ACTION PLAN- (PERSONAL LEARNING PLAN)

ACTION PLAN - (PERSONAL LEARNING PLAN)

To change one's life Start immediately Do it flamboyantly No exceptions!

(William James)

In order to attain your goals, it is crucial that you know exactly where you are now and where you want to be. In other words, you should have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and the most appropriate learning and development methods you are going to use to suit your own preferences and your learning style. Remember that the goals you want to accomplish are congruent with your different roles in life and reflect your deepest values.

This information needs to be transferred to an Action Plan. These Plans are often referred to as Personal Learning Plans (PLPs) because we learn from our experiences all the time. Life is a learning laboratory. Your motivation will definitely increase if you work on your goal or goals. You may have many goals, but it would be better if you have an awareness of a primary goal on which to focus for a certain period. Subsidiary goals can be related to the primary goal, so there is no conflict between them.

The recommended structure of the Action Plan or Personal Learning Plan aims to encourage a planned approach to learning or personal and professional development. Committing yourself to a systematic plan is more likely to achieve positive results than a casual approach.

The S – M – A –R – T acronym expresses very neatly what a good goal should look like:

• S - Specific- Be clear what you want to do and where you want to end up. I need to lose weight is vague. Be as specific as possible. State how much weight you want to lose. The habit of writing vague learning and development goals on the lines of "I need to lose weight” often results in vague activity in practice, and thus non-achievement and disappointment. Short - term goals using the SMART acronym also emphasises the benefit of giving a clearer and sharper focus on the practical short steps necessary to achieve results.

• M – Measurable – Measuring progress is an essential step to goal attainment because it helps you to know how to adjust performance in order to achieve your goal. You need to be clear as to how to track or measure your success and some way of telling when you have attained your goal.

• A - Achievable – Even if a goal realistically requires long term timescale, there is real merit in breaking it down into shorter manageable chunks. If you want to be a millionaire, aim to save a few hundred pounds first. Focus on a goal within a relatively short timescale, possibly only 3 to 4 months. If for example your goal is to be lighter, you know how many pounds to lose each week in order to reach the target weight.

• R-REWARDING – There should be pay-offs in terms of increase in knowledge, personal satisfaction, benefit and praise. When you achieve your goal, whether large or small, you must reward yourself as this will stimulate your enthusiasm for the next goal. The thought of a reward might keep you going when the going gets tough or the goal seems very distant • T-TIME LIMITED - Having written down your Goal, set a deadline. If you are going to lose ten pounds, set a date by which this will be done. Without a deadline, or time limit, it is a dream and not a practical goal.

• Reviews: Achieving your goals involves first writing down a plan and then executing it. Even if things are going according to plan, look at it critically and consider how the execution is going. As you begin to realise your goals, you may wish to raise the bar a bit higher and change your goals to tougher ones!

An Action Plan should be simple, comprehensive and concise involving a number of activities to achieve a definite outcome. A Coach will have an important role in helping you to design a proper Action Plan with clear milestones to achieve the goal.



ACTION PLAN- (PERSONAL LEARNING PLAN) - To learn more about this author, visit Sohan Singh's Website.

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