and check boxes for when you’ve accomplished each of the goals.

Final Thoughts About PDPs

Having a written plan for your goals, especially those related to personal development, makes it easier to achieve them.

We hope that the personal development plan template samples we featured today will give you focus and inspiration to finally achieve your goal of becoming a better version of yourself.

Meanwhile, for further resources, you might want to check out this post for our book recommendations on the topic of personal development and our top choices for the best personal development podcasts .

Next, if you want to be more productive, overcome decision fatigue, and focus on what matters most, then check out the Self Planner, which is designed to help you optimize your day and live a more fulfilled life .

And, if you’re looking for examples of personal development goals for work and life, this post is worth checking out .

Never stop improving!

Finally, if you want to take your goal-setting efforts to the next level, check out this FREE printable worksheet and a step-by-step process that will help you set effective SMART goals .

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Maximize Your Potential With a Personal Development Plan

Personal development fosters individual growth while enhancing skills and self-awareness. It can facilitate adaptability to life’s changes, maximize your potential and contribute to fulfilling your personal and professional aspirations. The result can lead to a more enriched and purposeful life. But maximizing your potential requires a sound and strategic approach, which is where creating a solid personal development plan and template can assist you.

What is a personal development plan? 

A personal development plan (PDP) provides a structured and strategic approach to reaching your personal goals. It provides you with an opportunity for self-assessment, making the planning process itself an opportunity to better understand your drives, goals and needs.

Moreover, PDPs are actionable. By setting goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (that is, SMART goals), you develop a proactive means toward personal growth. And paying careful attention to your plan throughout the process gives you the opportunity to assess your success.

Here are eight aspects of personal development to keep in mind while creating your individualized plan:

• Self-awareness and reflection: Discover your true self with greater understanding of your strengths and weaknesses as well as values, drives and goals.
• Skill acquisition and knowledge: Commit to lifelong learning to gain new knowledge and develop new skills and enhance existing ones for greater empowerment and satisfaction.
• Emotional and mental health: Build resilience while managing stress and developing emotional intelligence .
• Physical health: Emphasis on improving health, including a better diet, proper sleep, exercise and other self-care regimens to enhance overall well-being.
• Relationships: Build and expand your personal network through development and better communication skills and empathy.
• Financial literacy : Relieve unnecessary stress and burdens with a personalized money management plan.
• Time management and productivity : The best time management strategies will increase your productivity while freeing up personal time.
• Spiritual growth: Noted speaker Jim Rohn considered spiritual growth key to personal development , whether that’s through religion, meditation or a connection to nature and the universe.

By identifying these aspects of overall well-being, you can embark on a personal development plan suited to your individual goals and needs.

What are the benefits of a personal development plan?

The decision to create a PDP is your first step toward achieving your goals. It shows a commitment to inner growth and a desire to lead a happier and more fulfilling life. As you dive in, you will develop a clearer understanding of yourself. This clarity fosters self-awareness through introspection. Your plan is not a “wish list” but rather a process of designing a more purposeful existence.

Your plan also provides clarity in making decisions that align with your values and goals. This calibration of your inner and outer worlds enhances personal motivation with a renewed sense of purpose. Monitoring your growth in desired areas of personal development likewise builds resilience as you see yourself more confidently clearing hurdles and navigating setbacks.

Furthermore, a professional development plan emphasizes continuous learning. This augments your adaptability skills so that perceived threats seem more like opportunities. You develop a growth mindset that builds your character and makes you more attractive to others, both personally and professionally. Every task becomes easier as you build a more enriched, empowered and purposeful life.

How do I create a personal development plan?

Crafting a PDP requires commitment. You must be willing to devote quiet time to deep introspection of who you are and who you want to become. With this understanding, you can set specific goals tailored to your personal growth. Each goal should be paired with strategic actions that are stepping stones toward your self-actualization.

It sounds like a lot to take on—but embarking on this journey does not need to be difficult. A personal development plan template provides structure, acting as a roadmap to guide you one step at a time on your lifelong journey.

Use this personal development plan template to get started.

Let’s begin with a personal development plan example to use as your own template.

1. Create a vision statement

Think deeply about what you aspire to and what inspires you. Make a list in multiple columns that addresses where you want to go and what truly motivates you on a daily basis. Then, narrow that list down, crossing off items where desire and motivation don’t align. Start from what remains to develop your personal growth vision statement.

2. Commit to a deep self-assessment

Now that you have brought into alignment what you want to achieve and what motivates you to get there, assess yourself. Identify your personal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats—that is, perform a personal SWOT analysis . Just as these analyses help businesses assess their standing, they also help individuals in developing a plan for personal development.

3. Set SMART goals

Next, set personal development goals for yourself. But remember: Goals are not wishes or dreams. Setting goals for personal development is simple, but it requires discipline. Set your personal goals with the SMART goal strategy in mind—determine goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. To facilitate the ease and success of this stage, consider using a goal-setting worksheet .

4. Determine action steps

Now that you know where you want to go, the challenge lies in getting there. Determine the course of action to achieve what you desire. Some personal development goals may only need a few action steps. Others may require more. The point here is to map out the actions you need to take to achieve your personal goals. Set realistic deadlines that help keep you on track, adhere to them and adjust only when necessary.

5. Use all available resources

Putting step 4 of your personal development plan into action may be the most difficult. Thankfully, you do not need to attempt it without guidance. Experts can assist you. Take time to use available resources such as personal development courses and personal growth books . These proven experts will do more than guide you with tools and strategies; they will inspire you during your growth journey.

6. Track your progress

Tracking your personal development progress is vital to your plan. If you used a SMART goal worksheet to set deadlines, review the tasks regularly to ensure you are staying on track while also setting future goals. You may consider keeping a daily journal. If you choose this method, consider expressing gratitude in your journal, which can provide personal development benefits.

7. Review and adjust

Tracking your daily progress also offers you the opportunity to review and adjust your personal development plan. Go back and look at your worksheet and journal each week with time set aside for a monthly review. If you did not meet your goals, don’t be hard on yourself. You may simply have aimed too high starting out. Adjust your goals and timelines accordingly. And when goals are met, set new ones in incremental steps that adhere to the SMART goal-setting approach.

Ready to maximize your potential but still want help creating your personal development plan? The Win the Day Accelerator, hosted by James Whittaker, can help! The 8-part program is designed to unlock your full potential and help you achieve extraordinary results, personally and professionally.

Photo by mimagephotography/Shutterstock.com

Bryan Lindenberger

Bryan enjoys the digital space where arts and technology meet. As a writer, he has worked in education, health and wellbeing, and manufacturing. He also assists smaller businesses in web development including accessibility and content development. In his free time, he hikes trails in central Florida.

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How to Craft a Personal Development Plan that Inspires Meaningful, Long-Term Results

Overview : This in-depth guide provides a comprehensive 7-step roadmap to create a customized personal development plan template to help you actualize your true potential. It also provides a personal development plan template you can use (with examples).

______________

I leaped into the personal development world with a copy of Tony Robbins’ Personal Power program in the early 1990s.

If you’re old enough and living in the States, you know the one I’m talking about (late-night infomercials).

I was 18, and this audio program made a measurable difference in my outlook and behavior.

From that moment onward, I was hooked on personal development.

I jumped from seminar to seminar, book to book. Investing every possible moment I had, I covered a lot of ground in my first five years.

Reflecting over 30 years on my journey, I now see I was missing several vital ingredients essential for long-term, healthy development back then.

In this guide, I will share with you lessons learned and provide a roadmap for crafting a powerful Personal Development Plan. (Also, toward the bottom of the guide, you can download a personal development plan template and an example plan.)

Let’s dive in …

What is a Personal Development Plan?

A personal development plan is like a business plan for an individual. A personal development plan creates a roadmap for an individual’s growth in key categories of life and work.

There’s no set formula or template for creating a personal development plan.

Your plan can be a half-page, a full-page, or 20 pages long. It’s entirely up to you.

To clarify, “individual development plans” are generally more geared toward career development than a personal development plan (or “self-development plan”), but they all share common attributes.

The primary question a Personal Development Plan helps answer is:

Where am I going to place my available time and attention?

Personal Development Definitions

If you examine most people over a decade, you’ll observe little or no change in their development and behavior.

Development implies a permanent change in the structure of your being including your body, brain, or consciousness.

Just because you adopt a new habit , for example, doesn’t mean you have or will grow from it. If this new habit leads to internal growth over time , however, it will facilitate your development.

It’s all too easy to believe we’re developing when we’re not. I know I deceived myself for many years and there’s evidence of this throughout personal development communities.

Reading books in this genre, for example, doesn’t mean you’re developing. You might just be acquiring more ideas.

Personal development books can potentially provide a roadmap for development in certain areas, but real development comes through practice and repetition .

Our behavior and the development of skills, aptitudes, and desired tendencies are where we can observe signs of permanent change.

Personal Development Is Not Self Help

Self-help implies there’s something wrong with us.

The multi-billion-dollar self-help industry profits by subconsciously communicating these “deficiencies” to its unsuspecting audience.

Actual personal development is how humans realize more of their innate potential.

In an ideal environment, this process happens naturally .

Because this perfect environment doesn’t exist in society, the call for personal development is an individual’s choice. It’s up to each individual to say “yes” to their hero’s journey .

Why Personal Development Plans Are Important

When you don’t have a vision, a plan, or a goal, where does your attention go?

For most people, attention goes to entertainment and distraction. Sight, sound, and motion captivate our brains.

Television series, films, video games, social media, sports, and stock prices hook the primitive parts of our brains.

Even if you’re an overachiever who defines yourself by accomplishments and external status, your attention likely gets fixated on more work, higher productivity, and making more money. That’s fine, but this effort doesn’t necessarily support our personal development goals.

When entertainment, distraction, and workaholism consume our attention, something doesn’t feel right within us.

We may not identify it, but a deeper part of us isn’t fulfilled.

Focusing on Growth Needs

Psychologist Abraham Maslow noted that when individuals mainly focus on meeting their basic human needs like physiological needs, security, fitting in, and being liked and respected, they become neurotic.

Self-actualizing individuals, in contrast, are more focused on their growth needs.

Their motivation stems from an internal directive called intrinsic motivation instead of being driven by external forces. (All of our basic human needs are external.)

To have a full and meaningful life requires us to open to deeper aspects of ourselves.

A personal development plan can help us do just that.

But most people don’t know what’s available to them. I certainly wasn’t aware of the options when I started my journey.

Youthful enthusiasm and naivete guided those early years.

If you go to personal development seminars or read books in this genre, you may only think within the confines of the illustrations these resources provide.

7-Step Roadmap to Creating Your Personal Development Plan

Before we jump in, here’s a quick overview of the steps for creating your personal development plan:

Step 1: Discover the Human Potential Landscape Step 2: Envision Your Future Self Step 3: Select your Current Areas of Focus Step 4: Determine Your Key Practices Step 5: Establish Personal Development Goals Step 6: Set Your Schedule for Deliberate Practice Step 7: Monitor Your Ongoing Progress

Step 1 is what’s missing from many people’s approach to personal development.

So we’ll start our journey with a larger vision for our human potential.

Note : Toward the bottom of this guide, you can download a personal development plan template based on this roadmap.

STEP 1: Discover the Personal Development Landscape

One thing I was missing from my personal development journey was a roadmap of the terrain. How can you navigate through your development without a map?

Every good explorer has one. Such a map shines a much-needed light on the diverse areas of our potential.

A reliable map of human potential wasn’t readily available in the early 90s.

The fields of transpersonal psychology, developmental psychology, integral theory, and neuroscience, however, were converging on one.

Theorist Ken Wilber played a major role in synthesizing many fields of research into a cohesive whole.

Personal Development Categories

In my experience, I’ve found it helps to take an integrated approach to your personal development plan.

That is, know your menu of options so you can select from multiple areas that interest you.

To create a map for our development, we need to know the categories available to us. These categories include:

• Lines of Intelligence (also called Streams of Development)

Skill Development

Major life categories, behavioral change, personality development.

Let’s look at each of these categories in more detail.

Available Lines of Intelligence

While we used to associate “intelligence” with IQ; we now know there are many forms of intelligence.

One popular model comes from the pioneering work of Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner and his Multiple Intelligence theory. 1 Gardner, Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences , 2011.

In Gardner’s model, there are now nine lines of intelligence:

Logical-mathematical intelligence : logic, abstractions, reasoning, numbers, and critical thinking. This intelligence is associated with IQ and intellectual aptitude. This line is also referred to as cognitive intelligence as explored in Jean Piaget’s research.

Linguistic intelligence : words, languages, reading, writing, telling stories, and memorizing words.

Intrapersonal intelligence : to know oneself including one’s strengths and weaknesses, emotional triggers, and motivations. One’s ability to be introspective and self-reflective. Psychologist Daniel Goleman popularized this as  Emotional Intelligence .

Kinesthetic intelligence : one’s ability to control one’s body and one’s skill in using it. Also called body intelligence or body-mind connection.

Musical intelligence :  sensitivity to sounds, pitch, rhythms, tones, meter, melody, etc.

Visual-spatial intelligence : spatial judgment and the ability to visualize and imagine with the mind’s eye.

Interpersonal intelligence : sensitivity to others’ moods, feelings, temperaments, motivations, and their ability to cooperate with others. Goleman popularized this as  Social Intelligence .

Naturalistic intelligence : sensitivity to one’s environment; the ability to recognize flora and fauna; nurturing and relating to one’s natural surroundings.

Existential intelligence : sometimes called spiritual intelligence; relates to one’s understanding of oneself concerning reality or the cosmos.

Integral Theory’s “AQAL” Model of Human Development

Additional Perspectives from Developmental Research

Other developmental researchers have studied the stages of growth in morals, values, worldviews, emotions, contemplation, spirituality, needs, and psycho-sexual development.

Do you see the diverse range of our potential?

In  Integral Life Practice , Ken Wilber, et al. group these “streams of development” into four categories:

• Cognitive development
• Self-related intelligence (including basic human needs , morals, values, and self-identity)
• Talent lines of development (including musical, visual-spatial, mathematical, and kinesthetic)
• Everything else (including spiritual, aesthetic, emotional, psychosexual, and interpersonal)

We each have a different base level of development in each line of intelligence and an innate potential we can realize through deliberate practice.

Our environment often thwarts this potential in early childhood. As adults, our responsibility is to resume this upward march. A personal development plan can help us with that!

Skill development is a broad category that includes areas where you show interest and/or ability. You can develop skills for personal or professional reasons.

There are skills in problem-solving , communication , collaborating, drawing, computer programming, bookkeeping, writing, analyzing, martial arts, persuading, musical instruments, negotiating, learning , presenting, goal setting, listening, managing, planning, reasoning, and predicting, to name only a few.

All skills are associated with at least one line of intelligence listed above. With sufficient interest, practice, and the right methods, individuals can develop any skill.

One way to get more clarity on your natural skills is to take the free VIA Character Strength survey . Your natural strengths often translate to specific skills.

The Wheel of Life Exercise

In your pursuit of personal development, you may have come across the Wheel of Life .

The Wheel of Life is a standard tool that coaches use to illustrate the various categories of one’s life, measure an individual’s status in each area, and set goals to improve in those areas.

Your wheel might include physical health, relationships, social, finances , professional, personal growth, spirituality , creativity , and fun.

The message behind the Wheel of Life is that development occurs through conscious effort and being intentional about how you grow within these key categories.

Who doesn’t have behaviors they would like to change?

We all have set patterns of behavior that get entrenched by unconscious repetition.

Making positive changes to these habits requires repatterning the brain.

For lasting change to occur, we repeat the new habit or behavior over time under various conditions.

The time necessary to install a new habit varies; research suggests it takes 66 days on average. 2 https://www.spring.org.uk/2009/09/how-long-to-form-a-habit.php I’ve found that it’s usually much less.

Why do many personal development programs fail to produce long-term results? Because these programs are “one size fits all.”

Research shows there is a range of psychological types. In the Enneagram system, there are nine primary types and nine levels of development within each one.

Each type has varying propensities, habitual patterns, strengths, weaknesses, fears, and potentials.

If you want to create an effective Personal Development Plan, be sure you’re aware of your psychological type. Each type has a different pathway to higher development.

As a business coach to high-performing entrepreneurs for over 25 years, I went through and used most (if not all) personality tests on the market, including popular ones like Myers-Briggs (MBTI), Human Design Engineering (HDe), and DISC.

In my opinion, the Enneagram is the most efficacious, robust, and useful. (MBTI and HDE are insightful too.)

You can take a free Enneagram test here . You can find scientifically validated paid tests online as well.

After you get your results, read more about your type and see if it resonates. Then, look for ways to develop your type. (On the Enneagram Institute website, they offer “Personal Growth Recommendations” for each type.)

STEP 2: Envision Your Future Self

Consider what the above information means about our potential: Developing any line of intelligence gives us greater sensitivity to the world around us.

We can now process information in new and deeper ways. Every time we grow in a line of intelligence, we perceive the world differently.

We are more aware than before. We have greater sensitivity to the world around us. Our possibilities are remarkable to ponder.

Nietzsche believed it was our destiny to be Ubermensch or Superman. An Ubermensch is an integrated or whole human being accessing his full potential.

Numerous researchers in developmental psychology have come to a similar conclusion, calling the final stage of development “Integrated.”

Maslow called this stage of development self-actualization and later, self-transcendence .

Cast Your Vision

Now, in Step 2, it’s time to create your vision for your future self .

Your vision (and personal development goals) will inspire you if it is true to who you are.

Sometimes we create a vision based on what we  should want or what we hope will gain approval from others—our parents, significant others, colleagues, or friends). Such a vision will lack inspiration and will feel meaningless to us.

Don’t worry about creating a “perfect” vision or the “right” vision. Just craft a sentence or two that inspires you right now.

STEP 3: Select Your Current Areas of Focus

In Step 1, you see a diverse range of options available. Learning about these options can be exciting, but it can also be overwhelming. If you nailed your vision in Step 2, you have more clarity.

Now, depending on your level of clarity, Step 3 can either be the easiest or the most difficult part of this process.

Even when you have a compelling vision for your future self, selecting areas of development to focus on can challenge us because we have limited time and countless options.

We can’t do it all. Creating an aggressive or complicated personal development plan with many goals backfires over time. I can attest to this from personal experience.

An aggressive plan will create additional internal resistance that undermines your efforts.

Over-planning sets you up for failure and discouragement. Eventually, you will burn out (lose motivation) and abandon your plan.

Be Mindful of Your Available Time

We’ll discuss scheduling in Step 6, but consider how much time you have available to invest in your development.

Let’s say you only have 30 minutes a day.

Is it reasonable to expect to make significant changes in six areas of your life within three months?

Developing new skills, for example, may take a minimum of 15 minutes of daily practice.

To set yourself up for success, I recommend picking up to three areas to focus on within the next 90 days.

Where Should You Start?

Select the areas that interest you the most. You’ll learn faster in these areas and have an easier time staying engaged with your practice.

So the question is: What’s most important to you right now ?

What are the areas you are most interested in developing now ?

To help answer these questions, it helps to know what you most value .

Narrow Down Your Search

Be aware of the tendency to overthink the selection process.

Better to dive into something for a month or two and then determine it’s not for you than to analyze your options. Analysis, as the saying goes, often leads to paralysis.

If you’re still having trouble deciding, go with the classic categories of Body, Mind, and Spirit.

• Body : pick an area that interests you like strength training, stamina, aerobics, or functional training.
• Mind : select one to three topics you want to explore. Read relevant books for each one.
• Spirit : consider focusing on gratitude, acceptance, kindness, compassion, meditation, or service to others.

I also recommend you include shadow work as part of an integrated program.

Include Important Lines of Development

While everyone is different and will create their plan to suit their needs, there are certain areas I believe to be foundational (for at least most people).

Cognitive Intelligence

Research shows that cognition is “necessary but insufficient” for other lines of development. For example, just because you have well-developed cognition doesn’t mean you’ll have moral intelligence.

One way to improve your cognition is to read books that challenge your understanding.

Emotional Intelligence (EI)

EI is, arguably, as important as cognitive development. EI relates to your physical and mental health, the quality of your relationships, and your leadership abilities (including self-leadership ).

One way to grow your emotional awareness is through meditation training . In the context of your personal development plan, meditation is a skill-building exercise. You are developing the skill of attention .

Intrapersonal Intelligence

Your level of self-awareness and knowledge of yourself influences your behaviors, moral development, and psychological development.

The Enneagram system can support the development of intrapersonal intelligence. Another way is to practice self-reflection and journaling.

See this in-depth guide on developing intrapersonal intelligence .

Kinesthetic Intelligence

Your awareness of your body defines the degree of your connection to your instinctive self. The more connected you are, the more mental balance you experience (and vice versa).

You can develop your body intelligence through practices like Yoga and Qigong as well as dancing and functional training. You can also use centering exercises , grounding techniques , and Zhan Zhuang  to increase body awareness.

Of course, there are other important aspects of your development. I singled out these four because they influence so much of our behaviors and decisions. Also, many of us are unaware of the profound role they play in our life experiences.

Pushing Beyond Professional Development

One thing I’ve observed in working with high-performing individuals is they tend to focus only on professional goals.

Many of us want to profit from our self-development plan. I’m not suggesting there’s anything wrong with that. Developing your abilities and talents should make you more marketable and of greater value to others.

However, watch the tendency to invest exclusively in this area, denying other aspects of yourself that are still important to a deeper part of you.

If you create a diverse personal development plan, you’ll increase your chances of actualizing your plan. You’ll also find it to be a more rewarding experience.

STEP 4: Determine Your Key Practices

Excellent books like Daniel Coyle’s The Talent Code and Anders Ericsson’s Peak: The New Science of Expertise  show that talent isn’t born but cultivated through deliberate practice .

Once you have selected the areas of your Personal Development Plan, the next step is to determine your practices.

These practices are the actions you are committing to doing consistently to develop in your particular areas of interest.

Examples of Practices

For example, if you want to improve your writing, write at least 1,000 words every day and edit what you write ruthlessly .

Want to learn to play the guitar? Pick up your guitar for at least 15 minutes every evening.

Want to increase your strength? Determine your training routine and follow through three or four days per week.

You may not know what practices to follow in the beginning. At first, you’ll research different topics through books, videos, and articles.

This exploration will help you to pick your practices. You may also consider hiring a coach or trainer to help you establish your practices.

STEP 5: Establish Personal Development Goals

Another common mistake people make with their personal development plan is to set BIG goals.

Big goals are useful for businesses but suboptimal for your self-development plan.

A big goal might be to master a particular instrument within 12 months. Such a goal will go unrealized.

As Sun Tzu wrote in The Art of War , “Every battle is won before it’s ever fought.”

To win the battle for your development in the war of distraction, set mini-goals instead.

Mini goals help you build momentum because they’re more readily achievable than big goals.

Yes, have a big vision . But only set mini personal development goals that are fun, engaging, and manageable.

Examples of Mini-Goals

Instead of mastering an instrument, for example, perhaps you establish a mini-goal like learning how to read sheet music or comfortably playing your favorite song.

If you’re just starting with strength training and you can only do ten consecutive push-ups, perhaps you set a goal of 30 push-ups.

If you want to improve as a public speaker, maybe you set a mini-goal to speak in front of a crowd at least once a week.

If you’re getting into meditation, and you can’t sit comfortably for more than a few minutes, maybe you commit to sitting for just 2 minutes once or twice a day for the next 21 days.

These types of personal development goals will inspire your practice and help you build positive momentum.

STEP 6: Set Your Schedule for Deliberate Practice

Once you know your practices, ensure you block off sufficient time for making progress.

Many people struggle with scheduling for two primary reasons:

• They underestimate how long things take. They get too ambitious with their expectations.
• They don’t honor their calendar unless it involves other people. Time scheduled for ourselves is the first thing to get bumped.

Watch out for both of these common patterns. If you don’t honor your time, I can assure you, no one else will.

Ground Your Plan to Reality

So first ask, How much time can I reasonably commit to my personal development plan?

The question isn’t what you should do; it’s what you think is reasonable and practical in the course of your busy life.

This infographic from Inc. illustrates how 500 chief-level executives spend their day. The average business leader invests 30 minutes a day in personal development—right before bed.

For most people, the two easiest periods to carve out time for your personal development plan are early morning and late evening.

Both of these times share the same two qualities:

• There are fewer distractions and
• You don’t have to interrupt your work/life flow to jump into your practices.

The key is to find times when you can be consistent and then establish a daily rhythm with your practice.

This way you don’t have to make a daily decision of whether or not to practice. You just practice!

Just 10 to 15 minutes is sufficient when you have a busy schedule. On the weekends, you can carve out additional time.

STEP 7: Monitor Your Ongoing Progress

Feedback facilitates the learning process. Athletes and musicians excel when they have experienced coaches to provide the right practices and effective feedback .

In Daniel Coyle’s examination of exceptional talent, he found that having a masterful coach was one of the common denominators for producing talent. 3 Daniel Coyle, The Talent Code , 2009.

Be Aware of Your Overall Mindset

One reason many people fail to develop is because they have a fixed mindset . Individuals with a fixed mindset are more driven to avoid looking foolish than by the desire to learn. They evade any constructive or critical feedback from others.

In contrast, someone on the path to self-mastery accepts failure and mistakes as part of the learning process.

In The Art of Learning , chess master and tai chi champion Josh Waitzkin explains how he became a tai chi champion by challenging superior opponents.

Instead of sparring with opponents of equal or lesser ability, he sought more skilled martial artists. He was often defeated, but he learned quickly.

The Important Role of Attention

Other than outside feedback, the other key to monitoring your progress is to increase your awareness as you practice.

The goal is to become fully present-minded with your practice. (To assist in this process, try using something like The Mastery Method to increase your mental alertness and self-awareness.)

When you bring more awareness to your practice, you ignite an internal feedback loop that facilitates faster learning.

How to Develop Awareness

One way to develop greater awareness is through mind training.

Breathing techniques and meditation help develop parts of the brain (prefrontal cortex region) associated with awareness.

It’s also important to enter a centered state before you practice. It only takes a minute or two, and it will speed up your results.

Do Periodic Check-Ins

Finally, check in with your personal development plan often.

Scan it weekly and revisit it each month to see if there are any adjustments you want to make.

Are you making progress toward your personal development goals? If not, why not?

Evaluate and make course corrections as needed.

Your Personal Development Plan Template (Fillable)

To help you create your plan, I’ve designed a personal development plan template based on the roadmap and principles outlined above. The template is fillable.

Your free kit includes:

• Print-ready PDF of this guide
• Fillable personal development plan template
• Personal development plan example that’s already filled in

Download your free personal development plan kit below.

Note: After you enter your email, you’ll be redirected back here. Links to your free assessment templates will be right here.

Build Your Own Personal Development Plan Template

If you would prefer to create your own template, it’s easy to do. Just include the following elements we just discussed:

• Personal vision (the results from Step 2)
• Areas of focus (the categories selected in Step 3)
• Skills (you’re in the process of developing)
• Practices (you’re using to develop your skills and lines of intelligence from Step 4)
• Mini goals (associated with your skills from Step 5)

All of this information can fit on a single-page template. It will take effort to set up your plan, but once you do, it requires little energy to maintain and update.

Ready? It’s time to create your own Personal Development Plan.

Make Your Personal Development Plan Clear and Practical

It’s important to keep your personal development plan as simple and concise as possible.

The more complicated and robust your plan becomes, the less likely you are to follow through.

For years, I kept my plan on my desk. A 10-second glance at the document was often all I needed.

I used to help my clients create elaborate results plans that often grew into large report-sized documents. We found they were less functional the bigger they became. Eventually, we reduced these plans down to a single page.

Keep your plan to a single page if possible. A one-page personal development plan makes it easy for you to check in often.

Books Related to Personal Development Plan Roadmaps

First, here are a few excellent personal development books cited in this guide:

Mastery by George Leonard

The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle

The Little Book of Talent  by Daniel Coyle

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck

From my experience, the most neglected step in creating a Personal Development Plan is understanding the terrain of human potential—what I attempted to summarize in Step 1.

Here are a series of books that opened my mind to greater possibilities years ago.

Integral Life Practice  by Ken Wilber, et al.

3 Vital Stages of Self-Discovery (and Activities for Each Stage)

A Practical Guide to Joseph Campbell and the Hero’s Journey

How to Change Your Mindset from Fixed to Growth

How to Transmute Sexual Energy: An Inner Alchemy Guide

About the Author

Scott Jeffrey is the founder of CEOsage, a self-leadership resource publishing in-depth guides read by millions of self-actualizing individuals. He writes about self-development, practical psychology, Eastern philosophy, and integrated practices. For 25 years, Scott was a business coach to high-performing entrepreneurs, CEOs, and best-selling authors. He's the author of four books including Creativity Revealed .

Learn more >

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Blog 14 Individual Development Plan Examples & Templates

14 Individual Development Plan Examples & Templates

Written by: Michelle Martin Feb 15, 2023

The terms Individual Development Plan and Employee Development Plan are often used interchangeably, but the outcome is the same: a document outlining a person’s professional and career goals with an action plan to get there.

Does every employee in your organization have an IDP? Or if you’re here to make one, has your manager discussed a plan for your professional development?

If your answer is “no” to either, you can’t afford to ignore individual development plans any longer. Companies that invest in employee development earn, on average, 11% higher profits than those that don’t.

Not to fear: Here’s everything you need to know about creating useful individual development plans plus easy to use professional IDP templates to boost your profits and attract and retain top talent.

Click to jump ahead:

What is an individual development plan?

Why do you need an individual development plan, 14 individual development plan examples and tips, how to make an individual development plan, individual development plan faqs.

An individual development plan (IDP) is a collaborative document between a manager and an employee to define career goals and map out how to learn new skills or improve current ones. It matches an employee’s strengths and interests to key business objectives.

Usually, individual development plans are part of the annual performance review and general  employee development  discussion. But you can make or update one anytime.

You can also create an individual development plan for yourself to pursue career or personal learning goals.

IDPs usually include:

• Short and long-term career goals the employee wants to achieve.
• Current skills the employee wants to improve, or new ones to learn.
• Skills the manager wants the employee to further develop.
• Specific action steps to achieve the goals (e.g. taking a course, attending a workshop, finding a mentor, etc).

Many different formats work well for individual development plans, from plain text documents to elaborate tables and timelines. Mix and match blocks, tables, and more with this flexible IDP template to customize it to your career goals.

Individual development plans are beneficial to everyone, including the company. IDPs encourage your employees to voice their career goals and co-create a plan to get there. Even if they end up leaving for another company in the future, you benefit from their new skills until then.

Your employee will likely also be grateful for their growth with you and happily refer others to open roles. Since we’re in one of the  tightest labor markets ever , referrals and word of mouth can mean the difference between filling your open positions or not.

Individual development plans also address a real business need:  56% of businesses  surveyed by Statistics Canada in 2022 said most of their employees weren’t “fully proficient” at their jobs. If your company has over 100 employees, that most certainly applies to you as 93% of large companies responded that way, whereas only 33% of companies with less than four employees did.

IDPs help your employees learn the skills they need to achieve their own goals, but they’re also key to ensuring your business needs are met.

Components of an individual development plan

Remember, an IDP is a flexible tool. As your goals and circumstances change, so should your plan. It’s all about taking ownership of your career development and reaching your full potential!

Here are the key components of an effective IDP:

1. Self-assessment:

• Strengths:  What are you good at? What do you enjoy doing?
• Areas for improvement:  Be honest – what skills could you use some work on?
• Values:  What matters most to you in your career? What kind of impact do you want to make?

2. Goal setting:

• Short-term:  Set specific, achievable goals for the next few months that align with your overall career aspirations.
• Long-term:  Think bigger! Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years? Set some aspirational goals to keep you motivated.

3. Development activities:

• Identify activities  – Think training courses, workshops or taking on new challenges – that will help you reach your goals.
• Create a timeline  that’s realistic considering your time and resources.
• Figure out what resources you need  – financial support, time off or specific tools.

4. Monitoring and evaluation:

• Have regular check-ins  with your manager or advisor to discuss your progress.
• Track your progress  and make adjustments to your plan as needed.
• Celebrate your successes  and learn from any setbacks.

Individual development plan examples for supervisors

Individual development plans (IDPs) for supervisors serve as roadmaps for team growth, tailoring skill development to specific roles in the team and organizational goals.

These plans aren’t just about meeting company goals; they also help supervisors achieve their career aspirations while supporting the growth of their team members.

Are you (or your employee) a visual person? Just because most individual development plans look like traditional documents doesn’t mean yours has to. Try out this creative and colorful quadrant template to prioritize goals and actions by their importance, due date, or any other criteria that make sense to you.

This template is structured as a corrective action plan but could also work well for an IDP. As a reminder, IDPs aren’t a disciplinary tool or for underperforming employees. Everyone should have an individual development plan focusing on their strengths, while also acknowledging weaknesses that may impact the achievement of career goals.

Give this worksheet-style template to your employee before your IDP meeting to find out their goals and how they view their progress so far. By getting their ideas on paper first, you’ll make better use of meeting time to discuss actions and solutions.

Another great template for visual folks, this serves well as a progress tracker for the action steps in your IDP. The simple, one-page format is quick to update and makes it easy to see progress toward your goals.

Individual development plan examples for leadership

Imagine a leadership-focused IDP as your personal roadmap for tackling the twists and turns of leadership roles. It’s not just about growing your own leadership skills, but also about making a real impact on the success of the whole organization.

A leadership IDP may include targeted training programs to enhance communication, decision-making, and strategic thinking skills.

A stylish table format is effective for communicating career goals and action steps which are both important parts of an IDP. List the goal category on the left, the action step in the middle and a target due date on the right.

For example, a goal category could be “improving public speaking skills.” An action step could be joining a local Toastmasters group or hosting a Lunch and Learn for the office.

If you’re a manager assessing your team’s leadership skills, this template could be another self-evaluation tool for your employee to fill out prior to your IDP meeting. Or, use it as a progress tracker by listing out the actions and ranking them from “Not Started” to “Complete.”

Individual development plan example for career

Think of your Individual Development Plan (IDP) for your career as your personalized roadmap to success.

For instance, your career-focused IDP might include short-term goals like acquiring new skills through workshops or online courses. Long-term goals may revolve around taking on challenging projects to showcase your capabilities and climbing the professional ladder.

An individual development plan is a lot like a product roadmap, except with your career goals instead of new features. This simple timeline template is a good way to work through the order you’ll need to accomplish action items in and set target deadlines.

It’s also useful for visual thinkers to see a simplistic overview of their trajectory on one page. You can detail each goal or step in subsequent pages.

Using a 30, 60, and 90 day timeline is an effective way to break down large goals into achievable steps per quarter. This can also work as a one-page quarterly plan — just add an extra column — or a multi-year plan.

This template serves as a compact yet detailed action plan that’s perfect for goal tracking in your individual development plan.

Individual development plan examples for managers

Often, an IDP has a big goal in mind, like being the head of a division or something else several steps ahead of you. In order to get there, you need to break it down into smaller goals along the way.

Growing into a C-suite position could mean first managing an important project, then a small team, and then a larger team, and so on. By visually planning the smaller goals along the way, you (or your employee) have realistic expectations of what’s needed to get to the ultimate goal and a focused approach to get there.

This multi-page template is highly flexible so every page of your IDP will look professional and on-brand. Easily add tables, lists, and more to the content pages as needed to create a detailed and aesthetic development plan.

While this is set up as an orientation plan, you could easily customize it as an individual development plan.

If you like a quarterly planning approach, this template is helpful to detail the action steps you need to take for the rest of the year.

Individual development plan example for government employees

Feeling like your career in a government agency could use a refresh? Individual Development Plans (IDPs) can be a helpful tool for that.

IDPs are a great way to take ownership of your career development, gain valuable skills and contribute even more effectively to your government organization’s mission.

For example, as a government healthcare worker, your IDP might involve specific activities like attending relevant workshops, seeking mentorship from experienced colleagues or even shadowing other professionals in your field.

Here’s what it might look like:

Individual development plan examples for IT professionals

Individual Development Plans (IDPs) can be a valuable tool for IT professionals to navigate the ever-changing tech landscape.

When drafting your IT individual development plan, try to find out beforehand if your company offers internal training programs, tuition reimbursement or professional development opportunities.

You could also consider attending industry conferences, workshops and webinars to stay up-to-date on the latest trends and technologies.

Too much to take in? That’s exactly why you need an IDP – It helps you map out goals and the steps to reach them. Check out this quick development plan template to discuss with your manager or colleague.

Any of the templates above can be your starting point for creating your organization’s IDP template, or choose from all our  business templates . Some templates are available only to our paid subscribers, but all the options above are free for everyone to use.

Starting with a template saves time and ensures your finished IDP looks polished and professional. It’s easy to customize any of these with our free online editor in just a few clicks.

Step 1: Sign up for a free Venngage account

All you need is an email address to  sign up for a free Venngage account .

No free trials, credit card numbers, or any of that. You can edit any of our free templates with your free account… for  free , okay?

Step 2: Choose an individual development plan template to customize

Pick one of the templates mentioned above or browse our full database of  Human Resources templates , including  letters ,  plans ,  presentations , and more.

Step 3: Edit the template for your IDP

Once you’ve picked a template, the fun part begins: Making it your own. Click  Create  on any template to enter the editor where you can change colors, text, graphics, and more.

I’m using this IDP checklist template as an example:

I like to match a new template to my brand first as this saves a lot of time if you want to duplicate the page to add more content later.

Our Business and Premium subscriptions offer  My Brand Kit  to store your colors, fonts, and logos for easy template customization anywhere for your entire team. But no worries for our free account holders: Editing is just as easy.

Click on any text area or graphic to edit it. Type new text, or use the top menu to change color, font, size, spacing, and more.

You can replace existing graphics with one of our  3 million+ free stock photos , over 40,000 illustrations and icons, or upload your own.

Explore the left side menu to add a background or a new layout, like a graph or table. You can also click and drag objects around the page to your liking. Use the right side menu to duplicate the current page or add a new blank one to your document.

Step 4: Share or save your new IDP

Once you’re happy with your new individual development plan template, click on the  Share  icon or  Download  button to save it to your computer (Business or Premium accounts).

So easy, right?

What are good IDP goals?

There aren’t “good” or “bad” goals as each IDP is as unique as the individual it’s for. However, effective IDP goals have a few things in common, like being:

• Related to the employee’s career path.
• Achievable in the specified timeframe. (You can list out big goals but ensure the action steps to start with are reasonable to accomplish, or at least start, within the next year.)
• Collaboratively planned between manager and employee, with both having input.

If your employee wants to lead their department one day but hasn’t managed anyone before, some good IDP goals to set for the upcoming year could be:

• Taking a leadership course or program from a nearby or online business school.
• Leading a big project, including supervising their peers and providing feedback.
• Finding a leadership mentor within the company and regularly checking in with them.

How can I support my employee’s IDP goals?

This depends what your employee’s goals are, but a few general ideas are to:

• Offer time to try new roles and responsibilities to learn new skills.
• Reimburse or partially cover courses, seminars, and other educational tools.
• Encourage your employee to start a side hustle or passion project to learn from.
• Offer professional development days, separate from vacation time.
• Create a mentorship program to connect junior and senior staff.

Unsure what would be most effective? Ask your employees what would help them the most, and check our guide to employee development for more ideas .

What should I put for areas of improvement?

Individual development plans encourage and motivate your employees to achieve their dreams. However, as their manager, you may have some insights they don’t about skills they’re lacking to get them to the next step.

It’s best to bring these up during the planning meeting, so your employee can hear why you think these skills are important and how you’d suggest working on them. Together you can add action items to address them in the IDP.

It’s key to frame these developing areas in a positive and constructive light. You don’t want your employee to feel like they’re doing badly at these things, or their job. After all, no one’s perfect! Be open and honest and chances are, they’ll be grateful for the feedback and eager to improve the skills you’ve identified.

Create a professional IDP today with a customizable Venngage template

Whether you’re preparing for an employee’s annual review or creating an individual development plan for yourself, we’ve got the free templates you need to knock it out of the park.

Get started now and have your new IDP finished by the end of the hour. While you’re at it, why not also create a branded  offer letter  or  onboarding guide ?

For everything in your business, we’ve got a template for that.

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Development Plan Templates to Map Personal and Professional Growth

Personal or professional development requires a clear roadmap, and that’s where development plan templates come in. Development plans can help guide a person’s growth, a team’s progress, or an organization’s progress. And this guide will give you the knowledge, tools and insights you need to create a development plan that leads to lasting success, whether you’re a professional or a team leader.

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What is a Development Plan Template

A development plan is a structured and intentional framework designed to guide the growth, improvement, and advancement of individuals, teams, or organizations. It outlines specific goals, objectives, and strategies to improve skills, knowledge, and capabilities over a defined period. Development plans can be applied in various contexts, including personal and professional development, career advancement, team building, or organizational growth.

Essentially, a development plan template is a pre-designed structure or format for designing a systematic and organized plan. Individuals and organizations can customize development plan templates to meet their specific needs and goals, making them flexible tools. They provide a structured and efficient way to plan and track progress.

Key Components of a Professional Development Plan Template

A well-structured professional development plan template typically includes the following seven key components:

1. Employee information

• Name, position, department, and other relevant identification details.
• Current role, responsibilities, and any additional information that sets the context for the development plan.

2. Professional goals and objectives

• Clearly defined and measurable goals that align with the individual’s career aspirations and organizational objectives.
• Objectives that highlight the specific skills, competencies, or knowledge areas to be developed.

3. Development areas

• Identification of specific areas for improvement or growth. This could include technical skills, soft skills, leadership abilities, or industry-specific knowledge.
• Recognition of strengths that can be leveraged and areas that need improvement.

4. Action steps and strategies

• Detailed action steps outlining how the individual plans to achieve the identified goals.
• Strategies and activities that support skill development, such as training programs, workshops, mentorship, or on-the-job experiences.

5. Timeline

• A realistic and achievable schedule for completing each action step.
• Milestones or checkpoints to assess progress at regular intervals.

6. Resources and support

• Identification of the resources needed to support the development plan, including financial resources, time allocation, and access to training materials.
• Support mechanisms such as mentorship, coaching, or collaboration with colleagues.

7. Performance metrics and evaluation

• Clear criteria for measuring success and progress toward goals.
• Methods for assessing performance, including self-assessment, feedback from peers or supervisors, and quantitative metrics.

8. Review and reflection

• Scheduled times for reviewing and reflecting on progress and adjusting the plan if needed.
• Opportunities for feedback and discussions with supervisors or mentors.

Development Plan Templates

Development plan template, professional development plan, employee development plan, individual development plan, career development plan, personal development plan, what makes a good development plan template.

A good development plan template should have several key attributes.

Clarity and simplicity : The template should be easy to understand, with clear and concise language. Avoid unnecessary jargon or complexity to ensure broad accessibility.

Customization : The template should be adaptable to various contexts, allowing individuals or organizations to tailor it to their specific needs.

Comprehensive sections : Include sections for personal or organizational details, goal setting, action steps, timeline, resources, and evaluation.

Inclusion of performance metrics : Clearly define how progress will be measured and evaluated. Include specific metrics or criteria for assessing success and areas for improvement.

Visual appeal : Use a visually appealing format with clear headings, bullet points, and sections to enhance readability.

Accessibility : Make the template easily accessible, whether in a digital or printable format, to facilitate regular updates and reviews.

7 Types of Professional Development Plans for Employees

A professional development plan for employees can be tailored to their needs, career stage, and organization goals. Here are some common types of professional development plans:

1. Skill development plan

Focuses on developing specific skills relevant to the employee’s current role or future career aspirations. Involves targeted training, workshops, or certifications to improve technical or soft skills.

2. Leadership development plan

Designed for employees aspiring to leadership roles. Includes activities such as leadership training, mentorship programs, and opportunities to lead projects or teams.

3. Career advancement plan

Geared toward employees with a desire to advance in their careers. Outlines steps and milestones for climbing the corporate ladder, including acquiring additional qualifications or experiences.

4. Cross-training plan

Involves learning and mastering skills beyond the employee’s current role. Develops versatility and prepares employees for diverse responsibilities.

5. Mentorship or coaching plan

Establishes a structured relationship between the mentor and employee. Aims to provide guidance, share insights, and facilitate professional growth.

6. Performance improvement plan

Developed for employees facing performance challenges. Outlines steps to address weaknesses and improve performance through targeted training and support.

7. Succession planning development plan

Identifies and develops employees for future key roles within the organization. Includes a focus on building skills and experiences necessary for leadership positions.

How to Implement Professional Development Plans Across the Organization

An effective professional development plan involves a few key steps.

1. Individual assessment

Get employees to evaluate their current skills and strengths in relation to organizational goals.

2. Goal alignment

Clearly define individual professional goals aligned with both personal aspirations and organizational objectives. Make sure that these goals contribute to the overall success of the organization.

3. Create the development plan

Structured plans are created outlining specific actions and timelines for achieving professional goals.

4. Allocate resource

Identify resources, such as training and support, needed for successful plan implementation.

5. Implementation and support

Actively engage in planned activities within a supportive organizational environment.

6. Regular review and adjustment

Carry out periodic reviews and adjustments to the development plan based on progress, feedback, and evolving organizational and individual needs.

Create Development Plan Templates with Creately

Creately ’s visual collaboration platform offers a variety of features ideal for creating and collaborating on development plans.

Interactive workspaces

Creately offers interactive, shared workspaces where teams can collaborate in real-time on visually laying out and organizing development plans. Its infinite canvas lets you host even multiple development plans, action plans and more. Attach files or embed multimedia elements directly on the canvas or via per item notes panel to consolidate relevant information.

Versatile drawing tools

You can create visually appealing development plans with Creately’s range of drawing tools, including shape libraries for over 70 types of diagrams, automatic drawing with Plus Create, preset color themes, and styling options. With Creately VIZ ’s AI capabilities, you can now automatically generate diagrams to expand your ideas.

Its versatile table shape makes it easy to merge cells, customize margins, and insert shapes. This makes it easier for you to format and customize your development plan template as needed. You can also use it as a frame and turn it into an action plan or Kanban board, where you can assign tasks, track progress, and assign roles.

Real-time collaboration

Multiple users can work on the development plan template simultaneously with synced previews, live mouse tracking, and more. Contextual comments can be used to add comments and feedback directly on the board.

Customizable templates

Get a head start with pre-designed templates for development plans, career plans, and for multiple scenarios spanning across industries with in-app templates libraries and the template community.

In conclusion, a good development plan is like a roadmap for personal and professional growth. By embracing this proactive approach, individuals and teams can navigate their journey toward success and adapt to changes. A development plan template isn’t just a document; it’s a dynamic tool that evolves with your goals and experiences, guiding you towards your best self.

Join over thousands of organizations that use Creately to brainstorm, plan, analyze, and execute their projects successfully.

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Amanda Athuraliya is the communication specialist/content writer at Creately, online diagramming and collaboration tool. She is an avid reader, a budding writer and a passionate researcher who loves to write about all kinds of topics.

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The ultimate personal development plan guide + free templates

Sophie Heatley, Content Writer

| 19 Sep 2018

| 8 min read

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This is where personal development comes in. Personal development is about stopping you from getting stuck in a rut. About getting you out of that comfort-is-cool mentality and helping you take the next steps in your career. 

Personal developing planning might seem tedious. It may make you think of those charts endorsed by supper nanny for naughty kids, but they’re more than worth your time. Don’t mock star stickers, they may just be the solution to your career stagnancy. 

Here are a few simple guidelines to help change the way you think about personal development and put you on the right path to achieving your career goals.  

What is a personal development plan? 

Personal and career development plans are projects that help you excel in your personal and professional life. PDPs are forward thinking projects which show you the what, where, how and when of personal growth. They highlight what your strengths and weaknesses are, where you need to improve, how to do so, and by when. 

There are some essentials that you need not miss if you want to successfully enhance your career and/or personal life. Here, you’ll find a few personal development plan ideas to help with your project. 

With a personal development plan, you can figure out the following:

• What your aims are.
• Why these aims are important to your values (in the short-term or long-term).
• What your current situation is.
• The skills, knowledge or competencies needed to take you to the next step.
• The activities or training you can partake in to meet those requirements.

How to structure your personal development project

Once you’ve got the gist of what you’re looking for, go into more depth. Why do you want this? And how will you achieve this?

Step one: What is your purpose? 

So, first off all, the numero uno aim is establishing the purpose of your personal development project.

In order for you to do this, you should identify your current professional situation in relation to your potential in your current field of work. 

What are your strong points? Are you good at creative problem-solving, computer programming, managing, collaborating? Which of these can you work on even more?

This can be sorted independently, or with the help of your manager, a friend, a colleague, or even a mentor. 

You can do this by writing a list of ten things that are important to you or ten goals that you want to achieve. For example:                                                      

Step two: Define what is important to you

Aside from figuring out your potential, you should also ask yourself what you are honestly interested in pursuing. Just because you have the potential to achieve something in your sector does not mean that you should take that path. Especially if it doesn’t actually appeal to you. 

Your purpose should be motivated by passion and professional or personal desire, not just pure obligation.

Your career potential should be analysed in relation to your own value system. For instance, the impact taking new career steps will have on your private life or any constraints and obstacles that may arise due to a change in responsibility. This could be an increase or decrease in liability or a change in the characteristics of your job role. 

After having identified what you wish to achieve, and if it aligns with your own values and career prospects, you have to figure out the development needs. 

Step three: What are your development needs? 

Here, you might want to start thinking about personal development plan procedures and who you want to involve in your personal career development planning.

Step three is where you should brainstorm all your personal development and career plan objectives and ideas, the potential business benefits of your personal development, and how you could go about achieving these objectives and ideas. 

Step four: Get your team involved! 

Personal development plan objectives don’t have to be kept a secret. In fact, it is highly recommended that you involve your manager in your personal development plan so that you can have someone support you.

Collective development plans can be just as motivational as personal development plans, especially if you share the same goals as your colleagues and managers. Managers also need to work on renewing their skills and updating their business know-how. 

Group development projects can be a wonderful team bonding exercise! They can evolve into grander, business development plans. With your dedication and motivation, the scope of any career development plan can impact the fate of your company. 

There is always room for improvement. Help one another! 

Writing a personal development plan can take time. But, don’t be put off by comprehensive planning! It can be a healthy (and necessary), stimulating challenge! 

Your plan, unlike your list of goals, should be practical. Once you have a solid understanding of what you aim to achieve, you must figure out how you will achieve it. What do you need to change or improve?

Nobody likes analysing their weaknesses, but this is a must if you want to transform them into strengths.

Step five: Time to make a plan of action! 

An action plan is not an inventory of dreams or goals. It is an extensive, realistic to-do list. Your action plan could cater for short-term results or long-term results, depending on your goals. For lengthier procedures and personal development plans, five year plans are also a popular choice, especially if you plan on remaining loyal to your current company. 

Fail to plan, plan to fail…

Make an action plan template. You can make a template using Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or good old pen and paper poster making. Whichever method you choose, creating a personal action plan template is essential if you truly want to take the next steps in your career. 

You have to take responsibility for your personal development project. You may have mentors and managers on your case, but only you have the power to make those improvements. 

There are a few things you should ask yourself when planning your personal development schedule. Steps three and five align here, as your brainstorm will help you to ask the right questions when forming your plan of action: 

1. Are you under-qualified? 

This is an educational question. Do you need to acquire new qualifications to open up new career avenues? Do you need to do an online course? Do you require an NVQ? 

2. Do you need extra training in your sector? 

This is a vocational question. Do you need extra training in your sector, regardless of qualifications, to achieve your objectives? 

3. Are there other occasions or opportunities for career enhancement?

This is a more general question about what you can do in your own time. 

Examples of such independent personal development plans include:  private reading, presentations, networking events, community events, group meetings, work shadowing, shift rotation (to see how other areas of your sector work, and thus broadening company awareness)

Having completed steps one to five, you should have started to formulate an accurate and achievable route to enhancing yourself and your career. 

Step six: Give yourself a realistic deadline

Finally, set yourself a deadline. Whilst your personal development project should be fulfilling, we all need a little bit of pressure to get us where we need to be. 

Give yourself a clear timeframe for each goal. To begin with, set mini goals to avoid distraction.

Let’s say you only have 30 minutes each day to do this. That’s more than enough! Developing new skills can take a minimum of 15 minutes daily practice . You just have to be consistent.

Keep it up! 

Block off a bit of time for your practice each day. This may just be reading a book on personal development at your desk  over lunch – you can count researching relevant books as part of your project - or doing an online course at home before dinner. 

Likewise, 30 minutes shadow work a day or listening to an audiobook during your commute to work could also be part of a successful, integrated programme. 

Whatever it may be, narrow down your search by selecting an area which interests you most to get the ball rolling. This will help you stay engaged during the primary stages of your project.

Influential leaders dedicate on average 30 minutes per day to personal development. How does your day compare to this infographic ? 

A personal development plan template  

Whilst the above may seem a bit wordy, your schedule doesn’t have to resemble a dissertation on personal enhancement. You can make quick and easy personal development plan templates. 

The following templates can be catered to individual goals, for work, or for managers working on a larger scale. They can be adapted to suit short and long-term projects too:

Read next: 360 degree feedback template + what you need to know

And here's a fuller checklist provided by the Chartered Management Institute .

Or, for five year plans , you may have a more in-depth graph…

To summarise, take note: 

• Figure out what is important to you.
• Decide what developments need to be made.
• Find out what opportunities are available to help you achieve this. E.g. training, coaching, courses, personal research etc. 
• Participate in these opportunities.
• Create a sound method of monitoring and maintaining your progress, and be aware of any obstacles that you may have to face – think ahead. 
• Evaluate and review your outcome. 
• Enjoy your personal development project. 

And then… Go from strength to strength! 

There aren’t really any negatives involved in putting together a personal development plan. Unless, that is, you don’t enjoy putting in a bit of extra effort. 

Personal development processes can be fulfilling and motivational. They’re a great way to monitor how new learning activities have improved your knowledge, skills and understanding. Tracking your progression can boost your confidence. 

Personal development plans can build self-esteem by illuminating all the areas in which you have improved and enhanced your skills. They can show you just how capable you are of taking the next steps in your career or personal life. 

Just like that old friend who always give you that little push, or a personal manifesto to remind you of what you stand for.

Look at it this way, personal development plans serve as loyal reminders. They help you to keep tabs on your progress, but more than anything, they enable you to create your own vision and establish goals that suit your life plan.

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Personal Development Plan (PDP) plus template

Personal development plan: this article explains the personal development plan (PDP) in a practical way. Next to what it is, this article also the benefits, how do I write it, a The full guide and personal development plan template to create a personal development plan and started and get closer to your goals. Enjoy reading!

What is a personal development plan?

A personal development plan is an approach, or action plan, through which you can determine the following:

• Your personal development goals (development opportunities)
• Strengths and weaknesses
• The areas that need improvement and development to achieve your goals
• What actions are needed to achieve your goals
• How to monitor progress
• Which things can hinder progress

The personal development plan, PDP in short, is a form of self-evaluation and self-reflection that is frequently applied in education, but also in the personal and professional life of many individuals.

Developing and executing a PDP is a useful method of self-development for many people.

Benefits of a personal development plan

The benefits of using a PDP include:

• Developing clear SMART goals both short term goals and long term goals
• Improving your employability in your work environment
• Improving performance
• Increasing your motivation
• Improving your mental well-being
• Reducing stress
• Contributing to your IKIGAI
• Maximizing your potency

Many people see personal development as a train journey from point A to point B. In reality, a career and your development is not at all like a train journey: you stop several times, get off and on again at sometimes unforeseen moments.

Whether it’s your personal career or your personal life, it’s good to occasionally assess your situation and reconsider your goals, strengths weaknesses opportunities and threats. Investing in sustainable development and identifying areas for personal development is perhaps the best investment there is.

How do I write a personal development plan? The full guide

All development plans are different, as it is precisely tailored to your personal situation. In education and work life, PDPs have a certain format. Employers can also customize their own versions for employees and have their own procedures and processes to tailor the PDP to their employees.

Regardless of what a PDP is used for, there are some general steps that can help you write a PDP. In any case, these steps include:

• SWOT Analysis
• Career Goals Analysis
• Competency Analysis
• Action plan
• Personal Development Plan Template

Follow the steps below and keep a record of all the output. The result of each of the steps should be used as input for the final personal development plan template.

Step 1: perform a personal analysis

The first step in the process of drawing up a personal development plan is to do a personal analysis. It is important that you have a clear picture of yourself, because only then can the ideal career direction be determined. The personal part of this analysis consists of two parts:

• Getting a clear picture of your personality
• Gaining insights into your own core competencies through a SWOT analysis

Personality

Before you can start planning a career, you need to know where you want to go. That seems easier said than done for many people. By performing a personal analysis you can find out what motivates you, who you really are and where your strengths and weaknesses lie.

To find out, you can use various self-assessment tools, such as the MBTI test ( Myers Briggs Personality Test ), or the Big Five Personality Test .

SWOT analysis

A SWOT analysis reveals an organization’s strengths and weaknesses and helps identify opportunities and threats to the business. This method can also be applied to your personal situation.

By recognizing your strengths, you can focus your efforts on what you are good at. Understanding weaknesses will help you know what to avoid and what you might need help with.

All input together helps to identify opportunities for your long-term career.

To conduct a personal SWOT analysis, ask yourself a series of questions based on the four quadrants of the analysis. Sample questions are shown below.

• What are you really good at?
• For which skills do you receive recognition?
• What skills do you have that others don’t?
• What do you do better than the people you work with?
• What are you most proud of when it comes to your own skills?
• Do you have access to skills, resources, or connections that others don’t?

Weaknesses in the personal development plan

• What are you less good at? What skills do you struggle with in your professional and personal life?
• What do you do only because you have to? For example because of job requirements?
• What does someone else identify as your weakness?
• Where do you feel vulnerable?
• Where do you miss experience, connections or resources that others have?

Opportunities

• In what ways can you best use and utilize your strengths?
• What opportunities exist for people with the same strengths as you?
• Would you most like to do something that you are good at? What is that?
• How can you minimize your weaknesses?
• If you had no weaknesses, what would you most like to do?
• How do you see the career opportunities in your professional environment? Perhaps in a different industry or sector?
• Which trends influence the course of your career?
• What common threats should you be aware of?
• If you don’t work on weaknesses, can they threaten your career? Or cause problems and new challenges?
• What setbacks are you likely to face in your career development?
• What obstacles are encountered by others following a similar path?

Step 2: determine which goals you have for your career

Now that you have a clear and detailed vision of your strengths and weaknesses, it’s time to think about where you want to go.

This is an important step in developing a personal development plan. Divide the long-term ambitions you have into key career goals that will enable the achievement of these aspirations.

Take the time to decide on the path you are going to walk. Think about the following questions:

• What do you plan to achieve? What ambitions do you have?
• Why are these plans important to you?
• What is at the heart of your decision?
• Does this ambition make you feel like you’re contributing? To other people? To society?
• What emotions come up when you think about these career plans?
• How do you want others to see you?

Formulate the objective(s) using the SMART Goals method. In this way you ensure that the goal remains attainable and realistic. A BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) is difficult to define in a way that is feasible, relevant and time bound.

Step 3: perform a competency / skill analysis

With the development of your objectives, the basis is ready for the personal development plan.

In addition to this, it is essential to have a good understanding of the skills and competencies you need to achieve your vision and purpose.

The next step, therefore, is to think about the skills you are currently missing and which ones you need to develop. It is also important to define why this is important for achieving your goal.

Think about the following questions:

• What specific skills do you need to perform the job you envision?
• Is it possible to gain experience before arriving at the ultimate goal?
• What additional skills do you need to grow in your chosen path?
• For example, do you need a foreign language to function because you are going to work abroad?
• Are there any job requirements in the job description that you are currently missing?
• What can you do to develop these capacities?

Step 4: draw up an action plan

You are now finally at the point of drawing up an action plan . In the action plan you include all the objectives and interim results that you need to achieve the goal.

Step 5: Fill in the Personal Development Plan template

You have collected all the input you need to complete a personal development plan in the previous steps. Congratulations! You can now start working towards the ultimate goal.

Download the Personal Development Plan template

Summary personal development plan.

A personal development plan helps you achieve personal goals and career choices. The complete plan consists of a few tools, such as the SWOT analysis, SMART goals and a personality test.

These techniques are combined to develop a plan that is as personalized as possible, ensuring personal and professional growth.

The use of a personal development plan, or PDP, has many advantages. Thus, it helps you identify your strengths and weaknesses. This knowledge is the basis for your personal growth plan.

In addition, it helps you identify areas where you need to improve, what your precise goal is and what you need to do to achieve it. It also helps to provide insight into what can hinder your progress and how to deal with this.

It’s Your Turn

What do you think? Do you recognize the explanation about a personal development plan? Do you use this plan for your own personal development? Do you find this a clear tool for achieving personal goals? What other things would you like to see added to this method? Do you have any tips or comments?

Share your experience and knowledge in the comments box below.

More information

• Eisele, L., Grohnert, T., Beausaert, S., & Segers, M. (2013). Employee motivation for personal development plan effectiveness . European Journal of Training and Development .
• Beausaert, S., Segers, M., & Gijselaers, W. (2011). The Personal Development Plan Practice Questionnaire: the development and validation of an instrument to assess the employee’s perception of personal development plan practice . International Journal of Training and Development, 15(4), 249-270.
• Beausaert, S., Segers, M., Fouarge, D., & Gijselaers, W. (2013). Effect of using a personal development plan on learning and development . Journal of Workplace Learning.
• Beausaert, S., Segers, M., & Gijselaers, W. (2011). The use of a personal development plan and the undertaking of learning activities, expertise-growth, flexibility and performance: The role of supporting assessment conditions . Human resource development international, 14(5), 527-543.

How to cite this article: Janse, B. (2022). Personal Development Plan (PDP) . Retrieved [insert date] from Toolshero: https://www.toolshero.com/human-resources/personal-development-plan/

Original publication date: 04/15/2022 | Last update: 09/15/2023

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Vincent van Vliet is co-founder and responsible for the content and release management. Together with the team Vincent sets the strategy and manages the content planning, go-to-market, customer experience and corporate development aspects of the company.

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Personal planning templates for achieving your goals

Stay organized and get things done with these personal planning templates..

Free personal planning templates

As Benjamin Franklin once said, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Personal planning is essential if you want to set and accomplish your goals. Luckily, these personal planning templates can make setting goals easier than ever. Choose from personal development plan templates, daily schedules, personal 5-year plan templates, and more. Easily customize your personal plan template in Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel , depending on which template you choose, to make it your own and stay organized in whatever way works best for you. You can change the text, images, and other design elements, then once you’ve edited your personal planning template, download it to your computer and share it online, or print it out to keep at your desk, on your refrigerator, or wherever is most handy. If you want your loved ones to help you stay on track toward your goals, you can print out your template or email it to them. Explore more planner and tracker templates that help with getting things done.

The Ultimate Personal Development Plan Template That Will Get You Noticed

• What is a personal development plan?
• How to use a personal development plan
• How to make a good personal development plan
• Personal Development Plan Template
• What are personal development goals?
• Best practices for setting personal development goals
• Examples of most common personal development goals
• Personal development goals for work examples
• Common mistakes to watch out

Employees look for training and personal development opportunities at their respective companies. The lack of these opportunities is one of the main reasons they decide to quit. HR professionals and team leaders can avoid this using a personal development plan template to help employees reach their personal development goals. In such a case, it would be a win-win situation for both the company and the people working there. 

A proper template ensures you help individual employees work on their weaknesses and build up their strengths. This is a direct way to set personal development goals and find the shortest way to reach them.

According to a survey , 94% of respondents said they would stay at the company longer if it invested in their careers. In addition, professional and personal growth leads to higher retention. Besides, 58% of employees claim that professional development contributes to their job satisfaction. Moreover, employees who feel respected, empowered, and as if they are making a difference are much more likely to stay in a company—those who don’t have less than a 35% chance of staying. 

A proper template ensures you help individual employees work on their weaknesses and build up their strengths. This is a direct way to set personal development goals and find the shortest way to reach them. It enriches their experience at work and has a positive impact on their career. 

On top of that, it also attracts new hires to your company. Almost 60% of millennials list development opportunities as key factors in applying for a job. As this is the case, it’s high time you work on your employees’ personal development.

Let’s take a closer look at a personal development plan and see how it correlates with personal development goals to tap into each employee’s power. Keeping that in mind, we should start with a personal development plan and later proceed to personal development goals for everything to make perfect sense. 

A personal development plan (PDP) is an agreement between an employer and employee that outlines that team member’s objectives. It wants to empower employees to analyze their professional life and work on self-improvement. Employees can easily achieve goals when they have a clear picture of their performance. They understand what it takes to reach a specific milestone because of their personal development plan.

HR professionals and managers usually help employees create a personal growth plan. However, team members don’t need to wait for their next performance review to learn new skills and identify areas that require improvement. They can make a personal development plan themselves. Employees can establish short-term or long-term goals and set realistic deadlines to fulfill them.

Having a personal development plan template helps all parties. You can just fill in the required fields and create a clear plan for an individual’s development. Add an HR management tool to that equation, and you’re set to take your workplace to the next level.

  Related: Top 12 Performance Review Software in 2023 ‍

Remember that a PDP must be tailored-made for a specific employee. You can’t take someone else’s plan and expect it to work for them. Each person has different skills and experiences. The plan reflects that.

Why is it important?

 Personal development is all about a process of self-improvement. The plan helps employees:

• Outline specific goals and what they should do to achieve them
• Identify the strengths that ensure they grow in their personal and professional life
• Recognize what skills they need to overcome their existing weaknesses ‍

It is essentially a roadmap that guides them through the process of achieving goals. ‍

What kind of benefits can you expect from a personal development plan? Here are the improvements you will see with a good PDP in place:

• Boosts employee motivation – a personal development plan makes employees aware of their strengths and weaknesses. They can use their strengths to work more productively and learn how to minimize their weaknesses. This boosts their motivation and encourages them to do more. 
• Minimize staff turnover – it can cost more to find a new hire than it does to retain an existing employee. You should give your employees a personal development plan template to show them you’re committed to their improvement. They are more likely to stay at the company if they have a plan.
• Advances existing skills – employees create a career plan focusing on their development. They identify performance development areas so that they can grow in the workplace. While improving existing skills, they also acquire new ones to achieve career goals.
• Improves goal-setting – a PDP outlines both long-term and short-term goals. Managers can teach employees how to break down those goals to make them more achievable.

A PDP benefits both the company and the employee. Introducing personal development plan templates makes the process easier for managers and HR professionals. ‍

Let’s see how you can use a PDP.

According to research , 74% of surveyed employees think they don’t progress at work due to a lack of development opportunities. You can help them reach their full potential with a personal development plan.

A PDP is an effective way to learn a new skill or master a particular one. Employees can also use it to boost their careers. They just need help from their managers or HR team members. ‍

If you’re a team lead or an HR professional, you can use a personal development plan to:

• Conduct a skill-gap analysis – a PDP helps you understand which skills your employees lack. The company’s subsequent training efforts should strive to fill the gap.
• Identify employees who want to grow – this plan also identifies team members who want a promotion. For example, let’s say your company is looking for a Project Manager. Instead of hiring someone outside the company, you can promote one of your employees.
• Align employee goals with business goals – one-on-one meetings reveal individual goals. When you know a team member’s career growth plans, you can align them with business goals and help them grow. ‍

Related: 5 Meeting Agenda Templates to Use Right Away ‍

Remember, most employees crave professional development opportunities. If you disregard their development needs, you’ll have a team of dissatisfied members. How can a company grow when the employees aren’t happy?

You should go through several steps to create an effective personal development plan. We’ll list those steps below.

• Ask employees to perform a self-assessment

It all starts with us. We can’t grow or improve if we don’t reflect on ourselves. That’s why your employees must do a self-evaluation first. After all, they know their interests, professional life goals, skills, and knowledge best.

You can ask them the following questions to fuel their path to self-improvement:

• How satisfied are you with your work progress?
• Is there something you can do to reach your full potential?
• What are your career goals? Do you have the skills to achieve them?

Employees can reflect on their performance and determine what they can do to develop personally and professionally. ‍

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• Set clear goals

Every employee should know what they want to achieve in their career. If they don’t, you can help them set and achieve goals. These objectives should reflect their strengths and personal development plans.

When creating a PDP for your company, we suggest you focus on SMART goals. They are:

• Specific – the goal should be precise and to the point. There’s no room for ambiguity. For instance, instead of saying, “I’m going to write an article this week,” your employee should say, “I’m going to write a 2,000-word B2B article.”
• Measurable – there should be criteria that measure progress. You can agree on how you will assess whether they’ve achieved the goal.
• Achievable – ensure your employees don’t set unattainable objectives. They should know if their skills and resources make it possible to achieve a goal.
• Realistic – your employee should be willing to work towards achieving an objective. This depends on their skills, so they should evaluate them before agreeing to something.
• Time-bound – encourage them to set a realistic deadline to meet their duties.

Setting these goals helps employees split their objectives into smaller, more manageable milestones. They complete a goal one step at a time which derives great pleasure and satisfaction. 

Related: The Best Performance Improvement Plan (+Template)

• Determine which strategies to implement

After setting the goals, it’s time to consider how employees will achieve them. The strategies vary depending on the objective. For example, if an employee wants to work their way up the career ladder, they might want to attend an online course that helps them expand their knowledge. They should consider the skill set they need and the best way to build those skills.

• Explore resources

Employees cannot achieve professional and personal growth without any further resources. It’s impossible to learn something new if you don’t have some help along the way. You can help employees determine which resources they need. Those resources include online courses, learning platforms, interactive flipbooks , conferences, niche-specific articles, webinars, and even training. Look at their personal development plan to figure out what can benefit them.

If you follow the above steps, you can make a good personal development plan for your employees. One thing that can help you—having a personal development plan template.

As your company grows, you’ll have to focus on more and more employees. Each of those employees requires their own plan. Not to mention, you must follow their career development and growth after the goal-setting process. What can you do to make the process more manageable? You can use a personal development plan template. PDP in HR is a popular way to track personal and professional development progress and make adjustments along the way.

Using a template for personal development needs is quicker and more efficient. Imagine if you need to create personal development plans for every employee. This would be time-consuming. Don’t make this mistake—use personal development plan templates. These PDP templates help you create a clear picture of your employee’s goals and the steps they should take to reach them.

You won’t need to worry about missing important information that can affect your employees' personal development. We have prepared a personal development plan template to jumpstart your team members’ success! The PDP template is concise and identifies areas your employees need to answer to achieve success. 

You can use the following personal development plan template to help your company grow with talented individuals.

Personal development plan template ‍

Employee name: _________________

Position and title: _________________

Date: _________________

Development area: _________________

Personal development goals: _________________

Top strengths: _________________

Areas to improve: _________________

Development opportunities: _________________

Action plan: _________________

Skills and knowledge needed for personal growth: _________________

Necessary resources: _________________

Evaluation period (how often will you check the progress): _________________

Deadline: _________________

Review (How am I doing): _________________

Personal development plans are the way best to get to know your employees and see how your company can influence their success and growth.

Here is a filled-in PDP sample you can use as an example of what a completed personal development plan template should look like:

Employee name: John Doe

Position and title: Social Media Manager

Date: July 30 2022

Development area: Time management

Personal development goals: Organize my time better to help my team members and learn how to prioritize tasks

Top strengths: Social media planning and delivery, communication skills, writing engaging content

Areas to improve: Time management and organizational skills

Development opportunities: Become a team leader of the company’s social media department

Action plan: Use to-do lists to better organize my day, track each task’s progress, report my progress to a supervisor

Skills and knowledge needed for personal growth: Time management and leadership skills

Necessary resources: Online courses about social media marketing, tools to better track the performance of social media posts and analyze our audience

Evaluation period (how often will you check the progress): Every month

Deadline: Three months from today

Review (How am I doing): N/A (to be completed every month)

Use personal development templates like this to make the process of creating a PDP for employees simpler and more time-efficient!

How to get started with a template

Achieving personal growth is easier with personal development plan templates. But the journey doesn’t end there. You must also take certain steps to ensure your employees are improving and meeting their goals.

Here are some strategies you can take after an employee submits their personal development plan: 

• Review the plan immediately – make sure to go over an employee’s plan. You must check if their goals are attainable and clear.
• Remind employees to check the plan periodically – a team member might forget what areas they need to improve. You can remind them to read their plan to see if they are working on the right skills.
• Assess their improvement so far – you can plan a one-on-one meeting with an employee. Ask them to be honest and tell you how they are doing, if they need additional help and which changes they see.
• Determine their success – personal development plans are about creating specific goals. The plan would be futile if you don’t check if an employee has made progress towards their goals.
• Decide what to do next – if you find any issues, you must devise a solution. Don’t abandon your employee—show them you're committed to their success!

When you know all about the personal development plan, it is time to proceed to the next crucial step, setting personal development goals. These two aspects come toe-to-toe and are vital for making goals and planning a reality.

‍ What are personal development goals?

Personal development goals, or self-improvement goals, are the objectives people set to improve themselves in many ways, including habits, mindset, skills or even work ethics.  Although personal development goals are not necessarily connected to the job setting, they can help people improve their professional and personal lives.

Some of the most common areas for personal development goals include:

• change of mindset
• improving hard skills
• working on social skills
• character building

How can they help people?

Working on personal development goals has many benefits, but here are five areas where it can help employees the most:

Better focus  

One of the biggest benefits of setting personal development goals is a better focus and a clear sense of direction. Clear goals inspire people to act and easily decide on their next steps. This pushes them to be proactive and get more things done in their personal and professional lives.

Free time endlessly scrolling on the phone without a clear purpose or spreading work throughout the day is easy. Specific goals will motivate people to become more proactive and efficient.

Increased productivity

Goal setting teaches individuals prioritization techniques. This way, it is much easier to decipher what matters the most and take care of it instantly. Another major advantage has concrete, measurable goals to work towards. This makes it possible to evaluate people’s success precisely and encourages them to keep improving. The more goals they tick off, the more satisfied they will be. Over time, this will also increase general productivity. 

Better professional relationships

Self-improvement goals can improve the quality of people’s relationships with their colleagues and business partners. By becoming a better version of themselves, they're inspiring everyone who gets in touch with them to do the same. Their growth mindset is reflected in others as well. As a consequence, positive relationships in your team could dramatically improve. People in self-development tend to be better listeners and more compassionate toward others.

Improved work-life balance

Employees that don’t have a healthy work-life balance are prone to burnout more than others. That’s why this aspect shouldn’t be neglected. Employees should be encouraged to pursue their passions and learn new skills that don’t have to be work-related. Personal development goals can help people find time for themselves and remember who they are outside of their job. Consequently, they will become more motivated, and their productivity at work will improve.

Career advancement  

Finally, working on personal development goals can positively affect professional life and bring professional success to everyone. Many skills are transferable, meaning one can use them in other areas. Communication skills, soft skills, and creativity — are all crucial for success at work. New skills can help employees better serve customers and even get promotions. Sometimes working on personal development goals can bring insights and ideas that can revolutionize how you work.

As an HR or business mentor, your job is to share some resources on goal-setting with your team. Of course, each person’s goal will be different, but here are some universal strategies that everyone can benefit from, regardless of their goal.

Here are some points you can ask your employees to do:

• Identify what you want

 This is a fun exercise you can do as a team. According to one statistic, employees engaged in meaningful activities are 87% less likely to leave the company.

You can ask them the following questions:

• What goal would make the biggest difference in your life? 
• Is that goal in alignment with your vision for the future?
• What is something you’ve always wanted to learn but never seemed to have enough time for?

This exercise helps them connect with their personal development goals deeper, which will help them commit. When it becomes hard, and it feels like quitting, it's important to connect with your why and remember why you started.

• Set milestones for your goal

Big goals are not only frightening, but they can also be too vague. The next step is to break your personal goals into achievable milestones.

There are three good reasons to do so:

• The goals become more doable.
• You feel more motivated to work towards your goals.
• It's easier to measure your progress.

For example, someone's personal development goal could be to learn French. That's too vague. That person would be much more motivated if they created smaller goals for each month or week. 

• Set a day and time to work on your goal

As Michael Hyatt once said: What doesn't get scheduled, doesn't get done. Set yourself up for success by turning your goals into plans. It means that you should allocate time and space where you will be dedicated to working on your goal.

It will be much easier if your goal becomes part of your routine. It doesn't have to take a lot of time, especially in the beginning. The most important thing is to make it a habit.

How to Build the Best Employee Development Plan

The 90-Day Review Template to Keep Your Business on Track

Here are the most common personal development goals related examples: 

• Improving your communication skills . This goal can improve professional relationships, the atmosphere of the whole team, as well as the results you get with clients.
• Mastering time management - Time management is one of the most important skills for your own success. Today it's even more challenging due to the distractions around us. One can learn different time management strategies from books, but it's important to try them and choose those that work in your life.
• Mindfulness - Mindfulness is one of the most effective stress management techniques, and everyone in the corporate world needs it. Your mindfulness practice could consist of meditation, visualization, breath work, or sitting silently for a few minutes every morning.
• Developing a growth mindset - A growth mindset is essential for success. Maybe you need to work on your mindset if you've been stuck lately. Some of the ideas include journaling, affirmations, or reading self-improvement books.
• Networking - One of the common goals is to grow your network and meet more people. This can be done through organizing networking events or joining clubs and communities on the topics that interest you.
• Learning a new skill - The best way to keep your brain sharp is to challenge yourself to learn a new skill! Choose something that interests you, whether crochet or graphic design and be patient with yourself because every new skill takes time.
• Creative thinking - Many people don't know it, but creativity can be learned! You need to give yourself space to let your mind wander, and ideas will come. There are also different exercises to boost your creativity, from design thinking to creative writing.
• Reading habit - One of the most common New Year's goals is: I'd love to read more books this year! Reading has many benefits, and it can be a life-changing habit. It's important to set realistic goals for yourself. Your first goal shouldn't be to read one book a week. Instead, your goal should be to get into the habit of regularly reading.

We'll now go into more detail and show you how to set personal development goals properly.

Improving leadership skills

Leadership is one of the most valuable assets that can benefit your employees in many ways. According to Forbes , it helps employees boost productivity, engagement, and independence.  ‍

Here is how your organization could help employees improve this skill:

• Organize internal workshops - You don’t need famous motivational speakers and leaders to organize a successful workshop. You can also organize internal workshops where managers and executives share their practical experiences with younger employees.
• Organize leadership challenges - It’s important to understand that one doesn’t need a title to be a leader. It’s about behavior and the way you treat others and tackle problems. To make it more fun, you could organize leadership challenges where each employee has to do one small task that shows leadership capabilities.

Become a better networker

If one of your team member’s goals is to become a better networker and create stronger relationships, you should first ask them to define what it means for them and why it's important. Next, they should list actions that will get them there. The steps should be concise and easy to follow.

The list may look like this:

• Read a book about communication
• Talk to people that are great networkers
• Practice being an active listener
• Commit to going to networking events every month
• Reach out to your new connections

They should also set some milestones, for example, I want to meet 10 new people by the end of this month. And then, you can create a plan of how they will do it. If you know that someone in your team lacks accountability, you can encourage them to share their goals with your other colleagues so you can support each other. 

As an HR, you could also introduce your team to the concept of an accountability buddy. It means that each person gets another person that keeps them accountable. They’re here to support each other and track their progress together.

Common mistakes to watch out for when setting development goals

Here are some of the most common mistakes people make when they set personal development goals:

The goal is not measurable

One of the first rules of goal setting is that personal goals should be clear and measurable. If people can't measure your progress, how can you know they're going in the right direction?

Some might say that certain goals are simply not measurable, and that's true. However, in that case, you can help people track their activities. They can measure how much time they dedicate to the goal weekly to ensure they're on the right track.

The goal is not something people want

The worst thing is to choose a personal development goal just because it's something that's "good for people" and "should be done". Achieving personal development goals requires time and dedication. That's why it's essential to help your employees choose a goal that's meaningful to them.

People don't have the right mindset

A positive mindset is crucial for continuous self-development. Even if some goals are out of people’s comfort zones, they can still work on those. Many people have limiting beliefs that prevent them from achieving their highest potential.

The rule is - if you want to succeed, it's essential that you believe that you can do it. If you lack self-confidence, you won't be motivated enough, leading to procrastination.

Now that people have set their personal development goals, it's time to do an honest assessment and see where they currently are. The best way to do it is during one on ones with employees.

Take some time to think about the following topics and encourage people to be honest with themselves. Here are some questions to ask employees should ask themselves:

• Did I allocate enough time to my personal goals?
• Did I have all the resources I needed for achieving this goal?
• What were the biggest obstacles?
• What can I do differently next time?
• Where can I get the support when I need it?

Even if they haven't achieved their goal, they should be patient with themselves. They can start again, but this time with a better strategy and more support. 

On the other hand, what if people achieve all personal development goals with success?

First, take time to celebrate and congratulate your employees. Too many people take their success for granted and always look for a new challenge. Right now, they should be proud of how far they've come!

Here are some things you can ask your employees:

- ‘’If you enjoyed working on this skill, you may want to take it to the next level. You can challenge yourself to get out of your comfort zone once again and become even better at it. At this point, you may even consider getting a certification or something similar.’’

 - ‘’Or, you can choose a completely different area to work on. If you worked on your physical health, you could now switch to emotional intelligence or the other way round.’’

Conclusion: Personal Development Plan and Goals

Helping your employees work on their personal development plan creates a positive workplace. Employees are satisfied to see their company cares about them and doesn’t see them just as “seat-fillers.” With an effective personal development plan template, you can easily discover each person’s skills and weaknesses. You get to grow the talent you already have and nurture an impressive company culture.

As you can see, self-growth is a never-ending process. There's always room for improvement. Adopting a growth mindset and entering the field of personal development could be one of the most positive things you've done for yourself. If you're a manager or business owner, you should encourage your people to set personal development goals. They will not only make your employees happier and more productive, but they will influence everyone around them in a positive way.

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FAQ: How to Set Personal development goals

A personal development plan (PDP) is the practice of consistently adding new skills , knowledge and competencies to yourself in areas of your choice. It is a clear and documented outline that shows what you aim to achieve to attain better fulfillment and growth. A personal development plan does not have to be restricted to your career alone, as it also concerns your finances, education, relationships and other interests.

What is a personal development plan example?

A personal development plan could simply be 'Get a promotion at work next January'. To achieve this, you need a detailed plan to guide (documented) and steps to get the promotion. Such steps will include: taking a management training course, requesting a performance appraisal with HR, networking better with the line manager, etc.

What are the key elements of a personal development plan?

A personal development plan should include the following elements:

• A clear reason showing why you want to achieve your plans.
• A defined vision of where you want to be.
• A defined timeframe to help you prioritize the different areas of your PDP.
• The skills and resources you need to meet up with your plans.
• Your expected milestones to keep you on track.

What are individual development goals examples?

Some of the most common personal development goals include learning a new skill, developing a positive attitude, breaking bad habits, effectively managing your time, etc.

What are the 5 areas of personal development?

These are the 5 main areas of personal growth:

• Mental (working on your mindset, learning new skills)
• Social (working on your communication and networking)
• Spiritual (inner peace, meditating)
• Emotional (emotional intelligence, personal boundaries)
• Physical (physical health, proper self-care, fitness)

What are 3 goals for your career development?

The following 3 goals can influence your ongoing professional development: becoming a better communicator, enhancing your networking skills and learning leadership skills.

How to Create a Personal Development Plan

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What is a personal development plan?

What to include in a personal development plan, how to create a personal development plan, personal development plan template.

If you have a vision for what you’d like your career to look like in the future, you should consider creating a personal development plan. Making a specific plan can help you to ensure that your goals become a reality. Learn more about what a personal development plan is and how you can create one to help you succeed in your career goals.

A personal development plan is a set of goals and objectives you create to help you achieve the life you want. Creating a personal development plan involves setting goals, analyzing your strengths and weaknesses, creating objectives and reviewing your progress. You can use a personal development plan to help you work on achieving your desired career goals or your vision for any area of your life. 

A personal development plan typically includes the following:

• Statement of purpose or goals
• List of strengths
• List of areas to develop
• Analysis of threats to development
• List of development options or opportunities
• Clear objectives
• ‘Start doing’ and ‘Stop doing’ lists
• List of people who can help
• Benchmarks for reviewing success

Since personal development plans are based on your individual needs, you can include or delete any sections that you pref. Including these standard sections, however, helps guarantee that your plan is clear and complete.

Consider using these steps to make your personal development plan:

1. Firstly, determine your goals

The first step in creating a personal development plan is determining your long-term or end goals. You can do this by envisioning what success or happiness looks like to you, or asking yourself where you’d like to be in two, five or 10 years. Make a list of these goals as you think of them.

In writing down your vision for the future, you might end up with multiple goals for multiple areas of your life. It can help to create a mind map to categorize your personal development goals, such as dividing career goals, health goals and goals for other aspects of your personal life into different plans or sections of your overall plan. If you have many large goals listed after this step, you may need to prioritize what is most important and save some goals to work on at a later date. 

2. Secondly, identify your strengths and weaknesses

After deciding what your long-term goals are, perform a self-assessment to evaluate your current strengths and weaknesses. A thorough and honest assessment will help you create objectives to achieve your goals. You can use these lists to plan how to use your strengths as much as possible to achieve your goals and what areas you need to develop in order to be successful.

3. Thirdly, look for development opportunities

Once you know what your weaknesses are and what your areas of development are, you can begin to find ways to improve. If you need to learn a new skill, for instance, you could look for online classes, find a mentor, ask your supervisor for an opportunity to practice that skill or set aside time each day to spend learning it.

It is good to find as many learning or development opportunities as you can, and then you can determine which ones are best for you and set clear objectives for taking advantage of those opportunities. If any of them turn out not to be possible for you, you may still have other viable options left from your research.

4. Next, identify any threats

Just as important as identifying ways you can improve is being aware of anything that might hinder your improvement. Understanding any threats to your development can help you to include them in your plan and solve those problems before they occur to promote your best chance of success. Common threats to consider are time management, costs and the ability to maintain a work-life balance.

5. Fifthly, set clear objectives

After your analysis of your goals, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, you can determine specific objectives that will help you reach your goals. It is helpful to use SMART goal criteria for this step. SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. These criteria help to ensure that you can and will achieve your objectives.

Many personal development plans include a ‘start doing’ and ‘stop doing’ list of actions during this step. As a result of your previous analysis, you can create a clear list of things you need to start doing and things you need to stop doing in order to achieve your goals. These lists should be in addition to your specific objectives.

An important part of creating objectives is determining a clear timeline or deadline for each one. Required or expected completion dates help motivate you to work and provide clear benchmarks to assess your progress. It can also help to plan small rewards for yourself as you achieve your objectives to give yourself motivation.

6. Then, consider seeking help

Personal development plans often include a list of people who might be able to help you with your development. Consider any friends, family members, colleagues, teachers and supervisors who might be able to mentor you, connect you with learning opportunities or check on your progress. Letting others know of your development goals and objectives can increase your motivation as well as provide you with opportunities, support and guidance.

7. Finally, review and refocus

In addition to setting deadlines for your objectives, you should set regular checkpoints in your personal development plan for you to assess your progress. Use these benchmarks to determine if your plan seems successful. If you are moving toward your goals faster or more slowly than you expected, you can then adjust and refocus the plan as necessary.

You can use this template as a starting point for creating your personal development plan:

Long-term goals

[Use bullet points or small paragraphs to clearly define what your end goals are.]

[If necessary, include this section to show which goal(s) you are focusing on first.]

[Use bullet points to create a list of your strengths.]

[Use bullet points to create a list of your weaknesses.]

Possible learning opportunities

[Use this section to record your research into opportunities for developing your goals or improving your weaknesses.]

[Make a list of anything that might prevent you from achieving your goals.]

[In this section, write down clear objectives, or actions that you will take to achieve your goal. Include deadlines or timelines for each one. You should have a variety of objectives, such as how you will use your strengths, how you will improve your weaknesses and how you will circumvent any obstacles.]

Start doing

[Make a list of things you need to start doing to achieve your goals and objectives.]

[Make a list of things you need to stop doing to achieve your goals and objectives.]

People who can help me

[Include a list of people who can be resources of development or support for your plan.]

[Leave room in your plan to assess and record your progress. You could make a list of what is working well and what might need to be changed.]

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Plan efficiently and reach your goals

A goal without a plan is just a wish. - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. - Benjamin Franklin

Plan your work and work your plan. - Napoleon Hill

There are countless quotes about planning. A simple Google search will reveal that. As you scroll through the words of great achievers from history, it becomes clear that as people, we place a lot of value in planning and that when done correctly, plans work.

The potential to be great lies within all of us. With the right tools, guidance, support and action plan, we all stand a chance to fulfil that potential, maybe even landing ourselves in the history books along the way. By having a personal development plan at work, you and your people are equipped to do just that.

Training and progression have become one of HR’s top five priorities for the first time, with more HR leaders willing to train and upskill under-qualified candidates than in years prior. It’s great that HR professionals are acknowledging that growth, but their people won’t progress unless they can introduce a structure to help them do so.

Here’s a guide to help you support your people when implementing personal development plans at work along with a bonus PDP template for them to identify their development needs.

👉 Download our PDP template now 👈

What is a personal development plan.

The key word in ' personal development plan' (PDP) is personal .

PDPs need to be specific to the individual it is made for. You can’t take on someone else’s PDP and expect the same results. The motivations that went into the plan, the learning preferences and the existing skills and experiences are all different. Success lies in how catered it is to you.

A personal development plan sets the course for your growth and allows you to know the whys and hows of your journey. The first step of any PDP is to establish where you are so that you can get where you’re going. Think of it as your cars GPS which can only guide you to the best route if it knows where you are. The reflective nature of these plans will lead you and your people to success.

Personalised personal development planning should:

• reflect your aims and goals for the short, medium or long-term
• take into account your individual reality
• revolve around the skills and knowledge you currently lack
• outline development activities to meet perceived needs

Why should personal development exist in the workplace?

In a lifetime, the average adult spends 90,000 hours at work . 🤯

That means two things. One, personal time is sacred. Two, who we work to become benefits ourselves and the business we work for.

My growth in and outside of work hours will make me a better person, employee and writer. All three of those contribute to how I perform in my role and how I impact the company that I work for.

You’ll find it's the same for those at your company. What they want to achieve will make them better at their job too.

Companies also have a responsibility to help their employees grow. In a healthy relationship, both parties give and take. An employee and the company they work for are in a relationship.

Employees give their skills and abilities to the company and that company benefits as a result. Good companies make sure that the relationship is healthy by providing the opportunity and support for their people to grow.

A checklist to get your workforce to engage in personal development

To make sure that employees pursue their goals, people functions can introduce the personal development plan and support the process of achieving the goals set out for them.

[ ✔️ ]  Establish Psychological safety

People often feel that they should already possess all of the skills they need to do their job.

That’s unrealistic. If it were that way, we would have no need for staff development at all. People must feel that they can acknowledge where they have blind spots and where they have weaknesses. They also need to feel safe in taking the time to find out what it is they want to achieve if they don't already know.

They can only do this if their workplace has established psychological safety . Without it, employees may feel threatened by their need to cultivate the skills they lack and any plan they do make becomes a performative exercise. The goal isn’t to have the PDP in place; it’s to have them act upon it.

[ ✔️ ]  Provide the tools and frameworks to build PDPs

You want people’s PDPs to be built to deliver successful results. To achieve this, your people need to know how to set SMART goals and more specifically, how to identify their North Star goal when personal development planning.

Introducing training sessions where the whole team attends is as essential as having the PDP in the first place. Make the information digestible and actionable by having multiple sessions that focus on different parts of the goal-setting process.

PDPs are cyclical. The journey of learning never ends, and the progress never stops because when you get where you’re going, you find you now have somewhere new to go. Facilitate regular re-visits to the frameworks and tools you implement so that your people know and trust that you’re always there to take them further.

[ ✔️ ] Make the time for them

Finding time for learning is notoriously difficult.

Employees either feel guilt over taking time away from their tasks to engage with learning, or they feel that the learning they are being offered isn’t worth their time.

The solution for the first instance is to schedule learning into workdays the same way that you would schedule a meeting. The solution for the second is Learnerbly 😉.

You can’t wait for employees to find the time, you must make it for them. With enough repetition, it becomes akin to muscle memory, where learning will happen without much effort.

It can be helpful to institute ‘learning hours’ where employees take an hour every week to learn whatever they want. That might look like scheduling an hour to learn a language, read a book or nurture skills to achieve career progression. Every week could focus on different learnings.

[ ✔️ ] Encourage them to share their goals

As our People Operations Manager Marie says, ‘sharing is caring.’ It’s important to know that this step can only come once psychological safety has been established.

Sharing goals and career plans can be a source of accountability, inspiration and support. When colleagues and managers know what you’re working towards , they can recommend resources and opportunities to you to help you on your journey.

Make sure your employees have a way to communicate their goals and their progress. This can be a Slack channel dedicated to celebrating what they achieve, a portion of your whole team meeting dedicated to sharing learnings or a place for small and random groups to meet virtually or in-person with the sole purpose of sharing.

All of these options create opportunities for sharing but also to help each other with recommendations, tips and even insights into how they plan and process their own PDP.

[ ✔️ ] Have managers share their PDPs & goals

Managers have goals, too. They have skills they could improve. They have shortcomings that if worked on, could make them better leaders.

Learnerbly CEO, Rajeeb Dey MBE stresses the importance of leading by example, “At Learnerbly, I take the opportunity to share my 360 feedback with the whole company at least once a year and focus on the things I feel I need to work on. If you want to encourage others to take ownership of their development, then it starts with you.’

When a manager shares their PDP and goals, they are showing that career progression is possible even before you tick every box for the role. It’s inspirational to know that, to see how those above you on the career ladder are working to better themselves and that they’re open and receptive to upwards feedback.

What can managers do to support an employee's personal development plan?

Beyond sharing their PDP as inspiration and relatability, a manager has a place in driving the PDPs of their people. You may have read my piece on self-managed learning, where I talked about how a manager can support employees on their path to lifelong learning. Consider this section a follow-up, because a self-managed learner with a personal development plan is built to achieve both short and long-term goals. Working on filling in the personal development plan template with direct reports is a great way to ensure support is given and transparency is achieved.

Managers contribute to an employee’s Personal Development Plan in these three ways:

• Finding the targets . Often, employees aren't quite sure what their long-term goals are, and if they have them, it's difficult to envisage a path to getting there. Part of being a manager is spotting talents and abilities in your team members that they may not know themselves, and highlighting ways they can either improve on them or spot how they can be put into action to move them from potential to practical use.

• Holding them accountable . Having a written PDP means you've set specific targets that you're holding yourself to, but if only you are looking at them, it's easy for deadlines to slip as other things come up. Managers can play a role in regular check-ins, encouraging their team members towards ensuring targets are met. The employee is the one who owns and sets the destination; a manager is there to question, challenge, direct and nurture them on the journey of life-long learning.
• Sourcing help . A significant part of Learnerbly's Personal Development Plan tool is being able to link resources to specific goals. For managers, they can help direct employees to things they've found useful themselves or things which will help with the roadmap ahead.

The ultimate PDP template

A personal development plan template is what your employees need to make their development personal. We've built our own Personal Development Plan template to help you and your people find and achieve the goals they want, the way they want to.

Why? Because it’s not enough to know what your development needs are, you need an action plan behind them. A personal development plan is the key to acquiring new skills and setting down a prosperous career path.

All you have to do is download our template, share it with your people and embark on your individual journeys!               

                              👉Download our PDP template now👈

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How to Create a Personal Development Plan – Template Included

Do you ever feel like you’re spinning your wheels day in and day out? A personal development plan might be exactly what you need.

You are working really hard, but you can’t really see the progress that you hope to.

You expect a lot out of yourself. More than most of the people who surround you, but you’re not sure how to get to that next level.

I know how you feel. I’ve been there.

Before I understood the value of planning my personal development, I felt like I was just kind of wandering aimlessly towards some far out goal.

A personal development plan doesn’t really have to be very elaborate. It’s just creating something for you to follow every day.

Why planning your personal development is important

The phrase “personal development” always sounded really formal to me. It’s a lot easier to think about it as just making a little daily progress.

But to make progress, you really need to know where you’re going. That’s why a personal development plan is important. It helps you to determine what direction you should be headed.

A major part of personal development is determining what you value the most in life. Understanding what drives you is the key to your happiness and success.

What does being great mean to you?

Does it mean having 3 kids who adore you more than anything in the world?

Does it mean being the youngest VP in the history of your company?

Does it mean getting invited to the Boston Marathon?

All 3 of those examples are wonderful goals for anyone to have, but they all rely on making ourselves better, even if it’s just a little bit, every single day.

Each of us have our own unique backgrounds and experiences. Those experiences are what has shaped our world view, and what it means to be great.

You’re the type of person who has aspirations to achieve something that most people aren’t driven enough to achieve. It’s an internal desire to be the best. Planning your future will help you decide what the word “best” really means to you.

By creating your personal development plan, you will actually create the steps needed for yourself to achieve the things that you dream about. No longer will you just be floating from day to day without really knowing why you’re getting out of bed in the morning.

Now, let’s get into the example of a personal development plan

If you are working on your personal development and growth, then a plan will help you stay on track. It is a good way to keep yourself from comparing yourself to others, because it only tracks who you are from one day to the next.

You might be asking yourself, how do I write a personal development plan? Your personal development plan template doesn’t have to be complicated; it really only needs to include 3 sections.

1. What will I do each day to progress in my journey with:

2. what will i do this month to progress in my journey with:, 3. what will i do this year to progress in my journey with:.

Sound easy enough, right??

You can’t get it wrong

I’m not saying that just to make you feel better. It’s true. Any plan is better than no plan. Your personal development plan will change over time.

The plan is only one part of your personal development. There are so many other things to keep in mind, but your plan is like your guiding light. You look to it when you aren’t sure what to do.

We only have so much time in a day. We can’t do everything that we want to. Your personal development plan will help you determine what is essential in your life.

If you are having a little trouble coming up with ideas to put into your personal development plan template, take a look at these 25 personal development goals and pick the ones that stick out to you as some of your biggest strengths or weaknesses.

Personal development planning guide

If you use google drive, like I do, for your personal development planner, then you will be able to access it from pretty much anywhere. Sometimes it’s easier to walk through an example of a personal development plan using a worksheet.

If google drive isn’t your thing, then I also have a 6 page personal development planning guide that I like to share with people who would like to quickly review what the most important pieces of personal development planning are. You can download a pdf plan below.

Use this guide hand in hand with your own personal development plan template. It’s just a good reminder to keep around for when you are working through your ideas for what will be included in your personal development plan.

Personal development plan ideas

If you haven’t taken a look at my template yet, let me give you some ideas for actions to include in your own self help plan.

I try to text 2 friends every day. It doesn’t have to be some big elaborate text message. I just like to see how they’ve been doing and maybe send them an update on things that are going on in my life. It’s been a great way to keep up with friends who I don’t see every day.

I like to keep things simple, so in my daily finances column I have “stick to budget.” It’s really that simple sometimes.

Every month I try to make it a point to hang out with my nieces and nephews at least once. That means that for my monthly goals for family, I have a reminder for myself to spend some time with them. You might have something similar for your parents, kids, or grandparents.

My goal weight for this year is to stay between 185-190lbs. That is the weight that I’ve found for myself to feel and perform the best.

Health also includes mental health. I try to journal every day and meditate for at least 10 minutes.

Maybe you’ve been wanting to run a 5k or hike up a small mountain. Make it one of your health goals for this year.

I really want to personally help at least 15 people a month on their personal development journeys. I hope that you’re one of those 15 people!

Sometimes I don’t get 15 people, and sometimes I get more. What really matters is that I execute my plan every day, which includes writing an article, sending an email, and/or putting content out on social media.

And finally, for fun, I want to play golf at least once a month. I’m not very good at it, but it’s fun and relaxing.

Taking action is the key to succeeding

If you spend all your time planning, you’ll never actually get anything done.

Yes, a plan is extremely important, that’s why I developed my template and use it every day!

But a plan is just the first step.

Taking action every day is the real “secret” to success.

Emotions and lack of motivation can try to stop us from getting where we want to be.

Turn yourself into the person that you were meant to be by learning how to overcome emotion and taking action to achieve your goals.

Keep your eye on the prize

When you are doing these exercises, remember that it’s for your benefit. Think of all the years that have gone by when you could have been taking action that you didn’t.

You don’t want to let any more time pass you by without making the most of yourself. All of your aspirations depend on you taking action.

For more personal development articles, check out our ultimate guide to personal development.

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Did you know you can make your dreams and aspirations a reality by focusing on your own individual  personal development plan ?

Your potential is limitless, and investing in personal development is a way to harness your many talents.

Establishing goals for what you want to achieve — where you would like to go in the short term or long term — can improve your personal development.

In this guide, I’ll help you understand what personal development means and its importance, what a  personal development plan  is and why you should make one, and how to write a personal development plan.

I’ll also share with you my personal development plan template to get you started on your path to reach your personal development goals, complete with helpful examples and resources to support you.

What Is a Personal Development Plan (PDP)?

A personal development plan is a guideline for your life and your future success.

Personal development is an ongoing process of improving oneself through conscious habits and activities. It is the pursuit of personal growth to enhance your quality of life and to achieve your dreams and aspirations.

When you create a plan, you start to define the kind of person you want to be, the skills you want to have, and the accomplishments you want to achieve. And then you map out your long-term and short-term goals to realize these aspirations and set timelines for when you want to reach them.

Many people underachieve in their careers because they do not realize the areas of personal development that can help achieve mastery in any field.

Effective leaders focus on continual self-improvement and know there is no substitute for hard work.

When you  practice self-discipline  by setting a goal, making a plan, and working on it every day, you will see personal development and progress within your career.

The Importance of Personal Development

Most of the time, what you think about is what you become. From the moment you wake up until the moment you close your eyes at the end of the day, everything you experience plays a factor in your development.

When you take greater control over your experiences, you can guide your personal development and accelerate toward what you want to become instead of leaving it to chance.

Setting, striving for, and meeting personal development goals opens up a world of new possibilities for you to increase your quality of life.

For example, as a result of creating and following your personal development plan, you may gain more responsibility for work and open up opportunities for higher pay. This growth could qualify you for a better career trajectory to increase your overall happiness, job satisfaction, and ability to provide for the life you want for you and your family.

Focusing on your personal development also gives you better decision-making abilities so you can avoid problems that may have plagued you in the past or are holding you back now.

At the end of the day, personal development helps you create more positivity and  harness the power of positive thoughts , which can transform your life.

When you give time to yourself by focusing on your professional and personal growth, you are better able to achieve  your version of success  because of personal development opportunities.

Personal Development vs Self-Improvement

Recognizing the difference between self-improvement and personal development can be a little tricky.

While they are similar in that they are both very instrumental in achieving your goals and improving yourself, there are key differences between a self-improvement plan and your own personal development plan.

Personal development is the work you are putting in to transform yourself on a daily basis. It’s the efforts you’re making to advance in your work, lifestyle, attitude, physique, and sociability.

Setting personal and professional development goals and creating a plan helps you take full advantage of any opportunity that may come your way and make the most of your potential.

Self-improvement is an inner transformation. It is a self-motivated study to improve one’s character, status, or knowledge by their own efforts.

Self-improvement is a lifelong process  of constantly searching for ways to change your habits so you can reach your fullest potential.

The specific efforts you put into personal development lead to self-improvement.

Start Achieving All of Your Goals Today! Download my FREE Personal Development Plan Template

The 7 Categories of Personal Development

Focusing on personal development categories such as personal skills, personal growth, and  personal power  can create habits for personal improvement.

Personal growth is founded on education and skill. Through education and experience, you increase your skill level and your ability to succeed in your field.

There are seven main categories of personal development.

Personal Skills

Personal skills can be ones you were born with as well as those you gain through deliberate practice. They’re often referred to as soft skills.

Examples of personal skills are decision-making, teamwork, organization, and communication.

If you’re looking to develop skills at work, try working on your personal skills. The highest-paid, top individuals in their field are the ones who focus on growing their personal skills.

Knowing what areas you excel in and which need development is very useful in your personal and professional life.

Personal Growth

Having a personal growth plan is one of the first steps toward bettering yourself and stepping out of your comfort zone.

Humans and the human mind are constantly evolving. Think about it: you are not the same person you were a year ago. You’ve learned more, grown in many different ways, and have experienced more life events to further shape your personality, beliefs, and world outlook.

To experience personal development and have a growth mindset, strive to be a better version of yourself today than you were yesterday.

Personal Power

Personal power is the authority others believe you to have in certain situations and is fueled by your contacts, knowledge, and financial status.

Developing an ever-widening circle of contacts, seeking to learn more, and growing financially increases the number of doors that others will leave open for you to step into.

Expanding your network, knowledge base and financial status will also allow you to help others do the same, further increasing your  personal power  and opportunities for personal development and growth.

Personal Improvement

Personal improvement stems from good work habits and having a positive mental attitude.

Thinking before you act is critical to developing a strong amount of personal improvement. To help you think first, try to set priorities on a list and consider the likely consequences before beginning.

Working on personal improvement and generating a positive mental attitude will also reduce the amount of time that it takes you to achieve your goals.

Personal Empowerment

Personal empowerment is similar to Personal Power, except empowerment is the power to reflect what you see within yourself, instead of how others view you.

Promoting a positive image and adopting creativity within your daily life can speed up the time it takes to achieve personal empowerment and your goals.

To help you increase your personal empowerment, consider looking for new, creative ways to finish a project in a faster, easier or cheaper way without compromising the end result.

Personal Analysis

It is very important to be conscious of areas in which you are naturally gifted as well as analyze areas in which you need improvement. This is called personal analysis.

Being truthful about where you currently stand is the first step to moving forward. You should be constantly evaluating where you are when achieving your goals and ambitions.

Personal Objectives

Ambition goes to waste when there are no clear goals in sight. Developing clear direction for short-term and long-term goals is a pivotal step in actually accomplishing them and growing as a person.

Having a set plan will help you have a clear understanding of which strategies are necessary to reach your desired destination.

Why Make a Personal Development Plan?

The reason you need to create a personal development plan is that making a plan will help guide you to better decision-making and remind you of where you want to go.

In other words, good preparation increases the probability of success and decreases the risk of things going wrong along the way.

Creating a plan for personal development helps you get a better sense of control over your life and will make you better prepared for whatever comes your way.

Consider these benefits of having one:

• It brings your vision to reality.
• It ensures you take appropriate and logically planned action.
• It helps you improve your  time management skills  so you can achieve your goals.
• It’s a plan to keep track of progress, which serves to motivate you when you want to give up.
• It’s been proven to reduce stress, improve balance in life, and increase self-confidence.

Developing your personal development plans and goals for work can make the difference between success and failure. Creating a self-growth plan for your personal life can mean the difference between life-long happiness and regret.

Skills & Objectives

The objectives of personal development are continuous personal growth, increased potential for success, and capitalizing on potential opportunities.

You can practice your personal development skills by setting aside time for the important people in your life, performing action exercises that force you to perform at the highest level, and studying growth performances to help ensure you continue to climb the ladder of success.

An action plan has to include measurable objectives so you know the exact steps it will take to reach your goals. Objectives break your larger personal goals into bite-sized pieces so you can know where you are headed and check off your progress along the way.

There are no limits except for the limits you place on yourself with your thinking.

Commit yourself to a life of constant learning. Even if you are at the top of your field, there is always something to learn.

Once you have mastered a new skill, move on to learning another one. Constantly learning new skills keeps your mind fresh and active and opens doors that would otherwise be closed to you.

You will become unstoppable and you will see your entire future open up in front of you if you live a goal and growth-oriented life.

How to Set Personal Development Goals

Before you can set up a plan, you need to do some self-reflection and answer personal goal questions.

A few questions you should develop before laying out an idea for a specific plan of action are:

• What do I want to make out of my life?
• What are my goals and ambitions?
• What is currently standing in my way of achieving these goals?

After answering those questions, you can create a personal plan that contains a few key components.

The key components you should focus on are having a specific outcome that you are constantly working towards, planning and paving a path towards achieving it, being mindful of the obstacles, and understanding the bigger motivation behind your actions.

When developing a personal development plan for work, you should focus on SMART goals. SMART stands for “Specific”, “Measurable”, “Achievable”, “Relevant”, and “Time-Bound.”

By following this easy-to-remember acronym when goal setting, you can improve both your personal and professional life:

• Specific:  Write goals that are detailed and clear instead of broad and general.
• Measurable:  Set milestones that will let you know you are achieving your goal.
• Achievable:  Make goals that are challenging yet can realistically be achieved.
• Relevant:  Align your goals with your personal self-improvement plan.
• Time-Bound:  Pick an end date by which you want to achieve your goal.

Set Goals for Professional Life

To make progress that you can see and track in your professional life, you need to document a detailed plan of action for your personal development.

Some examples include answering the following questions:

• What do I want to learn?
• What do I have to do?
• What support and resources will I need?
• How will I measure success?

Be as specific with your answers as possible. The more precise, the easier it is to track your progress.

Seeing how far you have come and how your hard work is paying off will give you a boost of confidence and provide a sense of accomplishment.

Some examples of personal development goals for work include the Golden Hour and the 21-Day Mental Diet.

The Golden Hour Rule

The  Golden Hour Rule  steers the trajectory of your day.

Beginning your day early and investing your first hour in yourself will make a tremendous difference in the way you feel, and you will begin to see positive results in your day.

You will begin to see yourself in a more positive light and improve on your self-awareness and personal development.

The 21-Day Mental Diet

The  21-Day Mental Diet  personal leadership plan example means waking up early and investing at least the first two hours of your day in yourself.

With this extra time, set clear goals you can work to achieve in the workplace. This can improve your productivity and efficiency to help you get that promotion or earn a raise.

Your goals may also include education. You need to learn more to earn more.

Try setting a goal to read something educational, motivational, or inspirational every day before you go to work.

Set Goals in Your Daily Life

Outside of the workspace, it’s important to focus on some personal goals as well. Similar to your work plan, your personal plan requires you to focus on key points to achieve your goals.

Here are some sample questions to ask yourself:

• What are the important goals that you want to achieve?
• When is your set deadline?
• What are your biggest strengths?
• Who or what are your biggest threats?

There are several aspects of personal development disciplines that will make achieving success possible if developed correctly.

A few of these disciplines include goal setting, planning and organizing, and concentrating on high-value activities.

Goal Setting

Goal setting can be done in the early morning and take only a few minutes of your day.

It can be as simple as purchasing a spiral notebook and writing out your ten goals at the beginning of each day. This will program them deep into your subconscious mind and help you actually follow through on accomplishing them.

Planning Your Day

Planning and organizing at the end of the day can help you better prepare for the coming day.

When you plan out your day, put it down on paper, you can begin to visualize your important tasks and make sure you are working to complete them throughout the day.

Concentrating On Your High-Value Activities

High-value activities are the things you choose to do throughout the day that will give you the biggest return on your efforts to get you closer to your goals.

Concentrating on your high-value activities will help keep you focused and contribute to your success as much as any other discipline you can develop.

Promoting the highest value activities will make a powerful difference in how quickly you achieve them and the goals they relate to.

Personal Development Plan Template

Creating a plan for personal development will help you get a better sense of control over your life and your goals…and it doesn’t have to be a daunting task!

Follow this template to get started and achieve your goals.

There are six core steps in this template that will help you take action and measure your progress.

Step 1: Set Your Goals

Write a list of the top 10 most important goals you would like to achieve. I encourage you to really write them down somewhere — on paper or on your computer — instead of just keeping them in your head.

People who write their goals and have a clear plan are 30% more likely to achieve their goals.

Search deep within yourself and identify the things you really want out of life. Do not be hindered by thoughts of roadblocks that may get in your way. Open yourself up to all the possibilities that would make you truly happy in life.

These are life goals. Life goals are meant to be challenging, so they may seem huge, overwhelming, or even scary. But that’s why they will be broken down into digestible and manageable smaller goals.

For example, providing for your family is an important long-term goal, but figuring out the steps to get there is the challenge. Your smaller personal development objectives will help you identify those steps so you have a clear road map to follow.

With each of the 10 goals you identify, also define your “why:” Why do you want to achieve this goal? What will it mean for your personal life, your career, your mental health or, your loved ones?

Knowing your why will help set you up for success. It will keep you motivated to continue progressing forward until you have achieved what you want to.

Step 2: Prioritize Your Goals

Once you have identified your top 10 goals, write which of those 10 is the most important to you and why.

Starting with your highest priority goal, identify the short-term goals and steps that are needed to achieve your long-term goals.

What needs to happen today so you can move on to the next movetomorrow?

This may require some research on your part, depending on your goal.

For example, say your goal is to become a leader in your field. Some of the short-term goals you will prioritize to reach this personal leadership plan example may include the following:

• Choose a topic or niche in your industry that you want to specialize in.
• Learn everything you can about the issue by talking to people in your industry, reading about your topic, attending seminars and webinars, and so on.
• Educate others by writing regular blog posts.
• Start a podcast and offer valuable information.
• Give interviews on podcasts, local radio and TV stations, and news outlets.
• Write a book  and get it published.
• Become a public speaker  at industry conferences or hold your own conference.

Step 3: Create a Timeline for Achieving Your Goals

Setting goals and deadlines in your process is crucial. Without them, your goals can get lost in the everyday chaos of life or forgotten completely.

Write down a specific timeline for achieving each of your goals, but be realistic in your timing and know the likelihood ahead of time of achieving your goal within a certain timeline to avoid discouragement.

While you may want to become debt-free by next year, you will first need to do what is necessary to earn more income or reduce your expenses. This could involve getting more education, finding a better job, or making major life changes, which could take more than 365 days.

Once you assign a due date to each of your short-term goals,  tackle the hardest goal first . This will help you realize you can actually achieve your goals faster and give you the motivation you need to propel yourself forward.

If you’re unsure of the timeline you should set for accomplishing your goals, speaking to other people who have achieved the goal you are striving for will help you set a realistic deadline.

Conducting online research could also help in defining a timeline to accomplish your goals.

Knowing that it takes four to five years to earn a Ph.D. in business lets you know how long it will likely take you. If you can only attend school part-time, you know it will take longer, perhaps twice as long.

Step 4: Analyze Your Strengths and Weaknesses

Write down your strengths and weaknesses. Remember that skills like perseverance, positive attitude, and creativity are strengths and weaknesses as much as educational level, experience, and having a strong network of professional contacts.

Focus on the attributes that are needed to achieve your goal. Then, write how your strengths can help you achieve this goal and how you plan to overcome those weaknesses.

Use a SWOT analysis to organize your thoughts and develop a strong strategy for achieving your goal. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Ask yourself questions similar to these to help you develop insights for each part of a SWOT analysis:

• What sets you apart from your peers?
• What is your competitive advantage?
• What do others regularly praise you for?
• What do people ask you to help them with?
• What parts of yourself are you confident about?
• What values are important to you?
• What do you usually avoid doing because you don’t think you can?
• What kind of tasks do you procrastinate?
• Where are you lacking in skills, experience, or education?
• What resources do you lack?
• What areas do you feel you need improvement?
• What gets in the way of your work performance or relationships with others?

Opportunities

• What technology can help you achieve your goal?
• What promotions or financial incentives are available at work?
• Who can help you reach your goal?
• What changes are happening or are projected to happen in your industry or personal life?
• What conferences, classes, or networking events are available to you?
• What are your competitors failing at that you can learn from and improve on?
• What obstacles do you face that may hinder your progress?
• Which of your weaknesses could lead to threats?
• Who is trying to achieve the same goal that may get in your way?

Step 5: Write an Action Plan

Write actions that you need to take to achieve your goal. These can be things you need to add to your daily routine as well as things you need to eliminate from it to  achieve the success in life  that you are looking for.

Doing this will help you to achieve each goal faster.

Whether you use a notebook or your computer, just make sure you’re also physically writing down your plan so you can see it every day and hold yourself accountable.

Step 6: Measure Your Progress

The final step in your personal development plan template is to mark your progress.

Write down what has been working well, what you have accomplished, what you still need to improve, and what skills or knowledge you have gained along the way.

People who set up a system to report on their goals weekly achieve 40% more than people who do not.

To help you in this final step, consider using a tracker to take notes, measure progress, and be analytical about what works and what does not.

Sometimes it is necessary to change courses midstream or add a step that you were not initially aware of. That doesn’t mean you should abandon your goal out of discouragement. It just means you need to adapt, and this is where a tracker can help you determine if it’s time to pivot.

Remember it’s okay to be flexible. Doing so will allow you to make changes when needed that will propel you toward your goal more efficiently.

This could be a good opportunity to use another piece of data about how people who write things down/journal are much more likely to be successful.

Personal Development Courses and Programs

Personal development courses, coaches, and programs can also help you hit your goals.

A personal development program accompanied by a personal development coach helps to keep you disciplined and moving forward.

If you are looking to transform your life, check out these courses and programs that include all of my knowledge, distilled into powerful lessons to help you achieve immediate success in your own life. They will teach you how to stop worrying and stressing out and how to take control of your life, forever.

Power Of Personal Achievement

Learn the right way to visualize your ideal future. This course will teach you how to set your goals and methodically achieve them with more efficiency than ever before.

This program will teach you how to ditch the negative emotions that have been hindering your success as well as how to redirect your energy and resources towards your personal mission.

The Science Of Self-Confidence

In this course, you’ll learn just about everything I’ve learned about self-confidence during the past four decades.

I reveal the secret of the four Cs that teach you how to escape the endless loop of failure. You will find your true self and, as a result, finally feel truly confident.

Maximum Productivity

This course will equip you with the skills to discover your special calling. You will learn everything you need to know how to take the shortest, fastest route possible to your destination.

Ultimate success is achievable when you know how to dramatically improve your productivity.

Create Your Personal Development Plan Today

Don’t wait to start improving your life.

Follow a personal development plan for work and your personal life or use a template to start accomplishing your goals and improving your life.

For the easiest way to get started, download my free  Personal Development Plan Template  to organize your goals over the next few months and years and optimize your success.

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About Brian Tracy — Brian is recognized as the top sales training and personal success authority in the world today. He has authored more than 60 books and has produced more than 500 audio and video learning programs on sales, management, business success and personal development, including worldwide bestseller The Psychology of Achievement. Brian's goal is to help you achieve your personal and business goals faster and easier than you ever imagined. You can follow him on Twitter , Facebook , Pinterest , Linkedin and Youtube .

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A Personal Development Plan (PDP) Guide & Template

As hard as it is for some of us to admit, nobody’s perfect. No matter where you are in your personal or professional life, there’s always room for improvement. And that’s a good thing. We should always strive to be a better version of ourselves in our private lives and careers.

Reaching self-improvement goals isn’t easy. But you can adopt strategies to make it simpler for you to achieve success. A PDP gives you a clear plan for personal growth or professional development. With a PDP, you can define your goals and track your progress.

In this article, you can learn how to use a personal development plan template to develop your own personal growth plan.

What Is a Personal Development Plan?

You might have a positive outlook on life, a good job, stable relationships and take care of your health. If you have all of those things, that’s awesome! But you shouldn’t stop reaching for ways to improve. Personal growth is a lifelong undertaking. No matter how accomplished we think we are, there are always aspects of our lives that we can work on or personal goals that we can work toward.

A Personal Development Plan (PDP) helps us clarify our goals and develop a framework for achieving those goals. It’s a self-evaluation method commonly used in professional circles and academia. You can utilise a PDP to help you accomplish anything, from learning a new language, developing a skill, or improving your health.

A PDP is super helpful in identifying what strengths and weaknesses you have. A PDP can help you improve your job prospects or boost your performance. You can use a PDP to keep you motivated and track your progress toward achieving your goals. A well-thought-out PDP can provide you with a clear sense of purpose. This helps reduce your stress levels and enhance your mental health. A PDP can also help you identify any blocks that might stop you from reaching your aims.

Whether you want to focus on your personal life or professional career, writing a PDP is a great idea. So, how does one go about putting together a PDP? The easiest way is to follow a personal development plan template .

A Personal Development Plan (PDP) Guide and Template

What is a PDP personal development plan example? It really depends on who you ask. Some experts recommend following a SWOT analysis template. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. You start by identifying your strengths and weaknesses, then focus on growth opportunities, and finally, look at any obstacles hindering you in accomplishing your goals. The CIPD have a helpful factsheet on SWOT analysis uses .

Another personal development plan template involves following these six simple steps:

• Define how a PDP can help you
• Undertake a self-assessment of strengths and weaknesses
• Set your goals
• Plan how you will reach your objectives and set deadlines
• Keep track of your progress
• Evaluate and reflect on your accomplishments

We’ll go into each of these steps in detail to give you a complete picture of how to assemble a PDP.

HR Compliance Courses

Our HR compliance courses help businesses ensure legal compliance and the well-being of employees. The courses cover various topics integral to modern workplaces, such as bribery, sexual harassment, diversity and inclusion, modern slavery, etc.

Step One: Understand Your PDP Purpose

The very first thing to focus on when writing a PDP is to fully understand just why you are doing it in the first place. If you don’t have a clear purpose or set of goals, you won’t be able to devise a practical path to accomplishing them.

Maybe you want to improve your health or develop a new work skill. You might like to learn how to play Moonlight Sonata on the piano or come to grips with speaking Spanish. Whatever you want to accomplish, defining your PDP is essential.

Step Two: Assess Your Strengths and Weaknesses

Once you’ve defined why you’re writing a personal development plan, you can assess your strengths and weaknesses. This can be a difficult task, depending on your personality. A positive person with an overly generous view of themselves may lean toward thinking they have very few areas of weakness. A person with low self-esteem might concentrate on the negative aspects of their personality and overlook their strengths.

Be honest with yourself and take a systematic, balanced view of where your talents lie. It can be helpful to get an opinion from someone you trust or take a skills and personality test. (Just make sure you use a reputable provider!)

Step Three: Define Your Goals

Now you know why you’re writing a PDP and your strengths and weaknesses. At this point, it’s time to set out your goals. You may have long-term or short-term goals or a mixture of both. Following the SMART formula is a good idea when setting out your dreams. Your goals should be:

• S pecific: Be clear about what you want to achieve
• M easurable: Make sure you can measure your progress
• A ttainable: Be realistic about your goals
• R elevant: Make your goals relevant to your life
• T ime-bound: Set goals that can be reached within a realistic time

Goal setting is complex, so don’t be surprised if this process takes longer than you think.

Step Four: Plan Actions and Set a Timeline

Having a set of realistic goals is excellent, but now you have to develop a plan of action and set deadlines. Think of a linear path towards achieving your goals and set milestones.

For instance, you might want to learn to improve at a specific computer program. So, you could say: In the next week, I will obtain a copy of the program and find a course. In a month, I will have mastered the basics of the program. In six months, I will have become proficient in using the program. After this time, I will apply for a new job or a promotion.

At this stage, you might also want to consider any obstacles. Maybe the program will be more expensive than you initially thought, or you might get sick and be unable to complete the lessons.

Step Five: Track Your Progress

Developing a way of tracking your progress toward your goals is incredibly important. You can lose focus if you don’t have a suitable tracking method. A calendar can be a valuable tool for planning your timeline and tracking your progress. You’ll need to be disciplined and stay motivated to reach your goals. Having a way of continuously monitoring your progress can help keep you on track.

If you suffer a setback, don’t be too hard on yourself. Sometimes, life gets in the way of our plans. The important thing is to keep working towards your goals. Make your progress tracker adjustable so you can factor in any unexpected delays.

Step Six: Evaluate and Reflect

Making it to the end of a PDP is a huge accomplishment, so this is a time to congratulate yourself. But it’s also a time to reflect on how the process went and evaluate any things you could have done differently.

Were there areas where you could have changed to speed up your progress? Obstacles that you could have avoided? Note them all down. They’ll be helpful when planning your next Personal Development Plan!

How to Upgrade Your HR Skills

Knowing how to prepare a Personal Development Plan is a skill that every good Human Resources expert should know. As well as developing your skills, you can pass your PDP knowledge on to your colleagues to help them reach their goals.

Taking some of our HR Compliance Courses is a great way to hone your workplace skills.

You can learn how to manage stress, make the most of your time, resolve workplace conflicts, or even dig deeper into setting and achieving your objectives.

About the author(s)

Simon Morrison

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Professional development plan template

Supporting your team just got even easier. Create a professional development plan template that works to both help you set professional goals and create an action plan to achieve them.

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• A library of 70+ ready-made templates
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As a manager, it’s your job to support your employees' work. But to have the greatest impact, you need to go beyond their day-to-day tasks and support employees in their plans for the future.  

What is a professional development plan template?

A professional development plan template is a reusable tool to create new professional development plans. Depending on the size of your company, this may be created by the HR department or by individual managers to support internal employee mobility or overall professional development.

Professional development plan templates are a way to streamline professional development plans (PDPs) and help your employee’s form an action plan. Since each employee’s professional goals are different, they also have different professional development plans. That’s why it’s so helpful to use a template with consistent steps—no matter how different the goals, you can always offer the same level of support for every employee. With measurable action items, you can help team members go from where they are right now to where they want to be. 

Why do you need a professional development plan template?

Your professional development planning template serves as a company-wide tool to encourage professional growth. But even beyond that, your template provides many additional benefits, including:

Team-wide support. By supporting individual professional development, you’re helping to lift up your entire team and—ultimately—the company overall.

Remove bias. Because you are following the same steps to assist your team regardless of individual differences, role, or your relationship, you are eliminating potential unconscious biases .

Create consistency. Templates provide a consistent, measurable framework for performance reviews. 

What to include in a career development plan template

Your career development plan template should include a few different sections that encompass: employee information, current skills, career goals, and action items to develop missing skills. 

Employee information 

Include the key information points about the employee—who are they? And what do they do on your team? This should list their current role and responsibilities, as well as general information—such as their name and start date. You can also include previous jobs, which is especially helpful if they’ve had a non-traditional career path.

Skills gap assessment 

This is where you determine the gap between the individual’s current skills (both hard and soft skills ) and their professional development goals . The purpose of this assessment is to outline a career path—where is the individual now, and where do they want to be? This helps you to identify development opportunities. For example, what professional development needs do they need support with to help them get where they want to go? What do they need to do on their own? This will inform the action items you create for both you (the manager) and the individual.

Action items 

Turn the insights from the skills gap assessment into action. For example, if the employee is looking to change teams and take on a new role, they might need to take classes. If they want to move into leadership, it could help them find a mentor . On the flipside, you’ll also want to create action items for you as a manager. These could be things like connecting your employee to the manager of another team or assigning them to projects that will help them improve upon their skills.

How to use your professional development plan template

Essentially, your template will help you work through the professional development process for anyone on your team. This is how to use it, and the best way to do so:

Use supporting software. Use a project management tool to coordinate professional development so team members can easily track long and short-term goals in real-time. You can then create action items based on the goals you set, all without ever leaving the tool.

Reference your template. Use your professional development template as a baseline tool, then reference it for follow-up check-in’s during and after key milestones. Edit and adjust the professional development plan if and when goals ultimately change by creating new copies of your template as needed.

Make your professional development process actionable. Use the template to evaluate employee’s performance and create an individual professional development plan, with key action items and deadlines. This creates a set timeframe for when and how the individual will improve, which will better help their overall employee performance.

Connect with Human Resources. Professional development plan templates don’t need to just be team based. The HR team at your company can use a template to identify and create key development programs for the staff, so that developing new skills and competencies to improve your performance is built into the culture.

Integrated features

List View . List View is a grid-style view that makes it easy to see all of your project’s information at a glance. Like a to-do list or a spreadsheet, List View displays all of your tasks at once so you can not only see task titles and due dates, but also view any relevant custom fields like Priority, Status, or more. Unlock effortless collaboration by giving your entire team visibility into who’s doing what by when.

Goals . Goals in Asana directly connect to the work you’re doing to hit them, making it easy for team members to see what they’re working towards. More often than not, our goals live separate from the work that goes into achieving them. By connecting your team and company goals to the work that supports them, team members have real-time insight and clarity into how their work directly contributes to your team—and company—success. As a result, team members can make better decisions. If necessary, they can identify the projects that support the company’s strategy and prioritize work that delivers measurable results. 

Milestones . Milestones represent important project checkpoints. By setting milestones throughout your project, you can let your team members and project stakeholders know how you’re pacing towards your goal. Use milestones as a chance to celebrate the little wins on the path towards the big project goal. 

Custom fields . Custom fields are the best way to tag, sort, and filter work. Create unique custom fields for any information you need to track—from priority and status to email or phone number. Use custom fields to sort and schedule your to-dos so you know what to work on first. Plus, share custom fields across tasks and projects to ensure consistency across your organization. 

Recommended apps

Microsoft Teams . With the Microsoft Teams + Asana integration, you can search for and share the information you need without leaving Teams. Easily connect your Teams conversations to actionable items in Asana. Plus, create, assign, and view tasks during a Teams Meeting without needing to switch to your browser.

Slack . Turn ideas, work requests, and action items from Slack into trackable tasks and comments in Asana. Go from quick questions and action items to tasks with assignees and due dates. Easily capture work so requests and to-dos don’t get lost in Slack. 

Google Workplace . Attach files directly to tasks in Asana with the Google Workplace file chooser, which is built into the Asana task pane. Easily attach any My Drive file with just a few clicks.

OneDrive . Attach files directly to tasks in Asana with the Microsoft OneDrive file chooser, which is built into the Asana task pane. Easily attach files from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more.

How do you create a professional development plan template? .css-i4fobf{-webkit-transition:-webkit-transform 200ms ease-in-out;transition:transform 200ms ease-in-out;-webkit-transform:rotateZ(0);-moz-transform:rotateZ(0);-ms-transform:rotateZ(0);transform:rotateZ(0);}

Create a professional development plan template in a digital format so it’s easy to replicate and use. Include sections for general employee information, a skills gap assessment, and action items to move their career goals forward. In the skills section, be sure to list both the employee’s current role and responsibilities and their goals, so you can see what’s missing. Then, use that information to create your action items.

What is the difference between a professional development plan and a performance appraisal?

A professional development plan looks at the overall path of the employee—where are they now, and where do they want to go? The performance appraisal looks solely at what they’ve done so far, and how they’ve contributed to the company. The two can be used together to help better understand the path your employee should take for their growth. For example, you can use a performance appraisal to see if an employee is moving closer to the goals they listed in their professional development plan.

What are the benefits of professional development plan templates?

Professional development plan templates help you streamline your professional development plan process so it is consistent for every employee. This helps to reduce biases and provides a measurable framework for employee reviews. It also provides mutual accountability for both you as the manager and the employee, so you can better support everyone on your team.

Related templates

Professional growth—simplified.

Build a professional development plan template that boosts growth and retention with Asana.