Personal Development

There are several things you learn at school like math, science and other academic subjects. But perhaps, the most important lesson you will ever get at school deals with your development as an individual. Given that man is a social animal, it is the development of one's social and interpersonal skills, which is highly valued in the world today. It is on these grounds that the previously ignored topic of personal development is back in the mainframe after suffering comparative ignominy over the past few decades when pit against the more academic subjects.

Definition
The definition treads a murky line. Most people will agree that it would ideally cover a range of subjects, such as understanding oneself, one's interests and setting commensurate life goals. One can also include building one's own identity or branding oneself and also developing and sharpening one's own talents. So, we can see that when thinking about personal development, one tends to cover a range of subjects that cover much of one's past, present and future.

Importance in Today's World
Let me take an example from the field of marketing. Nowadays, there is a lot of emphasis given to quality, when it comes to making a purchase decision. If there is one thing that sets one product apart from the rest of the clutter, it is better quality. Same applies for human beings. To set ourselves apart and to reach the top of the social and organizational pyramid and achieve success, the only way you have is to be the best you can be. Standardization can be seen in products and people all over the world - it is the value addition to it that makes all the difference to the end product and to the customer.

Personal Development Plan
You can almost never have a set timeline of events for two reasons. Firstly, because it is a lifelong process of self-understanding and self-improvement and secondly because, each one takes a different amount of time to make positive changes to oneself. But, if you are looking for a plan, you might be looking to hit points like self identification and improvement, long and short term goal setting, definition of own values and lifestyle, setting the life-priorities and making a strategy of realizing career and lifestyle aspirations. So when you make a personal development plan, the above mentioned items do need to be taken due cognizance of.

Sample Template
Here's a table that will help you aid your own pursuit of self-development.

Skill	Current Proficiency	Targeted Proficiency	Plan for Development	Time Required	Evidence of Improvement
Skill #1
Skill #2
Skill #3
Skill #4
Skill #5
Skill #6

Personal development may perhaps never happen in isolation. You often need help from a third party in identifying and developing your goals and then in achieving them. You may also want to take the help of your friends who will help map your progress systematically an in an unbiased way. Like I said before, it is a life long pursuit and hence one small plan can rarely make you the complete human being. Repeated short term planning is what you need to do along with positive thinking and successful goal and progress mapping.