Powerful teams are made of powerful individuals
Personal development is a journey
Personal Mastery is critical to effective living. Group success depends on the ability and motivation of individuals.
You started this life with unique gifts, skills and abilities, traits and characteristics. This is your true self. But we may also develop one or more masks or personas in order to cope with particular circumstances. In the process we may lose sight of the real person we are protecting.
Have you lost track of what you would really love to be doing in your life? Has day to day survival whipped away the passion you had for your own unique quest? Have your survival behaviours reached a point where you feel out of synch with who you really are? The quest for “Authenticity” is about finding and living according to our true self. The “Fictional" life can have devastating consequences, so this is a worthy quest.
Mastery refers to exceptional proficiency and skill rather than dominance. The “master” has a complete understanding of the principles underlying the way they deliver results. Personal Mastery implies a sense of effortless skill and calm joy in living. Operating in a masterly way allows us to respond to everything in our lives in a unique, creative and appropriate way.
With personal mastery we can:
- Acknowledge our vulnerability without being stuck in fear, allowing us to act bravely.
- Commit to people and responsibilities without clinging.
- Exert power for, rather than over others.
- Speak up for what is right without entitlement, allowing the chips to fall where they may.
Personal Mastery can begin when we take an honest look at ourselves, acknowledging who we are, the situations we find ourselves in and how we react to them. This self-attention leads to self knowledge and self-acceptance, allowing us to implement self-care which can lead to self creation which prepares the way for authenticity.
Some components
On this journey to authenticity you may wish to consider your:
- Locus of Control – how are you affected by internal and external drivers?
- Internal Dialogue – what are you telling yourself on an ongoing basis?
- Labels – what do you believe about yourself?
- Life Scripts – what do you tell yourself about particular situations?
To understand how these internal constructs came about you may wish to consider:
- Defining Moments the small set of moments of truth that affected who you are.
- Critical Choices – the decisions you have made.
- Pivotal People – key people in your life and how they have molded your world view.
As you develop self awareness you may wish to define your:
- Personal values – that small number of things that are so important to you
- Personal vision – the description of where you want to get to in your life which taps into the deep well of hope and aspiration to release tremendous energy
And as a key to understanding all of these components of self awareness it is essential to establish a process of reflection in which you can pause to consider all that is happening to lift out the insights and lessons.
At StrategyWorks we have a one day session to introduce these issues.
We believe strongly in the effectiveness of coaching, in which the coach and the client engage in a conversation to understand the clients issues. In many training courses the trainer presents a load of information without covering any of the journey with the participants. We have therefore created a 12 month programme which we can run as a foundation for group coaching.