Self Leadership: A Journey...!!
Do I know "I"....?
I get the power and confidence to answer this question only by the phrase quoted by Jim Whittaker - "You can never conquer the mountain. You can only conquer yourself."I found myself caught in a dubious situation after I finished attending the lecture on Self Leadership by Mr. Anil Sachdev.Few things were troubling me constantly. At the start of the lecture, I was apprehensive about the fact that what good that lecture would be doing to me.But, on the contrary, during the course of lecture, I suddenly found my heart gradually overtaking my mind. I don’t know what instilled that inquisitiveness in me.I could have easily felt those jolts between the mind and heart. But hey, where was I heading to? Who was correct - mind or heart? Hmmm... it was time to ponder and introspect. It was the time to know real self in solitude. I decided to give myself some time and find answers to these questions.
Anil Sir took us on a journey by posing some facts that live by themselves but haven't caught our attention as of yet.
1. The presence of omnipotent force inside oneself.
2. Mind controlling the emotions.
3. Ability to control our actions -role of body and perception
4. Thoughtfulness.
But what was that thing that was keeping me on the back foot in the past years? Was it my inner "Ego"? I think yes. It has created a lot of fear inside me. The past conditioning of my body and mind has given rise to this "Ego”. In the pursuit of happiness, joy and peace, it seemed as if I forgot my purpose of being here. Here came the aspect of big "S".It is about Self, Spirit and Source of universe. It is all about being fully present i.e. being mindful. Mindfulness is the combination of 2 aspects:
1. Capacity - to be more precise- Learning Capacity.
2. Right Attitude. ->right efforts ->am I using my gifts->it is not enough to have great qualities; we should also have the management of them.
Anil Sir addressed to all these woes in a very beautiful manner. He suggested the following ways to overcome them:
1. How to develop Learning Capacity - By practising silence.
2. How to overcome fear - By having courage which in turn is the child of Unconditional love.
3. How to do right efforts - By not letting you limit your vision and purpose, because by doing so we will limit our efforts.
He kindled that spark in our minds by putting up a question - "One aspect that I need to change and develop that I have been struggling with in the past”. This led to another interesting aspect - "Immunity to change - The Immune X-Ray Map”. It forced us to bring out that "hidden competing commitment" that was preventing us to change. The purpose of the mapping process is to surface the hidden commitments and assumptions that are blocking our progress. While we consciously have very good reasons for making a change, at a less conscious level we are also holding on to commitments and assumptions that go against the very change we wish to make.
Immunity to change helped me in knowing the following aspects:
· Why most change efforts fail?
· How to change successfully as an individual?
· How to help your organization change?
The core concept behind this fascinating article is that people and organizations want to change but often fail because they get in their way - is simple and clear. It discussed many of the stories about how individuals and groups have changed. I found them inspiring. The authors addressed a problem many people encounter daily, and their synthesizing discussion of learning theory provides a useful framework for thinking about change. They are perceptive about the fundamental mismatch between how people attempt to change and what they really need to do.
Today, we are faced with a dizzying array of challenges and a constantly changing environment. So even as we successfully master one behavioural change, new situations arise that challenge them to change in other ways. The truly successful leaders are those who can apply what they’ve learned through the process of adapting and changing to the next set of issues. This is true self-leadership.
"If we don't discipline ourselves, the world will do it for us." - William Feather.
After being inspired by this phrase, I believe that based upon our type of “locus of control”, we attribute our success or failure either to internal or external causes. When you focus on what you can directly influence, you start to feel motivated, positive and able to deal with things around you. You can influence, at the very least, your own thoughts, mood, actions, decisions and communication with others.
Eventually, I would like to finish this blog on a note by saying that we all possess a quest for happiness in our DNA.Love, right efforts, and self-belief are the keys that strike a balance between support and challenge, pleasure and pain, happy and sad.
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