Setting and achieving personal development goals can be a bit daunting, but that shouldn’t be a cause for worry, for this article is purposed to make things easier for you. Before we get into it, let me first of all applaud you for deciding to set and achieve personal development goals for your work, as they will help you become more effective in your role and have your employer sing your praises. Who knows, you might even start winning employee of the month award back to back. In this article, we will look at personal development goals, their importance, examples of personal development goals you can set for work, and how to achieve them.
Personal development goals: definition and benefits
Personal development goals are goals you set to improve your skills, character and capabilities. Setting these goals for work will help you become a star employee. The benefits of these goals are improved work ethics, better workplace relationships, a clear sense of direction, and increased productivity, among so many other positive things.
Examples of personal development goals you can set for work
You could set many goals for work; however, here are the most common personal development goals people set for work.
- Develop emotional intelligence
- Improve time management skills
- Learn to listen actively
- Cultivate resilience
- Develop a growth mindset
- Cultivate a reading habit
- Improve public speaking skills
- Effectively network and meet new people
How to set and achieve personal development goals for work
The steps given below will help you set and achieve personal development goals for your career.
Step 1: Create a vision
Step 2: Develop a plan
Step 3: Track your progress
Step 4: Review your plan regularly
Create a vision
The first step is to access your desires to identify what you want to achieve. This will help you outline your personal development goals. You will use the goals to create a clear vision of where you want to be and the timeframe needed to get there. Your vision, like your goals, should be SMART (Specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and time-bound).
Develop a plan
After creating your vision, it’s time to map out your plan to achieve it. So, identify the areas you need to act on to achieve your vision and articulate ways to improve on them. Please don’t forget that personal development is a learning process. So take time to find out your learning style before moving forward with your plan to enable the most effective improvement technique for each goal.
Track your progress
As you work on your goals, it is essential to record your journey as it will help you track your progress and help you achieve your goals faster. Because noting down changes or tweaks you make on your journey and their effect on your career growth will help take note of the best practices that work for you, you can keep on doing them to reach your goals faster. You can use productivity tools or a notebook planner to do this.
Review, review, review
It is important to review plans regularly to look at what you have learnt and achieved so far, and if your plan is still relevant to help you achieve what you want, or it needs an upgrade. Also, depending on your progress, you can adjust your timelines and even create space to add new personal development goals.
Conclusion
Following the above steps will help you set and achieve your personal development goals, not only in your career, but also in the different areas of your life. Cheers to success!
