Developing a Personal Development Plan for a Student Pursuing MSC in Marketing - Assignment Example

Personal development Plan Personal development is a complex process. It is essential in ensuring that an individual strive to achieve their goals in live. Being a complex process, it calls for a person to put in place proper plan on how they will pursue their dreams. I am a student pursuing MSC in marketing. My aim is to attain academic Excellence, to secure myself a reliable job, and serve society in a better position than I am. There are various reasons behind my decision to develop personal development plan. First, it will assist me in evaluating my current situation in terms of skills, and what I need to acquire and achieve my dream (Derek 2001, p.5). Secondly, it will assist me in remaining focused in life as I strive towards my goals. In this case, I will be aware of what I need, how to get, and from where. Thirdly, with plans put in place, it will be easy to measure actual performance or achievement on timely bases so as to establish why and where I went wrong (Bradford, Duncan &Tarcy 2010, p. 115). The other reason for planning is that it assists in time management. The plan consists of time frame, and hence in the attempt to achieve the plan’s time frame, I will be able to manage my time speeding. As a student, planning will install a sense of discipline to reduce the effects of peer pressure. A plan assists young people to be committed in their studies, to cover the syllabus, make private studies group discussions, and attend motivational talks among others. In this case, I believe planning can save young people from peer influence, which negatively impact their life (Daft & Lane 2007, p. 5). In performing a personal development plan there are various factors, which I must consider. This includes the personal SWOT analysis, skills audit, and the expected outcome. The SWOT analysis will assist me in establishing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Skill audit is essential in establishing the already acquired skills, and what is required accomplishing my goals. Expected income analysis assists in determining what is required how long and how possible is it to achieve it. SWOT analysis. Strengths are positive standing points which can best assist in achieving one’s goal in life. Strengths can be naturally acquired or achieved through experience. Weakness is negative attributes which in one way or the other, can negatively impact an individual, and reduce exploitation of strengths and opportunity in life. Opportunities, on the other hand, are chances that an individual has to exploit in order to achieve his goals. Threats are factors or characteristics which may hinder one from achieving his goals and ambitions in life. I have four important strengths points in the achievement of goals. First, I am a person full of determination. When I focus on achieving a given target, I usually go for it with a strong mind and soul knowing that I will make it (Pavlina 2008, p.115). As a result, I am in a position to press on, despite challenges which comes on my way. It has been known from all over the world that successful people rose to their position through determination, in whatever they pursued. This is the reason why, as a student, I must possess confident to excel in my studies and thereafter in my career. Secondly, I am an ambitious person. It like what I do look forward to what I want to achieve at the end. This assists me in staying focused, and within the required track to reach my destiny and celebrate my success. My third point of strength is that i have good interpersonal skills. This is immensely essential in ensuring that I relate in a healthy way with my friends, classmate, lecturers, and any other person I come across. As a result, I learn a lot from other people as they learn from me. This way we assist each other in growing, in all aspects including academic, career and social life. The other thing is that I have strong communication skills, and hence I effectively and efficiently share information with others (Kumar 2008, p. 13). This can be important in both my academic and career. As a student, this attribute will assist in group discussions and enquiries from the administration, and from lecturers. In the future, this will assist me in networking when looking for a placement as well as relating with my colleagues. I have three main points of weaknesses to consider when developing my personal development plan. First, time management has been greatest problem over the years. This has seen me into trouble severally. As a result, I usually work against deadlines, which are unwanted behavior. Secondly, I am weak when it comes to dealing with peer pressure, not once have I found myself in a fix for following a bad company of friends and classmates. My third weakness is that I have poor public address skills. This is particularly as a result of my shyness every time I stand before a group of people. As a result, my confidence fades away and hence I address unsystematically, despite being confident. Despite my weaknesses, there are several opportunities, which I can take advantage of improving my standing grounds. First, attending multinational talks, guidance and counseling sessions gives me an opportunity to understand life in a better manner than I do. Secondly, I have an opportunity to take time and select straightforward friends, and discard those who are misleading. In this case, I will be in a position to overcome peer pressure and life positively. Lastly, I have an opportunity to use the education to improve my skills, develop a productive character and maintain my virtues in live. This will assist me to achieve my dream of a reliable job as well as being a productive member in society. Threats in life are always there, not necessarily to cut short our dreams, but can be used to strengthen us as we take care to overcome them (Nutley 2008, p. 31). There are two threats which I am likely to face in my undertakings. First, being unable to management my time may make me end up performing poorly in all aspects of my life, particularly in academics. This may be as a result of being unable to submit my assignments on time and finishing my syllabus within the required time (Brill 1986, p. 1-11). The second threat is being over ambitious, I strictly following my plans without changing depending on situations at hand. This may make me end up implementing inapplicable plan as a result of changes taking place in life. My aim in life is to attain competence in whatever I pursue, be it in the academics, or to my job. To achieve this goal, there are three attributes I should strive to acquire. They include skills, knowledge and attitude. To develop skills, I will, through various means, try to apply what we learn in class into practice in relevant and acceptable activities (Bill 2000, p. 124). For example, during the long holiday break, I will be working as a volunteer to practice the concepts I have learnt in class, and through private studies. Knowledge consists of what an individual holds in his mind and souls. It is a state of been informed about a certain concept. To acquire the required knowledge, I will strive to read, write and research. Research is the key source of knowledge; it can be done in a library or through the internet. Attitude is a metal status which controls personal perception about an individual, a concept or a factor. Attitude influences ones interest and desires towards something (Brian 2005, p. 16). For example, if a student has a negative attitude towards a given unity he or, she will never take it positively and concentrate. As a result, such a student ends up failing in that subject. So far I have a positive attitude towards my course and the lecturers. I look forward to maintain this positive attribute in my undertakings. The following image demonstrated how attitude, knowledge and skills are essential in achieving my goals in life. In conclusion, it is clear that personal development is a complex, but a very essential undertaking in our lives. This is particularly essential for young people who look forward to be responsible individuals in their studies and future service delivery. Being a complex concept does not mean that we should give up in developing ourselves. It is advisable to develop a plan consisting of attainable goals and objectives. An individual should analyze his or her personal SWOT analysis, establish his knowledge, skills and attitude towards what he or she want to achieve in life. From this analysis, an individual should be in a position to weigh what he wants, and how well placed he or she is to achieve it. I am confident that through planning and application of already acquired knowledge, skills, attitude, opportunities and strengths, I will overcome my weaknesses and threats am facing in pursuing my MSC in marketing and secure myself a job. List of References Bill, W. 2000, The Care & Feeding Of Volunteers: Recruiting, Retaining & Rewarding Volunteers. knowledge transfer publishing, Bangkok. Bradford, R.W., Duncan, P.J., & Tarcy, B 2010, Simplified Strategic Planning: A No-Nonsense Guide for Busy People Who Want Results Fast!. Chandler press house, New York. Brian, T 2005, Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life: How to Unlock Your Full Potential for Success and Achievement, John Wiley & Sons, New York. Brill, P 1986, ‘Corrective and social psychiatry and journal of behaviour technology’ methods and therapy, Vol. 32 No. 33, p. 1-11. Daft, R.L., & Lane, P.G 2007, The Leadership Experience, Thomson learning, New York. Derek, G 2001, Glynis Buckle Personal And Practice Development Plans In Primary Care: A Practical Guide To Getting Started, Elsevier Health Sciences, Woburn, MA. Gordon, A 2010, Great Mid-life Career Switch, United Kingdom, Oxford. Kumar, S.A 2008, Entrepreneurship Development, New Age Publisher, New Delhi. Nutley, T 2008, The Little Book of Personal Development, Lulu.com, , New York, NY. Pavlina, S 2008, Personal Development for Smart People: The Conscious Pursuit of Personal, Growth Hay House, Inc, London. Read More