Once a person has decided that they want to commence upon a personal development program they should then undertake some critical self analysis.

It is only by first having a critical look at their own selves that individuals can work out what areas of their lives need attention. This process of self examination can be very painful but it is essential that it is undertaken.
Decide

After having a critical look at themselves it might be that there are several components of their life and being that require to be worked upon.

Many individuals can be very hard on themselves and simply believe that everything is wrong with themselves and they need to work on every component. Such way of thinking is likely to bring about failure. It is essential to be more specific.

After having looked at themselves in a critical way and noting down the areas for self development individuals should then rank the areas according to how important they believe the areas are to improved personal performance.

Such rankings will differ from individual to individual. What is important is that the individual realizes which area is to be focused upon first.

By placing attention on one or very limited number of areas to begin with it is more likely that success will be achieved rather than striving to make many changes or learn too many strategies at once.

When the area for personal development has been determined the individual must then decide exactly what the outcome should be. It is unworkable to have undefined or woolly goals such as “I want to be happier.” Precision is what is needed here so that there is a clear objective to work towards. Once that objective is clearly defined then the task involved to bring about its outcome can be broken down into achievable steps.