BCI Professional and Academic Development Introduction For individuals to achieve happiness and success in their personal, educational, and career lives, they must continuously improve their skills, experience, and knowledge. This process is referred to as personal development, and it is a continuous lifelong process. Therefore, a personal development plan, commonly known as the PDP, is an action plan utilized to identify individual goals, strengths and weaknesses, areas requiring improvement and development to meet these goals, and what one needs to do to achieve their goals (). PDP also enables people to learn from experience and expedite the effort to attain the required objectives and outcomes. Creating the PDP enables individuals to position themselves for success by controlling their careers and personal lives. Moreover, a PDP is instrumental in helping individuals stay focused and motivated to attain their personal goals (). PDP can be customized to the individual's desires and needs and updated regularly to mirror their progress (). Therefore, PDP enables individuals to stay on track and attain their goals. Also, PDP enables individuals to understand their goals, ambitions, strengths, and weaknesses, thus leading them to success. Moreover, PDP enables individuals to determine the know-how and skills that have driven their successes and identify the skill gaps they need to fill to attain their objectives (). This PDP covers reflection on my previous learning experience using Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle, illustrates my skills and attributes, detailed action plan, and my weekly learning log. Reflection (600-700) Reflection is vital in allowing individuals to make sense of material/experiences concerning others, themselves, and the conditions that shape the materials/experience. This reflection employs Gibbs' Reflective Cycle to reflect on the previous learning in this module. Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle refers to the self-reflection and management tool that enables individuals to think methodically concerning their various experiences during a similar situation or specific activity and draw conclusions (). Gibbs Reflective Cycle was developed in 1988 by Graham Gibbs in the book "Learning by Doing". Graham believed that individuals learn from their past experiences to do better in a similar situation (). In this respect, individuals hardly use their past experiences to perfect in the next similar situation, so they do not learn from their experiences. Therefore, Gibb's Reflective model is a vital learning and teaching tool that describes a situation and enables individuals to make sense of, comprehend, and reflect on how to improve next time. The model has six stages, and every stage plays an instrumental role in helping individuals to engage and reflect on a particular learning experience. The six stages include description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion, and action plan. Description One of my written projects during this semester was developing my development plan. I had to reflect on my past to help understand the attitudes I have developed and the foundation on which I can build my life. I will reflect on my experience working on our group project, where I was selected as the group leader. Feeling I felt sad because I was a little comfortable with my skills or competency, and I did not need to engage in this painstaking effort to develop other competencies. I applied SWOT analysis based on my involvement in a group project. However, I felt happy during this assessment as I identified my strengths, including teamwork, assertiveness, and leadership, and my weaknesses, including lack of direction, self-discipline, and self-distraction. It helped to identify my development and training needs. Evaluation Looking back at my feelings during the SWOT analysis, performing a SWOT analysis based on my involvement in the group project was the best thing to do. I worked well with all members to complete our project on time. Moreover, as a team leader, I was assertive during group discussions. However, I also noted that distraction from social media, lack of self-discipline, and lack of direction hindered my personal development. Analysis When I analyze my experience doing this project, my team worked well on our project because of my exceptional teamwork and leadership skills. Other team members respected and selected me as their team leader because of my assertiveness. According to (), teamwork refers to the individuals' collective effort to undertake a task most efficiently and effectively. Therefore, teamwork tends to be at the centre of outstanding achievement, and this teamwork skill contributed to my personal development. Also, assertiveness enables individuals to express their ideas and feelings while respecting other people's feelings and rights. This attribute made other members respect and select me as their team leader. However, my lack of self-discipline to take the necessary steps toward self-improvement hindered my development. According to (), a lack of self-discipline makes individuals lose focus, prompting them to stray off the path to personal development and growth. Besides, there was always a distraction holding me back from moving ahead. For instance, social media continuously distracts me by engaging in unproductive chats, which wastes my time and time to direct my effort to personal development. Also, I barely wanted to leave my comfort zone for fear of the unknown. According to (), a lack of knowledge of what individuals want from their lives makes it hard to identify their core areas of expertise and strengths. Conclusion Overall, I learned that when I want to continue enhancing my personal development, I must improve my self-discipline, have a sense of direction, eliminate all distractions, and become more courageous to take bold steps towards my personal development. Self-discipline enables individuals to focus on the necessary steps to self-improvement, leading to personal development and growth. A sense of direction enables individuals to identify their core areas of expertise and strength. In future, I need to avoid distractions like engaging in unproductive ventures and chats on social media, which take much of individuals' valuable time and deprive them of the chance to direct their effort to their personal development. Action Plan Therefore, I will strive to eliminate all distractions that could hinder my personal development and growth in future, including unproductive chats on social media. Also, I intend to enhance my sense of direction through practice to identify my core area of expertise and strength. Moreover, I plan to take more courageous steps towards my personal development to eliminate the fear of the unknown, which hinders my personal development. Lastly, I also plan to enhance my assertiveness to continue expressing my ideas and feelings without disrespecting other people's feelings and ideas. Beausaert, S. et al. (2013) “Effect of using a personal development plan on learning and development,” Journal of Workplace Learning, 25(3), pp. 145–158. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1108/13665621311306538. Mishra, K.E. and Mishra, A.K. (2022) “The importance of teamwork,” Intentional Leadership, pp. 49–57. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367822170-11. Rimmer, A. (2018) “How do I prepare a personal development plan?,” BMJ [Preprint]. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.k4725. Shaheen, S. and Hameed, M. (2020) “Personal development plan (PDP),” World Family Medicine Journal/Middle East Journal of Family Medicine, 18(4), pp. 66–72. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5742/mewfm.2020.93801. Williams, K., Woolliams, M. and Spiro, J. (2012) “Using a framework for Reflection: Gibbs’ reflective cycle,” Reflective Writing, pp. 90–102. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/9780-230-37724-0_16.
