Achieving your personal growth goals with an IDP – Part three
Key Takeaways:
- The Foundation, Wheel of Life, and Vision Setting are the foundational segments of Susco’s IDP.
- Vision setting triggers the brain to see outside events as hints of how to approach your goals.
- Using your personal strengths in conjunction with key elements of your IDP promotes faster growth.
Your IDP – individual development plan – is most effective when you reach into the core of your wants and needs to be honest with yourself about your talents and abilities. It takes active work. None of your plans will solidify until you put in the physical, mental, and emotional effort.
I’ve already shared with you the key aspects of an IDP and how they can help push you toward your goals in Parts 1 and 2 of this series. In this final segment, Part 3, I’ll recap the importance of the Foundation and Wheel of Life and reveal the area where the even more serious work happens – vision setting.
The three primary segments of Susco’s IDP
The Foundation, Wheel of Life, and Vision Setting are vital to the success of your IDP.
We previously discussed how valuable having a sturdy foundation is to your IDP. At Susco, our Foundation revolves around your dreams and goals. It starts with your legacy statement and words you want the world to associate with your presence. It continues with how you see yourself moving forward with your core values at the helm of your decisions.
I’ve found that the Wheel of Life is one of the most useful life-balancing tools you can have in your arsenal, whether you’re striving for personal or professional greatness. This simple visual exercise makes it easier to see where your life needs improvement by ranking your level of satisfaction in significant areas of life. It’s a great segue into the real meat and bones of your IDP – vision setting.
A closer look at Vision Setting in the Susco IDP
We place a great deal of value on the efficacy of visualization at Susco. It’s where all the action happens in your IDP – and in your life. It’s where you create the vision that will become your reality.
We begin vision setting by defining our visions as future memories, giving them the power to come into existence almost effortlessly. Seeing these goals as achievable and using creative imagery to map out the actions to get you there provides motivation, improves motor function, and increases confidence. In many cases, visualization and other mental exercises are almost as effective as the actual physical implementation.
The next step is to decide on your best- and worst-case scenarios for the meaningful areas of life: health, fun and leisure, personal growth, family, career, finances, and community. Susco team members are only asked to fill out the career section, but you’ll find immense benefit in filling out as many areas as possible. Many non-career goals can help with future career objectives.
Imagine you’ve used a time travel machine to see your future. The objective is to then write the best- and worst-case scenarios you may be living in your chosen time frame. This exercise gives you something to look forward to and something to steer clear of. Imagining both situations elicits a strong emotional response that is a potent driver.
You establish your goals for the next year using your best-case scenarios. Choose attainable goals that move you toward your best-case scenario in 12 months. It’s important to remember that goals are outcomes, not actions, and all need deadlines.
You also need to create actions that will support attaining those goals. If your career goal is to earn a certification, you’ll need to set an action of taking the required classes. If your health goal is to lose weight, you’ll probably create an action step to limit calories and increase physical activity.
Keep in mind that this is only your first pass. You may look at your IDP tomorrow and decide you’ve taken on too much or aren’t being realistic. You may even determine that a goal you’ve listed isn’t really relevant to you anymore. You can always readjust to fit your needs before you get started.
Moving forward with your IDP
Using the key elements of your IDP in conjunction with your personal strengths and traits is a crucial step in your journey of self-discovery.
Core values
You’ve done the work and unearthed your core values. They are the things that govern your decisions and actions. The key is learning to pursue your goals in alignment with your values to keep your motivation and self-esteem high.
Suppose you value honesty at all costs but must occasionally tell a lie for your supervisor. In that case, your job will feel like an awful place to be, effectively wiping out your career and financial goals in one fell swoop.
Recognize problem areas
Making improvements is more complicated when you aren’t sure where the problem lies. Identifying your weak areas gives you direction and shows you where to start making improvements, and it’s a fundamental part of the foundation of your IDP.
Achievable goals
It’s way too easy to get carried away and list goals that aren’t achievable within your timeframe. Doing so not only knocks out your motivation and self-esteem but wastes time you could be spending on something you can fully achieve within the set timeframe. This portion of vision setting is essential to move forward in life.
Tracking progress
Tracking your progress is essential no matter what you’re doing. Seeing how far you’ve come is crucial to motivation – it is helpful in all areas of the IDP and life.
These elements work together to clarify your purpose and help you prepare for the success you’re meant for.
With your IDP, you are about to take a life-altering step in a new direction. Giving it your all is pivotal in making the next 12 months the most exciting of your life – so far!
Take the next step toward a better life
Creating and following your IDP will change your life – how fast and how well depends on you. I base my teachings on what I’ve found to be true about personal transformation and how it affects every part of life.
Take a look at my Medium, Twitter, and LinkedIn pages to see what personal transformation looks like and what it can do for you!