Self growth is a continuous journey that leads to your ultimate destination — happiness. A self growth plan is like a road map that guides you through this journey by helping you identify the goals and actions you need to take to get there.
Having a self growth plan is essential for anyone who wants to live a successful and meaningful life — from college students to entrepreneurs to busy moms.
In this article, we’ll discuss the benefits of having a self growth plan and how to create one that works for you!
What is a self growth plan?
Self growth is the process of improving yourself on a personal level. And a self-growth plan is a road map that helps you develop new skills, shed old beliefs, increase self-awareness, and better yourself emotionally and mentally.
In other words, it helps you become the very best version of yourself, owning who you are!
Benefits of a self-growth plan
A self growth plan helps you uncover your true passions, your likes and dislikes, and what you truly want to get out of life. And its benefits are limitless! For instance, a self growth plan can help you:
- Gain clarity on your goals and what you want to achieve.
- Identify your passions and what makes you happy.
- Create healthy habits that lead to a happier lifestyle.
- Increase your productivity and time management skills.
- Set yourself up for success in all areas of your life.
Do you really need a self growth plan?
Yes, yes, yes!! Every woman can benefit from a self growth plan. It doesn’t matter what you’re trying to achieve — more confidence, better finances, better health, stronger relationships — having a self growth plan is key.
Here’s why:
As a child, your identity is shaped by the people who raise you. And although you may learn some incredible values from them, you may also pick up some self-limiting beliefs along the way.
However, a great part of growing older is that you get to re-evaluate these beliefs. You get to choose which parts of your identity you want to keep and which ones you want to shed.
This process of self improvement and growth as a person is never-ending. And it can perfectly be summed up by this quote from Atomic Habits by James Clear: “Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs, and to upgrade and expand your identity.”
How to create a self growth plan: 8 Key steps
Creating a self growth plan is easier than you might think! Here’s a simple, step-by-step guide:
Step 1: Determine which area of your life you’d like to improve
So, the first step to creating your self growth plan is to choose which area of life you’d like to improve. For instance, some things you can focus on are:
Improving your finances
Your finances are intertwined in almost everything you do. Get those in order, and the rest of your life may feel better too.
Firstly, improving your finances could include basic things like taking stock of your current financial picture, setting financial goals, and ridding your mind of money myths.
After that, it could include more advanced things like creating a new budget, paying off debt, or learning to invest for the first time.
Becoming more physically fit or healthy
One of the best investments you can make in yourself is living healthy. You were put on this earth with one body. So, creating a self growth plan to improve your physical and mental health is a great way to take care of it.
Becoming healthier could include going for walks on the weekend, exercising at home three days a week, drinking more water, buying healthier groceries, or even just getting a full night’s sleep. And no matter your finances, there are ways to live healthy on a budget.
Working on your mindset
Your mindset is a critical part of growth as a person. If you have a scarcity mindset or a poor mindset, you may convince yourself that life right now is as good as it gets.
So, why try for more? As a result, it can trap you in your current reality and make challenges seem impossible to overcome.
Transforming your mindset into one of abundance can unleash your true potential and help you break through ceilings you never thought possible — whether those ceilings are in your finances, career, personal life, or otherwise.
Increasing your confidence
Confidence is a powerful thing. It helps you feel secure in who you are as a woman. Likewise, it keeps you grounded in strength and high self-esteem. So, if you want to increase your confidence, make it part of your self-growth plan!
It could be as simple as incorporating some confidence building exercises into your life. For example, you could make intentional eye contact with people, take yourself out on a date, or write down everything you’ve accomplished so far in life.
Finding a dream job or career path
What does career success look like to you? Maybe it’s earning a six-figure or even seven-figure salary. Further, maybe it’s launching a side-hustle or standing out from the crowd at work.
Whatever it is, adding professional development goals to your self growth plan can be a great way to get one step closer to working in a job you love.
Building better relationships
Communication is important in any relationship. So, for your self growth plan, you may want to focus on building stronger connections with those around you.
This could include talking to your partner about finances, setting firmer boundaries with friends, or even moving on from a toxic relationship.
So, what area of your life do you want to improve first? If multiple resonate with you, it may be helpful to create a self growth plan for each.
Step 2: Get clear on who you want to be
Another quote I love from Atomic Habits is, “The most effective way to change your habits is to focus not on what you want to achieve but on who you wish to become.”
There’s something motivating about envisioning where you want to be in life. So, for this next step, think about the woman you want to become at the end of your self-growth journey.
Where do you live? How do you spend your days? How do you feel? What are your interests and passions? Be detailed!
For instance, maybe you want to be more financially secure. So, you need to get really clear on what you look like as a financially secure woman.
For example, for you, financial security may look like having enough money in the bank to become a digital nomad and travel around in a van full time.
For your best friend, it may mean quitting her full-time job so she can soak up more precious moments with her kids while they’re still young.
Same goal (financial security), different outcome. So, get clear on what your life will look like once you achieve growth as a person.
Step 3: Break your goals down into bite-sized pieces
Once you can clearly see who you want to be, it’s time to break your vision down into bite-sized pieces. This will make it easier for you to identify the specific actions you need to take to achieve your goal.
For instance, if you want to become a financially secure digital nomad, some specific actions you might need to take are:
Breaking down big goals (such as yearly goals), into smaller goals (such as monthly goals) can help you conquer them much easier!
Step 4: Create a timeline for your self-growth plan
Once you have your specific actions, it’s time to create a timeline for completing them. This will help keep you accountable and on track towards achieving your goal. (Remember, SMART goals are key.)
For instance, say you want to move into your sprinter van in two years. Make sure your timeline has enough wiggle room for you to pay off your credit cards and build up an emergency fund first. So, in this case, you may create mid-term goals on your timeline that look like this:
- First four months: Pay off your credit card debt.
- Next 10 months: Build up an emergency fund.
- Last 10 months: Save up for a sprinter van.
Step 5: Focus on getting 1% better every day
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to make radical changes in your life to achieve growth as a person. You just need to focus on getting 1% better every day.
So, step four of your self-growth plan is all about taking daily action. It’s about building up tiny habits that will compound and get you where you want to be three, six, 12 months from now.
One of my favorite ways to do this is with a daily routine. For example, let’s go back to our digital nomad example. You could create a daily routine where you spend one hour:
Step 6: Hold yourself accountable by sharing your plan with others
The next step of your self-growth plan is to hold yourself accountable. The best way to do this is by sharing your goals with others.
When you share your vision and timeline with friends, family, or a supportive online community, you’ll be more likely to stick to it because you don’t want to let them down. Plus, it’s always nice to have people rooting for you along the way!
Step 7: Evaluate and adjust as needed
The beauty of a self growth plan is that it’s flexible. Most importantly, you can adjust it as needed depending on what’s working and what’s not.
For instance, if you find it’s taking you longer to build up your emergency fund than you thought, it’s okay to bump out your timeline. If you find out living in a van is too much work and you’d rather travel internationally part-time instead, that’s okay too.
The purpose of a self-growth plan is to help you uncover your likes, dislikes, and what you truly want out of life. It’s perfectly normal for those “wants” to change as you gather more information about them.
Step 8: Celebrate your accomplishments along the way!
The final step of your self-growth plan is to celebrate your accomplishments along the way! This will help keep you motivated and inspired as you work towards your goal.
So, make sure to set aside time each month (or even week) to reflect on all that you’ve accomplished. And don’t forget to pat yourself on the back — you deserve it!
Create a self growth plan today!
So, there you have it: a simple eight-step process for creating your very own self-growth plan. This is just a starting point though – feel free to customize and tweak as needed. Above all, the most important thing is that you take steps to create a more fulfilling life for yourself.
Because let me tell you, there’s something truly magical about getting to know yourself and prioritizing becoming the best version of “you” you want to be.
It puts curiosity in the driver’s seat. And the more you follow this curiosity, the more you align with your true purpose in life.
Get started on your self growth plan and create the life you want!
