Personal Development Map
Introduction to Personal Development Mapping “PDM”
By Mark Hostetler
What were you designed to be? What were you designed to do? I believe you were designed to be an expression of God in the world. You were designed to make an impact. You are one of the billions of expressions of God’s creative genius in the world. What is amazing is that your particular design is a one of a kind. There is no one on the earth just like you. Your gifts, your talents, your mind, your body, your heart, how you think, act and feel, etc. all combine to create the beautiful unique person that you are.
Your growth process from child, to adolescent, to young adult, to adult, to senior citizen is what I like to refer to as your personal development process. This personal development process is a journey. It has a beginning and an end. Your parents were the first people to give you a map for this journey. The map showed you where you were, where you should go and some guidelines to get you there. Many other groups of people have given you maps to follow; extended family, school, peers, church, hollywood, the music industry, the internet, social media, your dominate culture, etc. I think it is important to recognize that sometimes the maps contradict each other and confuse you about which way to go. Other times the maps support each other and make it very hard to resist their influence, be it good or bad.
Many people avoid the subject of personal development because they know it means change and change can be scary. There is no question that change requires energy, focus and action. The truth is that change is unavoidable. Life is like a river that is moving in a direction and unless we make the effort to fight the current we will be carried along with it. I like to imagine swimming with the current as living within our comfort zones, while swimming up current or getting out of the river as seen as breaking out of our comfort zones. Anyone who has ever done physical training knows that unless you push your muscles outside their comfort zone they will not get stronger.
Deciding to do personal development is about making the effort to determine the direction of your life. This process requires setting goals, giving meaning to those goals and creating a plan of action. Matterchatter has created a PDM template to help individuals create their personal plan. The PDM template is wholistic and includes setting goals for ten critical life domains. Like any effort to create real change in our lives, having good support is very important. Individuals committed to personal development would benefit by having a mentor or participating in a personal development group.
Life Domain Evaluator
Sacrificial /Love Test
1. What sacrifices are you making to improve your spiritual life? How are you loving God?
2. What sacrifices are you making to improve your emotional life? How are you loving yourself?
3. What sacrifices are you making to improve your relational life? How are you loving people?
4. What sacrifices are you making to improve your physical life? How are you loving your body?
5. What sacrifices are you making to improve your financial life? How are you loving your assets, resources and income?
6. What sacrifices are you making to improve your educational life? How are you loving your mind?
7. What sacrifices are you making to improve your occupational life? How are you loving your job?
8. What sacrifices are you making to improve your recreational life? How are you loving your creativity/play?
9. What sacrifices are you making to improve your systems of order? How are you loving your planning process?
10. What sacrifices are you making to improve your missional life? How are you loving your purpose?
Guidelines for creating a personal development action plan:
Spiritual Life - Key action: "Connecting"
1. Receive God's love daily
2. Pay attention to my inner voice, most of the time it's God's voice
3. Allow God's love to flow through me
Emotional Life - Key action: "Feeling"
1. Self-evaluate so I know what I am feeling.
2. Develop healthy ways to cope with emotional pain
3. Invest in relationships and resources that build me up
Relational Life - Key action: "Giving"
1. Build relationships with people capable of loving me
2. Love by giving and making sacrifices for others
3. Work at growing my understand and ability to love
Physical Life - Key action: "Working"
1. Take care of my body with food, exercise & sleep
2. Make habitual the physical activities I enjoy
3. Dedicate specific times for physical activities
Financial Life - Key action: "Saving"
1. Stick to a budget, don’t spend more than I make
2. Set savings goals & auto deduct as much as possible
3. Give some of my money away
Educational Life - Key action: "Reading"
1. Never stop learning and keep feeding my mind
2. Be humble and teachable
3. Pursue new opportunities to learn
Occupational Life - Key action: "Envisioning"
1. Discover my natural abilities, gifts and talents
2. Do what I love even if the pay is bad
3. Find work that allows me to express my uniqueness and values
Recreational Life - Key action: "Playing"
1. Practice the creative acts I enjoy the most
2. Pursue a couple passions with passion
3. Play habitually
Organizational Life - Key action: "Planning"
1. Develop a system that helps me prioritizes my values
2. Set aside a consistent time to manage my life
3. Set up support and accountability for my goals
Missional Life - Key action: "Caring"
1. Look for opportunities to make a difference
2. Use my unique gifts to help others
3. Ask God daily to direct my path