Have you ever stopped to ask yourself, “Do I have a plan for my personal growth?” If the answer is no, don’t feel bad—you’re not alone. Most people leave their growth to chance, hoping things will somehow get better in the future without putting a solid plan in place. But here’s the truth: real, lasting growth doesn’t happen by accident. It takes intention, commitment, and a strategy.
In this post, I want to explore why having a plan for personal growth is crucial, how it can transform your life, and the simple steps you can take to create your own personal growth curriculum.
I used to be someone who didn’t pay much attention to personal development. I didn’t read books, didn’t listen to podcasts, and didn’t think much about improving myself. That all changed when I went through a significant trial in my life. It forced me to face my shortcomings and realize that if I wanted my circumstances to improve, I had to improve first.
As James Allen famously wrote in As a Man Thinketh, “People are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves. That is why they remain bound.” We often dream of better lives, higher income, or stronger relationships, but fail to recognize that none of these things will change unless we are willing to grow.
John Maxwell says it best: “The only way to ensure tomorrow is better than today is to grow.” If you’re waiting for life to get better without investing in yourself, you’re relying on wishful thinking. Growth doesn’t happen by accident—it happens on purpose.
When I ask people to imagine their lives five years from now, most are optimistic. They expect their income to rise, their relationships to improve, and their dreams to be closer to reality. But when I ask how they plan to make that happen, the answer is often unclear.
That’s because there’s a gap between where you are and where you want to be, and the bridge across that gap is personal growth. Without intentional effort, that gap won’t close—it will widen. The good news is that by taking ownership of your growth journey, you can build that bridge step by step.
To help you get started on this journey, I’ve outlined four simple steps you can take to create a personal growth curriculum that works for you:
Before focusing on developing skills, it’s crucial to look inward. What are the character traits you need to strengthen? What fears or limiting beliefs are holding you back from reaching your full potential?
Often, it’s not a lack of ability that keeps us from success—it’s fear. Fear of failure, fear of judgment, or even fear of success. If you want to break free from these barriers, you need to identify them and commit to growing in the areas of mindset, confidence, and resilience. As John Maxwell puts it, “Character growth determines the height of your personal growth.”
So ask yourself: what fears or limiting beliefs are holding me back? What character traits do I need to develop to succeed?
Once you’ve addressed your internal barriers, it’s time to focus on competence. What are the key skills you need to master to reach your goals?
For example, if you want to become a professional speaker, you need to develop your public speaking skills. If you want to start your own business, you’ll need to grow in areas like marketing, leadership, and sales. It’s important to focus your growth efforts on mastering the skills that are directly tied to your goals, rather than spreading yourself thin over random topics.
In my own life, I’ve identified that I need to be excellent at coaching, speaking, and marketing. These are the areas I devote my time and energy to because they align with my long-term vision.
Now that you know the character traits and skills you need to develop, it’s time to gather the right tools to help you grow. This could include books, courses, podcasts, mentorship programs, or even hiring a coach.
Do your research and make a list of the resources that are specifically tailored to your growth goals. For instance, if you need to improve your public speaking, find a course or a mentor who can guide you. If you want to overcome limiting beliefs, look for books or coaches that specialize in mindset transformation.
Don’t leave your growth to randomness. Be strategic in selecting the tools that will help you get to the next level.
The final step is simple, yet often overlooked: schedule time for personal growth. What gets scheduled, gets done.
If you don’t carve out intentional time for growth, it’s easy for it to fall by the wayside. I recommend setting aside time every day, even if it’s just 15 minutes, to focus on your growth. Over time, those 15 minutes will add up to massive progress. Whether it’s reading a book, taking an online course, or listening to a podcast, consistency is key.
One of the easiest ways to make time for growth is by reducing the hours you spend on social media or other distractions. Redirect that time toward your development, and you’ll be amazed at how quickly you can move forward.
At the end of the day, your potential is God’s gift to you, and what you do with it is your gift back to Him. Personal growth isn’t just about improving your circumstances—it’s about becoming the person you were created to be.
To recap, here are the four steps to creating your personal growth curriculum:
If you follow these steps consistently, you’ll not only close the gap between where you are and where you want to be, but you’ll also ensure that tomorrow is truly better than today.
Remember, don’t leave your growth to chance. Get intentional about it, and watch your life transform.
Let me ask you a question, “Do you have a plan for your personal growth?”
Do you truly have a plan in place to grow in key areas of your life…in key skills…in key relationships?
Or is your growth right now left up to random chance?
If you ask people this question, the majority of people will not have a plan for personal growth. So if your answer to that question is no, there’s no reason to feel bad about it, but it is definitely something that is worth figuring out as soon as possible.
There is nothing that has made a bigger impact on my life than my commitment to personal growth.
I used to be one of those people who never read books, never listened to podcasts, never really cared about the whole personal development space.
It took a serious trial in my life to kick my into gear and force me to start working on myself. Since then, I can confidently say that my commitment to personal growth has been one of the best decisions of my life.
There is a quote a recently ran across that I wanted to share with you. It is by James Allen in his book “As a Man Thinketh”
He says, “People are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves. That is why they remain bound.”
People are anxious to improve their circumstances…but are unwilling to improve themselves.
If I asked you to look out 5 years from now, would you think your circumstances would be better or worse? Would your income be up or down in five years? Would your relationships be better or worse? Would you be closer to your dreams or further?
Most likely, your answer was optimistic for these questions. Typically, people assume that their circumstances will be better in the future. But is that just based on a wish? Or is that based on a plan?
Is that just a hope? Or is that because you know what you are going to do to make that happen?
There is a gap right now between where you are and where you want to go…and I believe the bridge to that gap is personal growth.
John Maxwell has a famous quote where he says “The only way to ensure tomorrow is better than today is to grow.”
To believe that your circumstances will magically get better in the future without investing any time in developing yourself - your character and your skills, is wishful thinking.
In order to grow you need to get intentional about it.
As kids, your growth track was already set up for you. You went through school with a curriculum that helped you grow and develop key skills and knowledge. You didn’t have to think about the things you needed to learn…the teachers took care of that for you.
If you were in sports, you most likely had a coach and a trainer laying out your program and helping you develop the skills necessary to succeed.
But once you graduate and you’re done with school, it is fully up to you to take ownership of your personal growth.
Unfortunately, this isn’t something that you are taught to do. It’s not something that is talked about.
It is crucial that you start investing in your own personal growth if you want to get to where you want to go. If you want to chase down your big dreams, you will have to grow. If you want to be a better husband, you will have to grow. If you are single and you want to find a great girl and be fully prepared for marriage, you will need to grow.
The bridge between where you are and where you want to go is personal growth. You cannot assume that you will automatically grow….you must get intentional about it .
Brendon Burchard says, “If you leave your growth to randomness, you will always live in the land of mediocrity.”
If you’re not investing in your personal growth, now is the time to start! It will be one of the best decisions you will ever make.
If you are already investing in your personal growth, you are on the right track! But now is the time to get even more intentional and more focused with it to make sure you are growing in the right areas.
So today, I want to give you 4 simple steps to create your own growth curriculum to make sure you are growing in the right way…and giving yourself the best path to getting to where you want to go.
Step 1: Identify Character Traits You Need to Develop and Fears You Need to Overcome
Oftentimes, it’s not just a lack of competence that is holding you back. More often than not, it is a lack of confidence that is primarily holding you back. Or it is fear that is holding you back. Or a poor attitude or mindset.
You can develop your skills all you want, but if you are letting the fear of failure drive your life, you will not put those skills to use.
We all know those people who are extremely talented, but don’t seem to be living up to their potential. Typically, there is some sort of fear or limiting belief that is holding them back from actually using all of that talent to the full potential.
You must attack these fears and insecurities head on if you want to reach your full potential. If you want to reach your dreams.
I have seen stats that say 90-95% of people never actually live out their dreams…I know for a fact that is not because of a lack of skill…it is usually because there is some fear holding them back. They aren’t willing to take risks. They aren’t willing to bet on themselves. They are too scared of what other people will think. Or they are afraid to step out and fail
Ask yourself, “what are the main things holding me back from reaching my dreams?”. Identify those key things and then make the commitment to grow in them.
The 9th Law in John Maxwell’s 15 Invaluable Laws of growth says “Character growth determines the height of your personal growth.”
Start with growing in character.
Develop your mindset. Break limiting beliefs. Develop better habits of self-talk. Grow in your integrity. Grow in your ability to stick to your commitments.
These areas will determine the height of your personal growth
Step 2: Identify The Key Skills You Will Need in the Future
After identifying the key character traits you need to develop and the limiting beliefs you need to overcome, you need to grow in your competence. You need to get really good at the key skills required in whatever field you are interested in.
If you wanted to become a professional golfer, you know that you would need to get out and practice golf. You would need to develop your long game and your short game. You’d work on Driving, chipping, putting.
It wouldn’t make sense to go practice basketball everyday and assume you are going to get better at golf.
Yet, that is oftentimes how we approach personal development. We read random books. We listen to random podcasts…
Yes, you are growing, but you might not be growing in the key skills that are required.
This is what took my personal development to the next level. You must identify the key skills needed to succeed in your field of interest and then become laser focused on developing those skills.
If you are starting your own business, you will need to be good at marketing. Start finding courses that help you with marketing.
If you are wanting to be a public speaker, get really, really good at speaking. Take courses. Hire a coach. Read books on speaking. Listen to podcasts on speaking.
It seems simple but it’s not often how approach things.
In my world, I need to get really good at coaching, speaking, and marketing. So those are the areas I need to be focused on developing.
This is what will separate you from others. Determining the few key skills you need to be great and get laser focused on developing them. Instead of being someone who is decent at a lot of things, be someone who is world-class at a few.
Step 3: Research resources that will help you grow
Ok, now that you have identified the key character traits you need to develop and you’ve identified the key skills you need to develop, spend some time researching the books, courses, mentorship programs, coaches, and podcasts that will help you develop those skills.
Make a list of the books you want to read that are targeted specifically toward your goals. Go out and see what kind of training programs are out there that can help you develop the specific skill you need. Research coaches that can help you overcome your limiting beliefs.
Don’t leave your growth to randomness…find the resources that will help you become world-class. Find the resources that will help you grow in the areas you need to grow in.
This step should not take you that long but will make all of the difference.
The last step would be to put personal growth on the calendar.
What is scheduled oftentimes get’s done. What is not on the schedule, oftentimes falls through the cracks.
Choose the book you want to read or the course you want to take and then schedule in consistent time to devote to growth.
I would highly suggest blocking out time everyday to devote to personal growth. Even if it’s just 15 minutes a day, you need to devote consistent time. Start small and get in the habit of doing it and then you can build from there.
You will be amazed at how many books you can read, how many podcasts you can listen to, or how many courses you can get through if you just devote time each day.
Take a look at your screen time. Instead of spending an hour a day on social media, put that hour towards your personal growth. If you are serious about pursuing your dreams. If you are serious about reaching your goals and growing into your full potential, you must make a commitment to personal growth.
Put it on the calendar and stick to it.
If you do it consistently with intensity and focus on the areas you need to grow, you will have a leg up on the majority of people.
Remember, potential is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God. One of the best ways to steward the gifts and time he has given you is to continuously grow and develop into the best man you can be.
To recap the steps.
The only way to ensure tomorrow is better than today is to grow.
You got this! It’s time to stop leaving your growth to randomness and get highly intentional about it.
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Thank you for joining today! Go live a life you are proud of by living intentionally.
