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Have you set any personal development goals for yourself recently? If not, and you’re interested in doing so, this post will give you 28 money, career, health, and mindset personal goals and ideas so you can start pursuing the best version of you starting today.
All of these personal growth goals will help you become a more well-rounded person 🙂 So let’s get into it.
This post is all about 28 personal development goals for women.
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Money Personal Development Goals
These specific goals will help you get your finances in order.
1. Learn how to budget
Budgeting is perhaps one of the most important money skills you can have. If you’ve never budgeted before, you probably don’t know how much money you have coming in (your income) or how much money you are spending.
Budgeting can sound like hard work (I know!!) but it is so helpful when it comes to getting organized with your finances and making progress on your financial goals.
If you aren’t sure where to start, check out the zero-based budgeting method or the 50-30-20 method. There are various ways to budget, you just have to find the one that works for you!
2. Learn how loans and debt work
There are various student loan basics that you need to be aware of – like how loans work and how debt works in general.
If you have student loans, this is especially important for you, but even as an adult in general, it’s best to know how debt works because it’s unlikely you’ll go through your entire life without having to encounter debt or loans at least a time or two!
The first step in understanding your debt is learning about the student loan basics:
Principal: Principal is the amount of money you borrowed. For example, if you went to college and you took out a student loan for $25,000, the principal amount for your student loan is $25,000.
Interest: Interest is the money you are charged for taking out a student loan, or the cost of borrowing. For example, if you borrow $25,000 to pay for college, you will be charged interest for borrowing that money.
Interest is added on top of your Principal. The amount of interest you are charged depends on your interest rate. The lower your interest rate, the better.
Monthly payment: Your monthly payment is the minimum amount that you are required to pay each month for your student loan.
Don’t feel like you need to understand everything about your debt immediately in order for you to get it under control. It’s totally okay if it takes you a little while to understand what’s going on.
You can start with setting long-term goals like “I want to pay off my debt by X year” – setting smart goals like this will help you start an action plan toward becoming debt free.
3. Learn how to negotiate your salary
Have you ever negotiated your salary? If not, you could be missing out on a good chunk of money over the course of your life.
Negotiating your salary can feel awkward and definitely be intimidating, but it helps to remember that most employers expect you to negotiate.
Want to learn exactly how to negotiate from an HR professional? Check out this post.
4. Read financial books
Financial books are a great way to learn more about money! If you really want to become more knowledgeable with your finances, check out the following books:
I Will Teach You To Be Rich – Ramit Sethi
“The easiest way to get rich is to inherit. This is the second best way—knowledge and some discipline. If you’re bold enough to do the right thing, Ramit will show you how. Highly recommended.” — Seth Godin
Financial Adulting – Ashley Feinstein Gerstley
“A must-read! Ashley covers the important and often complex financial topics in a way that even a reader with no financial background can understand.” — Tiffany Aliche, New York Times Bestselling Author of Get Good with Money
Your Money Or Your Life – Vicki Robin
“This is a wonderful book. It can really change your life.” — Oprah
You Are A Badass At Making Money – Jen Sincero
“Though this book is mostly about mastering your money mindset, there are a few practical tips that anyone can employ, no matter where you are on your financial journey.” — Business Insider
5. Learn how to invest your money
If you want to retire at some point in your life, investing is so important! You don’t need to be a complete pro when it comes to investing to set your future self up for financial success, either.
Understanding the basics of a 401(k) or even an individual brokerage account can take you so far.
If you need to open a new account, check out brokerages like Fidelity or Vanguard. These are some of the most popular ones!
6. Learn how to best save your money
Saving money can be hard so you have to find ways to save that work best for you.
Once you make a plan to save up some money, consider keeping it in a high-yield savings account (instead of a regular savings account) so that your money can grow while it sits there.
Career Personal Development Goals
These professional development goals are things that’ll help you advance in your career.
7. Improve your interviewing skills
The only way to get better at interviewing is to practice! Look up questions online, practice your answers to them, and then have a friend or family member ask you interview questions, too!
Interviewing can be tough but there’s no amount of interviewing in the world that should keep you from leaving a job you don’t like.
Last summer, I interviewed 34 times before finding the job that I have now! And I can assure you, as stressful as it was, it was so worth it.
8. Be willing to learn and grow in your role
It’s so important that while you are working for your company that you are improving the skills you already have as well as learning new ones.
When it’s time for you to pursue a new career opportunity or even a promotion, you want to feel confident in the skills that you have developed. You also always want to make sure that you are still marketable.
9. Understand how to pursue a promotion
If you think it’s time to start pursuing a promotion and you want to focus on career advancement, start by expressing to your manager that you are interested in the next step in your career, and then asking how you can get there.
Typically if you are going to be promoted you’ll assume the responsibilities of the role you’re aiming for for some time before you get the promotion – to show your managers/company that you’re capable of those duties.
Put a bug in your manager’s ear 8 months to a year before you’d like to get the promotion and then check in with them to make sure you’re meeting their expectations and on track every month or so.
10. Improve your public speaking skills
Public speaking (unfortunately or fortunately) is often totally unavoidable in the workplace!
But don’t worry — if you’re not a big fan of public speaking, or you simply need to work on your communication skills in general, you are not alone. Public speaking is actually the #1 phobia in the world!
The best thing you can do to improve your public speaking skills it to practice and practice some more. The more you do it, the better at it you will be!
11. Optimize your work environment for productivity
Are you comfortable at your workplace? Is your workspace ergonomic and does it help you be your most productive self?
If you work in an office, hopefully your workspace is taken care of by your current company. If you work from home, however, check out this list of 35 work from home must-haves for a productive work day.
12. Find a mentor
Mentors can be incredibly valuable in the workplace and have a huge impact on you as a career professional if you don’t have one already.
If you have questions about your work or company that you aren’t comfortable with asking your coworkers or managers, a mentor can be a really great option for candid advice.
They can also point you in the right direction if you feel stuck in your career or if you feel like you could use a little guidance to set goals at work.
If you don’t have a mentor, definitely consider getting one!
13. Grow your network
Similar to getting a mentor is growing your network in general. You just never know when your connections are going to come in handy.
You might need help with a project in the future, or you may need help getting an interview at a company you really like, and that person you connected with at the coffee shop years ago might be your in.
Never underestimate the power of connections (even with your team members!) no matter how simple they might seem at the time.
Health Personal Development Goals
These achievable goals are things you can work on to improve your mental and physical health.
14. Find an exercise/workout routine you enjoy
Finding a workout that you actually enjoy is a complete game changer. It may not always be the most desirable thing to move your body, but if you find an exercise class or form of movement that you truly enjoy, it’ll be much easier to show up.
Check out these reviews on Orangetheory and the Whitney Simmons’ Alive App for weightlifting.
15. Consume healthy food and drinks
I don’t know about you, but eating healthily and making better decisions about the food that I put in my body can be so tough! But as we all know, if we want to live long and healthy lives, the food we put in our body is so important.
Eating more of the things that are good for you will ensure that your body operates optimally.
16. Limit foods/beverages that aren’t good for you
The same goes for things that we shouldn’t be eating or drinking. Everything in moderation.
If you find yourself eating or drinking too much of something that isn’t good for you, be mindful of this and start making healthy swaps!
17. Consider trying therapy / medication
Thankfully, therapy and even medication aren’t nearly as taboo to talk about as they once were.
Everyone is different, but there’s truly no shame (here, at least!) if you need to use therapy, medication, or both, to get back to your best self or to simply have a better life.
Therapy can be a little intimidating and scary if you’ve never tried it before. If you feel that way, check out this post on the benefits of therapy and how you can find a therapist for you.
18. Try journaling
Journaling is a great practice for mindfulness and slowing down. There are many benefits of journaling — it can be a great way to process your thoughts and a great way to document your life in general.
19. Implement meditation
Another great way to slow down and practice mindfulness is by meditating. It can be tough the first few times, but after a while, you’ll get better and better at it.
Try the free app Headspace to get started meditating.
20. Reach out to family and friends often
Oftentimes, we underestimate the impact that healthy relationships have on our mental health.
As humans, we crave connection and feeling loved. Who better to help us (and vise versa) in these ways than our favorite people in the world?
Be mindful about reaching out to family and friends and there’s no doubt you’ll see the benefits quickly.
Mindset Personal Development Goals
Here are a few examples of personal development goals related to mindset that can help you become and even better person.
21. Work on being more positive
If positivity is something that you need to work on, you’re not alone! Try surrounding yourself with more positive people. You may just start to emulate their outlook on things, and slowly over time, become more positive yourself.
22. Get out of your comfort zone often
When’s the last time you got out of your comfort zone… in a good way? Getting out of our comfort zone can feel, well, uncomfortable, but that’s the point!
When we get out of our comfort zone, we find new ways to have new experiences, we grow as people, and often, we become better people.
The next time you have the opportunity to challenge yourself and get out of your comfort zone in different ways, go for it!
23. Practice loving yourself
When’s the last time you looked yourself in the mirror and said great things about yourself like… “I love you”? This can feel a little weird but it can be so helpful when it comes to practicing loving ourselves.
We say “I love you” to so many people in our lives… why not say it to the person that we hang out with the most?
Practice loving yourself on a daily basis – it’s one of the best ways to build confidence and live a more peaceful, loving life.
24. Treat others how they want to be treated
The old saying goes “treat others how you want to be treated”, but there’s just one problem with that — just because we’d like to be treated a certain way in certain situations doesn’t necessarily mean other people want to be treated that same way as well.
Being mindful of this is a good idea. Paying attention and being aware of how other people want to be treated is a really great way to show someone respect and show that you truly care about how they feel.
25. Travel when you can
Oftentimes we wait until we are older and have more money to go travel the world. The only problem with waiting for the future is that we often have more responsibilities as time goes on, and we may not have enough time or freedom.
Not only that, but we can’t guarantee that we will be in the same health that we are in right now.
If you are able, save up a little money and add travel to your to-do list. You can travel solo or go with the people you love, but no matter what – make sure you get out and learn about other people and places!
26. Watch your ego
If you’re not aware of the power of your ego, you may not realize just how often it slips into your thoughts and draws you away from your highest/best self.
If you are interested in your ego and want to learn more about it, check out the book The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. This book can be a little hard to follow at times, but the messages throughout the book are powerful and life-changing.
This book also has a lot of messaging and tips about how to stay and enjoy the present moment, if that’s something you’d like to work on as well.
27. Practice confidence
Confidence is such an important life skill, but it can be really tough to harness.
If you feel doubtful of yourself and often have limiting beliefs, surround yourself with people who lift you up, find hobbies that you enjoy or that you feel good at, take care of your health, and step away from social media more often than not.
Confidence may not always be around, but with a little mindfulness and intentionality, we can get better at bringing it into our lives.
28. Read personal development books
There are so many great books out there that can help you feel so inspired and motivated to improve and become the best version of yourself.
If you are interested in personal development (which I imagine you are if you’ve gotten this far in the post! 🙂 ) some amazing books are:
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Want to develop better habits and ultimately change your life? This is the book you need to read.
You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero
If you could use a big boost of motivation to go after the things you want most in this life, then you NEED to read this book.
The Defining Decade
If you’re in your 20s, you’ll want to read this book as soon as possible. This book is written from a therapist’s perspective with many stories about the twenty-year-olds she worked with and how their choices impact their lives.
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- Part Time Job Pros And Cons
- 9 Things To Expect When Starting A Remote Job
- The Best Work From Home Equipment – 35 Items You Need For A Productive Workday
- 46 Different Types of Job Benefits Examples
