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PrintPhase 2 - Use the Template
Phase 2 – Using the Project YOU Personal Development Plan
template
Now you need to read through the steps below, take a good look at
the completed example plans at the end of the guide, and then get
busy on your own plan!
Step 1 – Focus areas
Now you are ready to use the Project YOU Personal Development Planning
Template. First fill in your focus area(s) - remember the maximum
is 3 areas.
Step 2 – Where are you now?
Fill in the “now” column for each focus area. This is
a brief summary of where you are now, and will be a mixture of feedback
from other people and your own thoughts.
For example, if your focus area is presentation skills, then it
may be that your “now” statements are “blush,
feel faint, stumble over words”.
(If this is a problem for you, you may like to try the Public Speaking
Confidence download at Hypnosis Downloads.com)
Step 3 – Will be?
If you went to bed tonight and woke up with your problem solved,
what would that be like? Write your answer down as your “will
be” statement.
This is a brief summary of where you will be when you have achieved
your goal. These statements need to be phrased positively.
For example, instead of “not feeling bad after presentations”,
write “feel content I’ve done the best job I can”.
If you are actively looking for signs of feeling bad after a presentation,
you can bet that you will find them, even if it was your best
presentation ever!
To make changes you need to focus on what you want, not on what
you don’t want!
Step 4 – How known?
This is the distance marker that measures how far along the path
you have come.
There is a close link between this and “Where are you headed”,
so there may be some repetition between the two areas. To keep it
simple, the “how known” column is there to help you
measure your progress.
To explain a little more; some things are easy to quantify, e.g.
your financial skills can be measured by your monthly bank balance.
However other things can be a bit less concrete. For example, how
do you measure improvements in your confidence? A trick to use is
to create your own scale.
Top Tip - If your “Where are you now” is that you feel
0/10 confident when doing public speaking where 0 is low and 10
is high, then your measure may be your self-assigned “score”
each time you present.
Ultimately, you may only want to move from 0 to 3 or all the way
from 0 to 8 or 9 – that is your decision; the key thing is
that you have broken down the task into something that is achievable
and measurable.
You are much more likely to succeed when you break down the improvements
into achievable chunks. So, you may get to 1/10 after your next
presentation – you’ve still got some way to go but you’re
going in the right direction. This will provide you with satisfaction
and optimism for further improvement. It also counters the ever-dangerous
‘all or nothing’ thinking.
Unrealistic expectations (e.g. being instantly great at presenting)
set us up for failure and then we beat ourselves up when we don’t
meet them.
Continuing the example, if your focus area is presentation skills,
then your “will be” or “how known” statements
may be “other people tell me I look confident, I hear my voice
being calm and clear whilst answering questions”.
A way to make this easier is to use “see”, “hear”
or “feel” statements. Take some time to think this through
and elaborate on the detail – this is an excellent way of
increasing your success rate.
Next, Using
the Template Part 2
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