“And moreover, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yes, he pondered and sought out and set in order many proverbs.” (Ecclesiastes 12:9)
The Personal Development Plan for Wise People
King Solomon was the wisest person to ever walk planet Earth (save for Jesus Christ himself). He was granted such wisdom from God and God further decided to give him wealth, peace, and reputation.
Yes, we can learn a lot about how to prepare a personal development plan from this ancient King of Israel.
From the Bible verse above I want you to glean three main things:
- PONDERED (requires time alone to think)
- SOUGHT OUT (development requires action)
- SET IN ORDER (goal-setting and plans of action are important)
Step #1 of Your Personal Development Plan
1. PONDERED. Extraordinary results in life require some time alone to think. You can’t come up with great ideas when your mind is occupied elsewhere. Much is accomplished in business, relationships, and spiritually in the quietness of contemplation. Don’t ever forfeit your quiet time to meditate on truth, to roll over ideas in your own head, and to brainstorm.
Greatness is kindled in the silent moments of personal reflection. Click here to Tweet this quote
Step #2 of Your Personal Development Plan
2. SOUGHT OUT. It’s not enough to simply think; you must act upon your thoughts. Wow, there’s a lot that could be said about this.
- Greatness never sits still for very long
- Dreamers are never remembered in history, only the doers are remembered
- Action speaks louder than words
- Mediocrity sits on the couch while high-performance achievers seek the hunt
- True leaders find mentors to learn from
- People of greatness seek to ensure that their ideas are doable in the long run, not merely hopes or dreams that will fizzle out when the going gets tough
To “seek out” is to not sit still. Sitting still happens in the pondering stage. This second step is data gathering at its finest.
If your dream is to build a house, you need to make sure you have the finances and time to see it to completion, otherwise you end up looking foolish. This is that stage.
King Solomon accomplished this stage for himself in very interesting ways.
For example, in the book of Proverbs, he watched a young man make a foolish decision by going home along the road towards the adulteress’ house. That endeavor ended poorly for the young man. Solomon learned this by “seeking out” to observe people in their own environments.
He also watched an army of ants, and a lazy man who wouldn’t sow seed in his own field. One time he observed a broken-down, ramshackle of house with a busted fence… and he learned about the laziness that would allow that to happen!
Step #3 of Your Personal Development Plan
3. SET IN ORDER. This is the goal-setting stage. It also happens to be the stage in which you can lead and/or teach other people.
You see, it’s never enough to ponder and then gather data. There comes a time when you simply need to push “publish” or ship your product or leave a dead end job in order to pursue God’s plan for your life.
You need a plan of action. This is a very necessary step to achieving extraordinary results in your personal development plan.
It requires order, not chaos. It requires a plan, not flying by the seat of your pants.
So there you have it. You should:
- Ponder or Brainstorm wisdom and ideas
- Seek out real life examples and/or mentors
- Put your goals into practice with a solid personal development plan.
It’s unlikely you will ever fail at what you put your hands to when you take this personal development plan seriously. Good luck!
Have you ever used a Personal Development Plan? Why or why not? (and how has it worked out for you so far?) – Please comment below
Yes i tried that but to a suprise i got some divided attention,i wanted to buy a car..it waz more challenging i failed,but i got ma lesson from you ,god bless you abundantly