The prompt
Score 10 of 10, Excellent
Use it when You want a realistic plan for the skills and experience you will build this year, to share with your manager or keep for yourself.
- {{time_frame}}
- {{reader}}
- {{where_i_am}}
- {{goal}}
- {{resources}}
Full prompt and why it works
Prompt
Help me write a personal development plan for the next {{time_frame}}. I will share it with {{reader}}, so it should be specific enough that we could both tell at the end whether I followed it. Where I am now (role, strengths, feedback I have received): """ {{where_i_am}} """ Where I want to be, and why: {{goal}} Time and support I realistically have (hours per week, budget, a mentor, projects at work I could join): {{resources}} Produce: 1. Two or three development goals that lead toward where I want to be, each stated as something I will be able to do, not something I will study. For example, a goal with the right shape: "Run a client meeting on my own, from agenda to follow-up", not "Improve communication skills". 2. For each goal, three to five actions that mix on-the-job experience, learning from people and formal learning, with a rough date and the hours each needs. 3. Evidence of progress: for each goal, one thing I could point to, such as a piece of work, feedback from a particular kind of person, or a result. 4. Check-ins: when to review the plan and three questions to ask at each review. 5. Support to ask {{reader}} for, in one or two sentences I could say in a one-on-one. Show parts 1 to 3 as one table with the columns Goal, Action, By when, Hours, Evidence. Keep the whole plan under 450 words. Fit the plan into the time I said I have; if the goals need more, cut actions and say what you cut. Do not recommend specific paid courses, certificates or providers by name unless I listed them, because I will choose those myself. If my goal is vague, such as "grow" or "get promoted", ask me one question about what that would look like, then draft the plan around the most likely answer and say which answer you assumed.
Variables
- {{time_frame}}
- For example "12 months" or "six months".
- {{reader}}
- Who will see the plan, for example "my manager" or "only me".
- {{where_i_am}}
- Your role, strengths, recent feedback and what you find hard.
- {{goal}}
- Where you want to be and why, for example "ready for a team lead role in a year".
- {{resources}}
- Hours a week, any budget, a mentor, projects you could join.
Why it works
- What good looks like. Goals are written as things you will be able to do, with evidence for each, so you and your manager can tell at the end whether the plan worked.
- Length. The plan has to fit the hours you actually have, and it says what it cut when it does not.
- If unsure. A vague goal gets one question and a stated assumption, rather than a plan built on a guess you cannot see.