Personal strategic planning and tips

Personal Strategic Planning: 4-Step Action
Plan to Strengthen Your Personal Skills
Written By Brian Tracy | Personal Success | October 17th, 2012 | 7 Comments »
Only by discovering your innate, personal skills and developing and
exploiting them to their highest degree can you utilize yourself to get the greatest amount of
satisfaction and enjoyment from everything you do. Creating an action plan through personal
strategic planning can give you the highest rewards for your efforts and is the starting point in
getting the best out of yourself.
Corporate vs. Personal Strategic Planning
When we do strategic planning for corporations, we begin with the premise that the whole
purpose of the exercise is to reorganize and reallocate people and resources to increase the rate of
return on equity, or capital invested in the business. Invariably, this is done by emphasizing some
areas and de-emphasizing others, by allocating more resources to areas with higher potential
return and by taking resources away from those areas that represent lower potential returns. By
developing or promoting newer and better products and services and by discontinuing those
products and services that are less profitable, the company and all the people in it can channel
their resources to maximize their returns.
Get Your Free Report: Taking Action
In doing personal strategic planning, the first thing you want to think about is increasing your
personal “return on energy,” rather than return on equity. You need to realize that the most
essential and valuable thing that you have to bring to your life and to your work is your ability to
think, to act and to get results. Your earning ability—which is a function of your education,
knowledge, experience and talents—is your human capital, or your equity. And the way you
develop your personal skills and use your earning ability will largely determine the quality and
quantity of your rewards, both material and psychological, both tangible and intangible.
Action Plan Step 1: Clarify Your Values
This first part of personal strategic planning is called “values clarification.” You ask yourself,
“What values and virtues do I most admire and wish to practice in my life?” If you wanted to
discover your strengths and personal skills in the work world, first you would define your values
as they apply to employment. The values that companies settle upon would be similar to the
values that you organize your work life around. Often, both companies and individuals will

choose values such as integrity, quality, respect for others, service, profitability, innovation,
entrepreneurship, market leadership, and so on.
In a similar vein, you could use those values to define your position with regard to your work. In
your personal strategic planning, you could decide to plan your work life around the values of
quality, excellence, service, profitability, and innovation. There are dozens of values that you can
pick from, but whichever you choose, and the order of priority you place on your choices, will
determine your approach to your work.
Action Plan Step 2: Create Your Personal Mission Statement
Your next step is to create your personal mission statement. This is a clear, written description of
the person you intend to be in your work life. I have often found that this is even more important
than setting specific financial or business or sales goals. Once you have decided how much you
want to earn, you need to write out a personal mission statement that describes the kind of
person you intend to become in order to earn that amount of money.
Remember: Your goal is to identify your personal skills and strengths so that you can deploy
yourself in such a way as to increase your personal return on energy. In personal strategic
planning, one of the best mental techniques that you can use to develop your personal skills is to
see yourself as a “bundle of resources” that can be applied in a variety of directions to achieve a
variety of objectives. As a bundle of resources, the amount of time and energy that you have is
limited; therefore, your time and energy must be put to their highest and best use. Stand back and
imagine that you’re looking at yourself objectively, as if through the eyes of another person, and
you’re thinking about how you could apply yourself to bring about the best results. See yourself
as your own employer or boss. What could you do to maximize the output of which you’re
capable, and where could you do it?
Action Plan Step 3: Perform an Audit to Strengthen
Personal Skills
Once you have defined your values and written out your mission statement, the next step of
personal strategic planning is to do what is called a “situational analysis.” Sometimes we call it a
“performance audit.” This is the process of analyzing yourself thoroughly before you begin
setting specific goals and planning certain activities. You begin your performance audit by
asking yourself some key questions.

One of those questions should be, “What are my marketable skills?” Think about it. What can
you do for which someone else will pay you? What can you do particularly well? What can you
do better than others? What have you done particularly well in the past?
A wage or a salary is merely an amount of money that is paid to purchase a certain quality and
quantity of labor or output. The results that you’re able to get by applying your personal skills
and strengths largely determine your rewards in life. If you wish to increase the quality and
quantity of your rewards, you have to increase your ability to achieve more and better results. It’s
very simple.
Action Plan Step 4: Determine Your Area of Excellence
Finally, in personal strategic planning, the aim is always to achieve leadership in your chosen
market niche. Business leaders have the authority to determine the area of excellence in their
business. Analogously, on a personal level, you can choose the thing at which you’re going to
become absolutely excellent and achieve extraordinary results. So in what areas are you going to
work to achieve results that are far beyond what the average person could be expected to
accomplish?
You were put on this earth with a special combination of talents, abilities, and personal skills that
make you different from anyone who has ever lived. Whatever you’re doing today, it’s nowhere
near what you’re really capable of doing. The key to a happy and prosperous life is for you to
regularly evaluate your strengths and weaknesses, to become very good in the areas you most
enjoy, and then to throw your whole heart into what you’re doing.
I hope you enjoyed this article on personal strategic planning and how to develop your personal
skills to achieve ultimate success. I’d love to hear your personal mission statement, action plan
or steps you have taken to develop your personal skills and strengths. Please share and comment
below!
Topics included in this article include
Strategic Planning
Action Plan
Personal Skills
Personal Mission Statement
Personal Development Strategy and Tips


This personal development strategy and tips section offers great suggestions on how to change
your behaviour, learn new skills and change personality traits.
To successfully improve yourself you will need enough discipline and determination(kỉ luật và
quyết tâm).
To develop these two traits it is best to start by forming a habit of waking up early.
This personal development strategy will lay foundation(nền tảng) to other changes because by
waking up early you will be able to accomplish(hoàn thành, đạt được) many more tasks in one
day.
Also the ability to stay focused for long periods of time will greatly increase your success.
Although you can use many strategies to develop your skill to focus, meditation is the most
effective way to do this.
Another very important factor which determines the quality of your improvement is the action
you take for this change to happen. You should always make sure that the action you take is the
one that will produce great results.
Most popular Personal Development Strategy and Tips articles
20 Best Self Growth Books That Will Change Your Life – A list of my favourite self
improvement books that are capable of changing lives.
Personal Development Community – Join my personal development community to connect with
like-minded people.
The Law of Obedience – If you understand this universal law you will achieve all your desires
with much greater ease.
Depression Self-Help Podcast – You must listen to this podcast if you are depressed or feel really
upset or negative. It will uplift you and explain why you feel this way. The knowledge gained
from this podcast will enable you to change the way you feel and change your life as a result.
Personal Development Activities Guide If you want to learn how to develop courage, how to
achieve success and happiness, you should read this full personal development guide.
How to Change Your Behaviour
Every self improvement aspect requires change in behaviour. There are many ways to change it,
but the easiest way is by starting to observe your thinking process.

When you learn how to do that, you will find no difficulty in preventing negative thoughts from
coming to your mind. This way you will gradually start feeling better inside, causing the outside
world manifest according to how you feel.
All the strategies and tips on how to control your mind can be found in the Mind Power section
of this website.
Also, whilst trying to change your behaviour, you should be very careful in dealing with negative
people. They are able to get you into negative state of mind very quickly, therefore you may
become doubtful about wanting to change.
It is very important to stay positive no matter what situation you are facing, because your well-
being depends on it. Therefore even if faced by negative people, you should try your best to
remain in a positive state of mind.
You can also change your behaviour by changing your actions first rather than paying attention
to your current mood. This personal development strategy is very useful to people that find it
hard to change their mind habits.
By changing your actions you will cause your brain to make new connections and thus your
thinking will slightly change. When you constantly behave in a different way to your usual one
you will cause an entire mindset shift.
You should consider reading my article about self improvement activities. The actions listed
there will certainly improve your personality and lifestyle.
Whichever personal development strategy you will choose, it is a good idea to start recording
your internal changes in journal or any notebook that you have.
This way you will keep track of your progress and it would be a good reference point to check if
you are slowing down or speeding up in the changing of your behaviour.
Staying motivated is another essential element to being able to change yourself. It may be hard to
do this, therefore I have written an article that will help you maintain high motivation.
Personal Development Strategy on Learning new skills
So you have decided to learn a completely new skill. The problem is, you don’t know where to
start. I will help you here.
Lets say, you want to become good at public speaking.
Firstly you would need to improve your confidence level if you have low self-esteem.

Seek information about the new skill you want to acquire.
You can go to the networking events with current public speakers. They will give you tips that
could not be found in books.
People who have ‘been there, done that’ are more than happy to share information about what
they know.
Many people think that experts are not willing to disclose the secrets and tips of their industry.
This is not true. If you show your genuine interest in them, they will be more than happy to give
you invaluable information.
This personal development strategy works if you show to the experts that you respect and like
them. This way they will naturally start liking you. And you may even get a mentor! That would
surely make you learn fast.
If this advice does not fit you, you can always seek information using other personal
development strategies:
•  
!"
• #$%&$'("
• )"
• '*'*+"
• ,'"
• -"
Books and articles may inspire you to take that step forward. You may become more inclined to
learn the new skill. And, of course, it will give you deeper understanding about it.
But nothing can replace the real experience. So as soon as you gather some information, act on
it! Do not let the information rest without any use – accelerated personal development is a great
way to gain new skills.
Don’t feel like you know enough? Still go ahead. You will pick up relevant information along
the way. The best way to learn new skill is by constantly moving forward.
Personal Development Strategy on Completely Changing Personality
To completely change your personality requires more work than any other personal development
strategy. You will need to radically change your thinking about life. A good place to start would

be to read these personal development ideas to form a good foundation for a different
personality.
sually people understand that they need to change after doing something for far too long. Or they
may realise that they are constantly going in loops through life.
They may understand that they are stuck in a dead end job and see no way out. Or they may
realise that the relationship they are in simply does not work. Yet years pass by before they really
face such reality.
But here’s the good news. If you are in such situation, you are quite likely to succeed in changing
yourself.
This is because you have finally realised that you have wasted years of your life. Now you really
understand that every minute of your life is valuable. From now on, you will not let anyone stop
you from change. …Right?
Word of caution: After reading the steps below you will happily act on them. However, there
will be days where you will feel down.
In those moments stop and think.
Do you really want to become your old self? Will you really let this one-off mood ruin the rest of
your life?
You will probably ask: ‘So what should I do in such case?’
Simple. Put some favourite music on. Think about your pet. Think about a happy day in your
life. Think about your friends. Do something pleasing to yourself: have a haircut, go to the spa or
just have a hot relaxing bath at home.
Meditation works wonders too. I have been meditating for a long time, and benefits are
countless. But that’s a whole new article:)
Gratitude will also change your mood. Whenever you feel upset, start thanking for what you
have. This will shift your focus from negative things to what makes you happy.
Thank about every good thing in your life. Keep being grateful until your mood changes.
You will not understand how gratitude works until you try. So you might as well just try it now!
After the caution, you can proceed to the actual personal development strategy. Read it fully and
print it off (together with the caution note). Keep this paper with you wherever you go.
The change will require mix of methods. Here is the personal development strategy you should

use:
• '.-"/
'"
• 0"1*"
• 1**"
• 1**"1'"
• 2"1
"34!
• 56"7
"26"
• *"
• 8'*''"'
''"1'*"
9''*'+*:!
Hopefully this list will put you on the right track. However, if your circumstances are very
specific, you may need additional help. You can contact me by clicking this link and I will try to
help.
Was the personal development strategy worth your time? I really hope it was. That was my
intention anyway. I wish you all the best in the process of change. Let me know how you are
getting along!
Go back to the homepage from the Personal Development Strategy and Tips page.
Check out other great personal development strategy, advice and inspirational articles in the
Mind Power section from the Personal Development Strategy page.
50 Personal Development Tips
By Simona Rich in All Articles
;" Read Self-Help Books
&" Watch inspirational videos like this one I made
<" For every negative statement you get from your inner voice or some person, repeat an
opposite positive affirmation at least 20 times
=" Repeat affirmations by getting emotionally involved in what you say

>" Trust your intuition
?" Don’t watch negative TV programs
@" Don’t read negative news
#" Refuse to quit
A" Learn to use universal laws to your advantage
;$" Eat healthy
;;" Exercise
;&" Don’t sleep too much or too little
;<" Wake up early
;=" Provide massive value
;>" Share and give selflessly
;?" Donate money to become wealthier – if you find this article useful, donate here
;@" Smile a lot – it makes the world a nicer place
;#" Surround yourself with positive people and don’t spend your time with negative
friends/relatives
;A" Treat others the way you want to be treated
&$" Spend less than you earn
&;" If you don’t feel like doing something that you need to accomplish it, start doing it and
you will get the energy to finish it
&&" Spend your time wisely – you have a limited amount of it
&<" Wish only well for others
&=" Learn from people who achieved more than you instead of envying them
&>" Become the best at what you do
&?" To be successful you must become valuable to the world
&@" Eliminate your ego to see the world in the real light
&#" Get out of the psychic debt
&A" Don’t follow the masses if you don’t want to end up like them
<$" Refuse to worry about anything – time spent worrying is time wasted
<;" Overcome your fears by gaining knowledge and being bigger than your problems
<&" Gain inner peace by meditation

<<" In every failure look for opportunity
<=" Challenge your comfort zone to gain more confidence
<>" Become happier by contributing to the well-being of the society
<?" Question commonly accepted standards
<@" Understand how your thoughts create your world
<#" Take responsibility for everything that happens to you
<A" To never get bored again become an interesting person
=$" To attract your ideal partner become the person worth such partner
=;" To achieve your desires you have to pay the required price
=&" Know that the more you fail, the quicker you will succeed
=<" Get very specific about what goal you want to achieve
==" List all the things you are grateful for
=>" Spend 10 minutes a day being completely present
=?" Become aware of your thought patters and change the negative ones
=@" Find the connection between your health issues and daily thoughts you entertain
=#" Don’t resist negative events/circumstances because what you resist persists
=A" Become worthy of the goal you want to achieve
>$" Look at your list of goals every day with a pen ready to tick off the ones you achieved
Other Personal Development Tips
If you find it hard to control your emotions and in general your attitude is negative, this article
about negative attitude will help you make changes in your character.
Sometimes you need to use psychological games to undersand your own nature and the nature of
other people. To do that, watch the video of the Cube Game – it will make you aware of the
hidden aspects of your personality.
If you know what you need to work on but you simply lack inspiration to do that, read
inspirational quotes (external link) – they will motivate you to take action to improve your
current circumstances.