In this lesson, we will cover important areas of your life, both today and in the future. For example managing transitions between school and University or to new jobs and opportunities. We will explore the dangers of comparison and the pressure that comes with it as well as the dangers of body alteration and enhancement, both physically and mentally.
A sense of self and accountability to your future self is central in your own personal development journey. With a strong and stable sense of self, you can more easily recognise what can help you towards your goals and what will distract you from them. In other words you are more likely to make decisions that in the future you will thank yourself for.
Key questions:
- Do you stop and appreciate your achievements?
- How can you be a quietly confident person?
- What does it mean to develop sustainable professional and personal growth?
Within this lesson you will be:
- Challenged to appreciate the things you have done in your life and take strength from them.
- Inspired to recognise your potential could be far greater than you currently imagine it to be.
- Tasked to develop a powerful mindset to help you move forwards towards your goals.
Who are you?
Let’s start with who you are. Really, who are you?
Task one
Imagine you are attending a reunion from your primary school and your old teacher asks you…
How are you, tell me about you and what you are up to these days?
Where does your mind go? Take a minute.
Do you think about the jobs you’ve had, the grades or accolades you’ve achieved, your happiness as an individual, or something else?
Find a quiet space to be alone and think about how you feel about yourself. Really, not just on the surface. Here is the key question…
What do you believe about yourself? This is the most important thing in the world. Not what other people believe and even less so what you think other people believe.
This sort of internal reflection is vital. It is also vital that you appreciate what you have and how far you have come. It is captured wonderfully by Charlie Mackesy below in The Boy, the mole the fox and the horse…
The whole book is full of points to get you thinking about what matters most.
“Gratitude helps us trigger our positive emotions so we don’t get triggered by our negative ones.”
Omar Brownson
Task two
Can you say something you are grateful for about yourself now?
Try to go deep on this, and make sure it is about YOU.
How easy did you find this? Consider sharing the question with someone close to you or on your social media.
Are you accountable to future you?
Do you upgrade or downgrade yourself? Being accountable to future you is one of the most important responsibilities you have, if not THE most important responsibility. This is best captured as, do you make decisions that future you will thank you for, or not? It is about delayed gratification. Try the short task below to see where you are at this week…
Task three
Consider that everything you do/say/think/consume is either an upgrade or downgrade on your current self.
Think of 5 moments from the past 24 hours, or week if easier.
Where did you leave yourself?
You should have a score between -5 and +5 if you award 1 point for a positive and 1 point for a negative.
Discuss these with a friend or family member. This will help get some perspective if you are being a bit harsh (or too kind) to yourself.
It is important to be critical, but not overly critical. So anything in the + numbers should be celebrated here, it means you are developing!
I think it is essential to keep in mind that in order for something to change, there needs to be change and Theo Von candidly captures that with the below quotes.
“Nothing changes if nothing changes. My brain can feel a certain way but it’s not going to choose how I behave all the time. I just can’t let it do it anymore”.
Theo Von
If I’m feeling bad it doesn’t mean that I’m doing bad. It doesn’t mean that I am bad. It doesn’t mean that I can’t still take some action.
Theo Von
Continue the reflections in part 2 of this lesson with the link below: