Bringing development in one's self is about bringing changes and becoming different, no matter, if it is in one's work or anything else which does not comes under work. Developments, in most common cases, entail change and learning. Changing one's reaction to scenarios and one's perspective. In addition to this, learning a myriad of new things including new ways to deal with people, new angles and new things. Personal Development is about changing yourself in order to change what you get back (Key Note Project, 2002, pp. 3-24).
Using a personal development plan helps a person in having more clarity in his or her visions and what the person wants to achieve. For this reason, the personal development plan, starts from a personal goal. What is required to be different? This is the point which a person has already discussed with his or her coach or mentor (Business Link, 2005, p. 2-10). In this paper, I am going to develop a personal development plan for myself.
Key Skills
Key skills of a person help him or her to realise the hidden and unrecognised skills that he or she has learnt. Moreover, people who have their skills on their fingertips have better chances of success in their academic career, job and throughout their lives.
My key skills are as follows:
Communication
Oral presentations
Project reports
Public speaking/ debating
I.T Skills
Producing publicity for student societies
Using e-mail to communicate
Using the WWW as a source of information
Word processing reports and essays
Learning to Learn
Setting and meeting academic deadlines
Prioritising workloads
Using learning logs to aid reflective practice
Demonstrating and tutoring
Studying books to further enhance knowledge about any topic
Work Experience
Since employers want such people who can exercise a wide array of other skills, apart from the skills learnt from their programme of study. Having a personal development plan is very beneficial to articulate the skills which students are developing at present. In this regard work experience is very necessary; although, it may be not related to the programme of study and may include voluntary work as well (Krikwood, 2008, pp. 3-5).
I have previously worked as a mid-wife and the skills which I have developed while being on that job are an asset to me.
Strengths
Listing down one's strength helps a person in focusing on his or her positive aspects as a person. My strengths are as follows:
I am a very practical person
I have strong communication and interpersonal skills.
The subjects on which I have strong grip are anatomy and physiology. I believe I am good at these two because I also studied in college of health sciences back in Saudi Arabia.
Areas of Improvement
Areas of improvement are those which require attention and needs to be developed. These areas of improvement, if addressed properly, can eventually turn into strengths. It is important for a person to assess his or her areas of improvement, in order to be successful in the career which the person has chosen. My areas of improvement are: