The Eve of the Dawn: Personal Leadership

As we sit on the eve of the dawn of what I hope is a year of enlightenment, I do what I always do:  reassess.  I am not big on resolutions only because we tend to make lofty ones that lack a specific plan with an accountability process and are thus doomed to less than resounding success.  So, as I reassess my year, I am grateful for all of my abundance and the diverse areas that it shows up!  I am grateful for new beginnings and the resources that I have access to so that I can truly make changes should I so desire!  I am grateful for all of the challenges that have given me pause and helped me gain even more clarity with the discernment process!  I am thrilled with all of the light-filled people who have entered and remained in my life in 2009 and will be side by side in 2010!  Of course, this small list is only the tip of the iceberg. 

My purpose in writing this blog was to challenge you to create a reassessment process for yourself.  What is working and what is not.  Drill down to the nuances!  For example, I was feeling frustrated that I had not achieved one of my financial goals only to discover that I had greatly over-achieved regarding another financial goal and I was really ok with that!  So, I encourage you to look at the big picture, and feel free to look at page one of this website for the personal and professional wheels if you want to get an idea of some categories of life that you can use to assess yourself and your progress.  Once you are clear about who you are and how you want to show up in 2010, please allow me to encourage you to devise a step by step plan with an accountability component (not just "due dates" but some mechanism to make sure you take the steps you say you will).  And may I also encourage you to be gentle enough with yourself to revise, revise, revise!!!!  That is exactly what happened with my financial goals and I couldn't be happier!

And, please feel free to post any ideas that you have here that may help others to become their biggest, best possible selves and to LEAD, not just live their lives this coming year!  It doesn't just take a village any longer, it takes the world to step up and lead ourselves!!!!

Happy New Year

Ubuntu!

Ann

Ann Dinan, Ph.D., M.S.S.A., C.P.C.C.

www.TheDeeperlLeadershipInstitute

ann@TheDeeperLeadershipInstitute.com

Personal Capacity Building

Our topic today is personal capacity building.   It seems to me that personal leadership is the umbrella for our personal capacity building.  Specifically, under the rubric of one's own leadership of self, one can examine whether muscles need to be strengthened in the areas of:

personal finance

relationship dynamics

life work balance

career issues

health/wellness

parenting

cultural adaptability

Many programs and organizations encourage folks to just jump into one of these areas and strengthen the chosen one.  At the Personal Leadership Institute, we advocate a holistic approach whereby we deconstruct who you are and what your life is like and then build it to your specifications with your existing strengths and passions.  Usually what emerges from this process are areas where individuals want to build more capacity and thus from that organic process we are able to do very targeted, SUSTAINABLE work!  I put the word sustainable in caps because we feel this is the missing element to personal growth work and leadership development work.  How often have you attended a great training, workshop or even more extensive learning situation and yet within days, months or years, you have not retained what seemed so important at the time.  We find that happens all too often.  Yet, if you build your personal capacity and you have a plan that is tailored to your guiding values and passions, then it is ingrained in you.  And, in fact, we advocate that you have a plan for constantly revising and revisiting your personal leadership plan. 

It's your life.  Are you going to just live it, or LEAD it?!!

Thoughts?

Ann

Ann Dinan, Ph.D., M.S.S.A., C.P.C.C.

The Deeper Leadership Institute