Personal Development Report: Goals, Plans, and University of Cambridge

This report delves into the multifaceted concept of personal and professional development, emphasizing the importance of self-assessment, goal setting, and strategic planning. It explores the value of short, medium, and long-term goals, providing real-world examples to illustrate their practical application. The report examines the role of the University of Cambridge in fostering individual growth and highlights the significance of a well-defined personal development plan. It outlines the steps involved in creating a plan, including identifying strengths, weaknesses, and objectives, and offers a practical example to guide the reader. The report underscores the critical role of personal development in enhancing skills, boosting confidence, and ultimately, achieving one's full potential. The report also includes valuable insights into the benefits of professional development for both employees and employers, emphasizing the need for continuous learning and skill enhancement to ensure career success. The report concludes by reinforcing the importance of consistent effort and strategic planning in achieving personal and professional goals.

Report On Personal
Development

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
1. Describe about the personal and professional development...............................................1
2. Discuss about the short-term goals and its value with three personal examples................2
3. Describe about the medium-term goals & its value with personal examples.....................3
4. Describe about the long-term goals and its value with personal examples........................4
5. Discuss about the personal development plan and also create an example using the
recognized goals.....................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Personal development can be defined as it is the lifelong process and also a way for
people to assess their own skills and qualities, consider their aims in life and set goals to realise
and maximise their potential. To enable the personal empowerment it is important that to make
the plan relevant, positive, effective life choices and decisions for the future. In this report, the
analysis has been done on the concept of personal and professional development. The analysis
has also been done on the value of short-term and medium-term goals with some examples. The
research has been done on the long-term goals with some particular examples and also discuss
about the value of a personal development plan. The chosen organisation or university is named
as University of Cambridge. The University of Cambridge is a collegiate research university in
Cambridge, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1209. Cambridge is the second oldest university
in the English speaking world and the world’s fourth-oldest surviving university. It is one of the
most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Cambridge is formed with 31 semi-
autonomous constituent colleges and over 150 academic departments, faculties and other
institutions organised into six schools.
MAIN BODY
1. Describe about the personal and professional development
Personal development can be defined as the process of self-improvement which focuses on
the development of the own skills, awareness and knowledge and as well as on the overall sense
of identity. Personal development is necessary for the self actualisation. All individual have an
in-built need for personal development which occurs through a process named as self-
actualisation. While personal development takes place in the respect of institutions, it is defined
as the methods, tools, techniques and evaluation systems offered to support positive adult
development at the individual level in the business (Cao and Kang, 2020). Whereas professional
development can be defined as to all the training, certifications, education and knowledge that a
worker needs to succeed in his or her career. Even if the worker has necessary skills, then he or
she may need additional skills in the future. Through professional development, the worker can
learn new skills and practical knowledge which will help in upgrading the career of a person.
There are some benefits of professional development for employees as well as the employers.
Employers have lots of benefits from professional development. They promote for the higher
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employee retention rates. By learning the right kind of skills which is correct for the career then
employees will become more productive and efficient, thus helping the business for which they
work succeed. With respect to Cambridge University, it plays a very important role in the
individual personal and professional development. It is the famous and prestigious university
where an individual and a student can grow themselves by their active participation in every kind
of activities conducted by the university. Personal and professional development initially starts
from the university level where student learn respective things regarding their career and build
their personality and prepare themselves for the outer world. Cambridge university builds their
students in such a manner that they stand out differently from other people in this competitive
world (Howard and Eddy‐Imishue, 2020).
2. Discuss about the short-term goals and its value with three personal examples
A short-term goal can be defined as the something which needs to be done in near future.
The near future can be today, this week, this month and even this year. A short term goal is
something which want to be accomplished very soon. A short term goal is a goal can be achieved
in 12 months or less.
Value of short-term goals
Short-term goals is defined as the initial step towards the long-term planning effectively. It helps
in enhancing productivity and reducing dithering. These short-term goals can be varied from
days to weeks and maximum months. Short-term goals define that how far already have come
and how long still needs to be travel for achieving the goal. Three examples of short-term goals
are of the following:
 Enhance the social skills
 Develop new languages
 Improve the habit of getting up early in the morning
Social skills can be improved by building good relationships with other people can greatly
reduce stress and anxiety in the life. By improving the social support is linked to mental health.
New languages can be learnt through online media, colleges and by the help of specific teachers.
Habit of getting up early in the morning can be developed through by following twenty one days
routine. Then automatically comes in the habit to follow that particular routine (Khedher, 2019.
These kind of short term goals can be achieved very easily by maintaining the consistency in it.
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University play an important role in achieving these short-term goals. For getting ready for the
college at a particular time can contribute in improving the habit of getting early in the morning.
With the help of university teachers, particular language can be learnt with the support of them.
By regularly going for the university can help in increasing the social circle which will help in
improving the social skills.
3. Describe about the medium-term goals & its value with personal examples
Medium-term goals can be defined as that are achieved only after a sequence of short-
term goals have been achieved and which build together to form a long-term goal. Medium-term
goals is somewhere achieved between short-term and long-term goals.
Value of medium-term goals
Mid-term goals is that kind of goals which enable to check the progress and evaluate that
whether the movement is in the direction of long term goal and whether needs to change the
plans or choices. Once short-term goals are achieved then the person is motivated to enhance
their medium range goals which is set for the few months also even for a year (Le and Quy,
2020). It enables individual to enhance and make the most use of this transition phase from
stepping stones of short-term goals to life-time planning in the face of long-term plans.
Following are the three examples of medium-term goals
 Starting a new digital business
 Become a effective public speaker
 Enhance leadership skills
A new digital business can be a medium-term goal because having an idea about the digital
business and thinking about it is considered under the short-term goal but its implementation
turns into the medium-term goal. University can contribute by providing knowledge into the
particular sector for the digital business so that basic mistakes will not hinder in the success of
the business. For converting themselves into effective speaker it is required that to have a good
communication skills where University can play an important role in supporting for becoming an
effective speaker. Leadership skills can be improved through by participating in the different
kinds of activities conducted by the university which will help in enhancing the confidence level
of an individual. University provides an environment, vision , mission towards the goal which
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will help in improving the thought process of an individual and it will convert it into a leadership
personality (Levin, 2019).
4. Describe about the long-term goals and its value with personal examples
A long-term goal is something which wants to be accomplish in the future. Long term
goals need planning, strategy and patience. Long-term goals are not something which can be
achieved in the week or even in the particular year. They need time for achieving their goals and
usually at least several years away.
Value of long-term goal
Long-term goals are those goals which are the last target of the milestone termed as short-term
and middle-term objectives. Long term goals can stretch their time period over the five years or
more than that. It is a kind of answer of those question that where do you see yourself after the
five or ten years from now. Having long-term goals are beneficial for any individual because it
gives big returns, profits and results out of their whole planning and the dedication which has
been put into it. Following are the three examples of long-term goals.
 Buying a dream house near beach
 Enlist company into top ten companies of the country
 Going for a world tour
For purchasing a dream house needs a lot of investment for which the education needs to be
done at a higher level so that new business and a high level of job can be achieved within the
near future (Meeus, 2018). For enlisting the business into top ten digital ideas of country, an
individual needs to take a certificate or do a course from the university so that it helps in the
generation of new kind of ideas. For completing a world tour its very important that the
individual should have proper knowledge about the particular areas which they want to cover in
the future. University gives a brief, accurate and authenticate knowledge to the individual so that
they can plan their tour with proper planning. Digital media can give the knowledge about the
places but the university helps in supporting to see the threats and seeing the world in a holistic
manner.
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5. Discuss about the personal development plan and also create an example using the recognized
goals
A personal development plan is a written account of self-reflection and improvement
which doubles up as a detailed action plan used to fulfil academic, personal or career based
goals. Personal development plan is for the purpose of developing the own capabilities, potential
and learning new skills which will transform the personality of an individual )(Parodi and Tamm,
2018). Personal development plan can be made in some particular steps by identifying the
strengths, weaknesses, objectives and long-term goals which are really necessary for the overall
development or transformation of an individual (Parodi and Tamm, 2018).
If an individual has identified the goal that an individual wants to open their business on the
digital platform in the next five years. For fulfilling this target first of all the individual should do
the course or take a certificate from the reputed university like the Cambridge university. Next
they have to plan that in which sector they want to do their business and understand the current
requirement of market. Then look for the investors who invest and take interest in the particular
business. After the completion of this step, they have to market their products and services and
also make a plan for doing the marketing so that they can achieve their objectives and also their
goals. For maintaining the consistency in the business it is important to ready with the new kinds
of ideas and explorations so that people take interest in the products and services. The plan
should be such that it takes care of their competitors and also have a back up plan for the
emergency situations (SATKOVÁ, 2019).
CONCLUSION
Personal development is very important in an individual life. Personal development not
only enhances the personality of a person but also increases the confidence level of a person.
Personal development can be done through by learning new skills, criteria, enhancing the
knowledge. (Lisbona, and et.al., 2018). Personal development can be done in an effective
manner through shot-term, medium-term and long-term goals. In this way, for achieving the
higher targets its important that to divide the whole journey into small parts by doing proper
planning. Personal development is something focusing on their strengths and remove the
weaknesses. Or it can be corrected through by working on it and practicing on those skills.
Through personal development anything can be achieved if anything is focused on the longer
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period of time. Each type of goal gives the reason to achieve it so that an individual can move
forward for their next step. In this way, they can reach nearer towards their targets.
Personal development not only transform the personality of a person but also gives a new
perspective towards the life so that new inventions can be created for the development of the
country. So its important to do their personal development over a period of time but also in a
consistent manner.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Cao, S. and Kang, S.J., 2020. Personal remittances and financial development for economic
growth in economic transition countries. International Economic Journal, 34(3), pp.472-
492.
Howard, V. and Eddy‐Imishue, G.E.K., 2020. Factors influencing adequate and effective clinical
supervision for inpatient mental health nurses' personal and professional development:
An integrative review. Journal of psychiatric and mental health nursing, 27(5), pp.640-
656.
Khedher, M., 2019. Conceptualizing and researching personal branding effects on the
employability. Journal of Brand Management, 26(2), pp.99-109.
Le, N.T.C. and Quy, V.T., 2020. Dimensions of Luxury Hospitality Service Personal Values in
Confucian Culture: Scale Development and Validation. Journal of International
Consumer Marketing, pp.1-16.
Levin, D.M., 2019. The listening self: Personal growth, social change and the closure of
metaphysics. Routledge.
Meeus, W., 2018. Adolescent development: Longitudinal research into the self, personal
relationships and psychopathology. Routledge.
Parodi, O. and Tamm, K. eds., 2018. Personal sustainability: exploring the far side of sustainable
development. Routledge.
Parodi, O. and Tamm, K., 2018. Personal sustainability: Exploring a new field of sustainable
development (pp. 1-17). Routledge.
SATKOVÁ, J., 2019. ART THERAPY AS A TOOL OF PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT IN
UNIVERSITY EDUCATION–FRIDA KAHLO IN THE STUDENTS ‘WRITTEN AND
VISUAL REFLECTIONS. Ad Alta: Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, 9(1).
Winnicott, D.W., 2018. The maturational processes and the facilitating environment: Studies in
the theory of emotional development. Routledge.
Zwozdiak-Myers, P., 2018. The teacher's reflective practice handbook: Becoming an extended
professional through capturing evidence-informed practice. Routledge.
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