Personal Development at Work is Vital

Your Personal Development Plan (or professional development plan) is your opportunity to co-create a plan of your progress through the company you work for. There is more to it though than simply finding out what your company are looking for in order that you can be promoted or receive a pay rise. This is your opportunity to sit down and think about all the positive changes you'd like to make in your work, your character and your personality. My advice is to take this one stage further and actually consider what you want to improve, change or achieve in your personal life also.

So few people actually sit down and take time to plan their time, their work and their lives. Those that do, tend to achieve more, be more successful and are generally much happier in all that they do. Increasingly people are doing this process at work, but that is only half the story and it's normally only done because your employer makes you do it!

The key to a successful life lies in getting both aspects sorted out. Your PDP is far more productive and appealing if you can incorporate your out-of-work goals and targets as well. Sometimes your employer will allow you to include these things in your plan, however most commonly you will have to do them at home on your own steam.

At some point in your life you are likely to take stock and wonder about what meaning you have given your existence and it's far better to pre-plan that than to arrive at some age (possibly a mid-life crisis) and worry about it then!

If you are lucky enough not to have any choice in producing a professional or personal development plan then make sure you participate in the process. See it as an opportunity to grow and develop as a person - it will help you in the long run with your career, with future employers and if you can build in your personal life plan it will help you with your work-life balance.

Basically, if you want to get ahead, then you must take this process seriously and ensure that you achieve what you set out to achieve. Companies like motivated, go-getters and this is one of your chances to prove that you are such an employee.