value

Musing Moments 131: LFTIO – Core Talents

Standard
DSS Leadership – Assignment 8
Book – “Leadership from the Inside Out”




Think back over your career and your life. Recall those times when you felt most energized giving your gifts to others. You might have been engaged in something more personal or seemingly inconsequential, such as coaching a golf partner or walking with a friend. Or you might have been involved in something bigger, more visible or dramatic, such as envisioning a new product or an innovating strategy. Think about those times when you were at your best, when you and others were most energized and engaged. Capture some of those experiences by writing them down. Ask yourself and respond to the following questions and statements:

What gifts can people count on me for?

I feel people can count on me to listen. I feel they can count on me to help them solve problems through different, unexpected, or unique ways. I feel they can count on me to be gentle with their emotions while still telling them hard truths. They can count on me for a clear perspective. They can count on me to be honest. They can count on me to be “on their side” even if my answer is that they weren’t right in a given situation. It’s not about placing blame, it’s about encouraging ownership for behaviors and choices and to admit and accept the fact that we are all human and make mistakes. It’s ok to make mistakes as long as you learn from them. It provides an opportunity for growth and personal development only if we open ourselves up by accepting our flaws and striving to be better than we were.

I can be counted on to be loyal and committed and to see something through to the end. I can be counted on to learn and to bring that knowledge back to my inner circle, enriching lives through sharing my experiences.

I can be counted on to go as deep as the other person is. No corner of life is too dark, too dusty, too scary. If you are willing to share I am willing to reciprocate. If you share your deepest fear with me, I will share mine. I will show you, that I, too, am human and that together we’ll figure it out. I can be counted on to stand beside you and to not leave you alone in your hour of need.

When I am making a difference/creating value, my talents that “show up” are:

Communication and empathy. Creativity. Strategic thinking. Organization. Time-management. Efficiency. Patients. Kindness. Compassion. Humor and light-heartedness. Energy and positive thinking.

Other people consistently tell me I make a difference by:

Being proactive. Taking initiative. Going above and beyond. Being understanding and patient. Being empathetic. Thinking outside the box. I don’t know why this section makes me want to cry. Maybe it’s because it makes me think of mom and how she said she was proud of me.

When I am working with others, and we are most energized and engaged, I am contributing:

Myself. My full self. My energy and drive and passion. My resolve and dedication. My will to make something succeed no matter what obstacles we face. Each set back, each “no” the Universe throws at us, is just another “next opportunity”. It’s a way to make something better. We don’t cherish the things that come easy. We value the things that were hard, that were a struggle to achieve, that we had to fight to get. It makes the success that much sweeter because it was earned, not given.

I contribute my motivation and positivity by looking at a stressful situation as a moment in time that will be overcome. I provide a perspective of not only seeing where we are and where we want to go, but also of how far we’ve come and already accomplished. We’re doing good and yes things are hard right now but we’ll figure it out. We’ll be ok, and it’s not a bad thing to take a step back sometimes to decompress and regroup. It’s ok to take time for self-care. It’s ok to acknowledge effort and contribution. I look after the people around me and make sure they feel cared for and valued and when they begin to self-doubt or burnout I figure out what is affecting them and how to alleviate or mitigate that factor.

I am passionate about contributing:

Knowledge, passion, and insight. Creativity and uniqueness. Life and color and warmth. Meaningfulness and a reason for existence even through the dark and hard times where it feels like it would be easier to give up.

In summary, my Core Talents, the gifts that make a difference, are:

I don’t know how to answer this. I don’t know what is core… I’ve written several things. The meaningfulness part I feel in the center of my heart chakra. It’s why I changed my career to the medical field; to help people who may feel lost and alone and to show them that they aren’t. I’m there with them and we’ll get through the darkness one day at a time. That even in the dark there are lights if you are open to looking for them. They may be dim but they’re there, I promise.

In a way, I suppose empathy is core as well. Identifying with and feeling alongside others. I can only help them during those dark moments because I feel those moments with them. I share my own moments so they understand that I do know what it’s like to feel hopeless, directionless, and as if it’s all just a losing battle that doesn’t matter anyway so why fight it? Why get out of bed? Why keep going day after day after day when there’s no good left in the world and everything sucks?

I know those feelings. I have been there and the only reason I got through them was because others were there for me. Because I went through those battles, those questions, I want to be there for others on their journey. I want to give that back to the Universe because I was fortunate enough to receive the gift of that type of support.

And maybe determination. Winners never quit and quitters never win. That’s my mentality. It’s ok to fail. It’s ok to mess up. It’s ok to ask for help and for something to be hard or overwhelming. It’s ok to be scared and to not have the answers or a direction to go in. It’s ok to get stuck in a rut and to spin your wheels for a time.

It’s not ok to give up. That’s something I think mom taught me. You NEVER give up. You never sit and accept defeat because if you do then nothing will ever change. If you are willing to fight then I will fight with you. If you sit down I will tell you that I am seeing, what I am feeling, and I will ask if that’s what you want your story to be. Is this how you want your book to end or do you want to get up and try again? Not every day is going to be perfect. Your best is going to change. Do you want to stay down in the mud and dirt where you fell or sat down? Is this where you’re truly ok with being?

If it is I accept your choice and I will leave you alone. I will no longer fight for a cause you no longer feel. But, if you do, in fact, feel that candle flame of fire in you to live, to survive, then I am here. I will always be here, and I will do what I can. Resources, information, emotional support, a second pair of hands on a project. We’ll get this done, together.

So maybe collaboration and support? I’m not sure if collaboration is right. Maybe teamwork? I still don’t feel as clear on this section as I think I’m supposed to. I had thought it would be rather definitive and I feel like it’s still hazy and slightly intangible. Maybe time and the additional reflection sections will provide clarity.


After completing the Core Value reflection section and being filled with a sense of energized conviction, I knew I had missed something with the Core Talent section. I didn’t feel anything towards this section and I felt I should have. If I was really listing my core talents, shouldn’t I have felt them resonating with something inside myself? Shouldn’t they have spoken to me? Time-management, communication, collaborating… None of that “felt” right.

That led to a Google search for the definition of talent. That led to finding a post titled Talents versus Skills – Do you know the difference, by Marc Miller. From this post, I realized what my issue was. I was listing skills, not my inherent natural talents. I was listing things I had learned through the course of my life; not the things which I naturally brought to the table.

So… This is my revised Core Talents. I make a difference by actively listening to people and being a person they can truly talk to; their problems, their fears, their insecurities… I reflect on the information they confide in me and help provide a clearer perspective of their situations. From this perspective, I can help people find a stronger sense of self-awareness and purpose by guiding them towards personal growth and development.

My core talents are:

Active Listening
Empathy
Understanding
Fostering Self-Awareness and Personal Development

Musing Moment 127: LFTIO – Storyline Reflection

Standard
DSS Leadership – Assignment 6.0
Book – “Leadership from the Inside Out”



List the significant events in your life in chronological order and rate them on a scale of -10 to 10.

What do you notice about your StoryLine? What events stand out? What are the significant patterns of work, relationship, and or change that you see?

I notice that a lot of the events on my timeline happen together. Seldom is there ever one event. Several significant things occur around the same time period. When looking at my events in relation to my age and how I felt those events rated, no one time in my life is ever wholly negative or positive. There is a balance I am able to see with hide-sight and the perspective this exercise offers. A pattern which seems to emerge for me personally is that personal relationships fuel change within my career.


How have the higher ranked experiences shaped you? Your leadership? Your beliefs? Your values?

The higher ranked experiences seem to be centered around schooling, personal projects, or work. They shaped me by honing my trade skills and soft skills such as time management, collaboration, and communication. As a leader, a lot of these experiences put me in a leadership position, each event a bit more so than the last. I suppose in a way I was gradually getting my feet wet. Each event taught me something valuable about myself and others. Each event affirmed something I believed in and was striving for. Each event supported my values and made me feel fulfilled and like I was doing something positive with my life.


How have the lower ranked experiences shaped you? Your leadership? Your beliefs? Your values?

The lower ranked experiences tend to center around relationships. These events I feel had more of an impact on shaping me because I learned how to stand back up after getting knocked down. At each point, I was faced with giving up or being true to myself. In the extreme case of my mother’s death, it was the struggle of actually finding myself; my true self.

While these were undoubtedly negative experiences, they were crucial moments in my life. I had the option to take the easier route of being bitter, judgemental, and jaded, or the harder option of trying to understand and learn from the experiences I was faced with. My negative experiences showed me how I didn’t want to be, in terms of other people’s behaviors, and affirmed why I did want to be the way I chose to be.

Why is listening important? Why is communication important? Why is honesty and trust important?

These negative experiences shaped my values and beliefs more firmly and irrevocably than the positive experiences and while I may not have enjoyed them in any sense of the term, I am grateful for them. Because of these lows in my life, I have a better sense of who I am and why I am that way.


Who has most influenced you and your development?

My mom. Hands down. Without a second thought. Until the day I die my answer will always and forever be my mom.


What does your StoryLine tell you about the leader and person you are? What does it tell you about the leader and person you aspire to be?

I think my StoryLine shows that I am emotionally driven. I am connection driven. I am loyalty driven. I am caring and compassionately driven. As a leader, my efforts are centered around others. Creating events for students. Taking steps to become a trainer within my clinic. Working with younger or newer members at the dojo. I like teaching and showing people new things, cool things, things they didn’t think they could do but can.

I don’t really think I aspire to “be” anything other than myself. Events happen along the way and I make the choices I feel are appropriate and in line with my beliefs. I feel that by centering around the development of others, that my influence could potentially be far-reaching. Several of the key figures in my life have been teachers or instructors themselves. They not only affected my life but the lives of others. As we, the affected students, go about our own lives, we spread that influence to those we interact with; sometimes consciously and at other times subconsciously. We can never truly know how far reaching something as small as the comment, “I believe in you,” can be.

Musing Moments 122: LFTIO – Conscious Wake-Up Call

Standard
DSS Leadership – Assignment 1
Book – “Leadership from the Inside Out”.




What is really important to me?

Making a difference in people’s lives is important to me. I need there to be a reason for me to be alive. I need there to be a reason for me to wake up in the morning otherwise what’s the point in doing it? What’s the point of struggling to understand and breathe through my grief and the pain and loneliness of mom being dead if everything is meaningless? What’s the point in doing anything if what I do doesn’t matter?

I realize this might be a coping mechanism and a dependency, but this is where I am currently at in life and in my grieving process. I need my life, my energy, my effort to matter and to legitimately make a difference so I have legitimate, almost tangible reason to keep living.

Not regretting my choices and wasting life is also important to me. My decision-making process is very different than what it was three years ago. I do more for myself. I am less of a work-o-halic. I am less of a perfectionist. I evaluate my choices through a lens of “If I were to die tomorrow, would I regret doing or not doing this action. I would regret saying or not saying these words?”

I try to ensure I am living the life I want to be living. I try to ensure I have a clear understanding of my values and priorities. I try to ensure that the ripples I make within my sphere of influence are positive and that I make amends when feelings are hurt. I try to resolve conflict as quickly and as mutually beneficial as possible. No one knows when their time will come and I do not want to leave things unspoken or undone, so I suppose in that regard closure is important to me as well. It’s important to me to go to sleep at night with a sense that I lived life the fullest I was able to that day. It’s important to me that nothing in regards to my relationships or personal wants feels like it was withheld, ignored or avoided because I might not have the chance to change or fix things later.


Is this the life I want to live?

Yes… and as much as I wish I could say otherwise, at the same time, no.

I want my mom to be alive. I don’t think those feelings or thoughts will ever change or go away. If I’m completely honest with myself and the Universe, I’m still just a little girl from a divorced family on the inside who wants to make mommy proud and now that mom isn’t here I’m having to adjust to living for myself. I struggle with feelings of not having a safety net; of not having a home to go back to. I most likely struggle more often than I admit to myself, let alone the outside world and there is a strain and weariness that comes with the feeling of having to be strong all the time for everyone always.

I can say, that though life is different than what I had wanted or expected it to be, I am content with where I am. I’m glad I moved to Nebraska even though several important people in my life did not agree with my choice. I am proud of the person I am turning into and I believe my mom would be, and is proud, of me as well. I, for the first time in three years, actually feel excited about different future events in my life and I wake up looking forward to things and with a sense of purpose more often than not.

I cannot and will not deny that there is a part of me who will always wish that things were just a little bit different than what they are, however, I believe I am living life to the best of my ability in this moment. I recognize that I am still emotionally and spiritually injured. I am still in the process of healing and figuring myself out. I understand it may still be years before I fully reconcile all of these new emotions and insecurities within myself. Maybe my best will improve as time goes on. Maybe I’ll eventually stop looking at life with such an acute awareness of death. All I can do is continue living and see where my journey takes me. I have no ultimate destination in mind and I think for the moment that’s ok. I am learning to live again and right now it feels like I’m where I’m meant to be going in the direction I am meant to go.


What gives passion, meaning, and purpose to my life?

Helping others realize that even when it’s dark and scary and they don’t know how they’re going to make it to the other side or if there is even an “other side” to get to, that they’ll be ok and they’re not alone. I suppose that could be summed up as supporting others; connecting with others. Much like when I played World of Warcraft as a Discipline Priest. I wasn’t the main healer. I wasn’t the main DPS or the tank. I didn’t need the spotlight. More accurately, I didn’t want the spotlight. I wanted to work in the background, supporting the rest of the group and knowing that I helped all of us reach the goal we were working for. I was part of something rather than “being” something. Most of my previous projects in the Computer Animation field and as an instructor were completed in the same mindset. I was part of a group. I was part of an event. I was part of something, which meant I was connected to something larger than myself.


How can I better serve, to make even more of a difference?

I don’t know. I guess that begs the question of do I want to make more of a difference? Maybe I don’t like this question because it makes it feel like what I’m already doing isn’t enough. Or maybe it’s because this question disregards everything I am currently doing.

I know that I want to become a preceptor so I can help train new techs Through training new techs, I would be indirectly helping the patients they interact with, thus increasing my sphere of influence.

I want to be an LPN to broaden my scope within the clinic, allowing me to increase the portion of the workload I am able to take for my team. I want to become an RN for the same reason. I would be better able to “serve” if I were allowed to do more things within the clinic.

Much further into the future, there’s the possibility of becoming an RN instructor; teaching others how to care for and be empathetic to patients. This would be another instance of both directly and indirectly affecting others.

There are so many possibilities and ways that I could do more. Maybe if there had been a question before this one of “What do you currently do to make a difference?” or something along those lines I wouldn’t have such abrasive feelings towards this one.

I do a lot. I want to do more. That doesn’t mean what I do isn’t enough.


How can I live connected to these inner values?

Again, this question is mildly frustrating. It makes it feel as if I’m not currently living connected to these inner values, even though I feel I am. It makes me question if what I am doing is good enough which makes me feel defensive because internally I feel I am doing good enough and I don’t want that inner truth to be questioned or attacked.

In regards to the inner value of purpose: I changed career fields so that every morning I wake up and go to work, I directly affect peoples lives. Without the dialysis treatment I help provide, people’s health and quality of life would be directly impacted. My team will suffer if I don’t show up to work. My patients will suffer if I don’t show up to work. My existence matters. Though I know my existence mattered while I was an instructor, sitting in front of a computer feeling like I was for the most part babysitting, did not give my life the sense of meaning I needed to keep struggling through my own internal battle of “Why? Why wake up? Why show up? The lab could be covered if I wasn’t here.”

On a personal level, I needed things to change and be different because I had changed. I was different. Life was different and could never go back to being the same. I needed my career to reflect that internal change so I changed it. I feel as long as I wake up and continue doing the work I am doing that I am living life in alignment to my value of purpose. My life has meaning and value because I give life, meaning, and value to others.

I’m not sure how to live life more inline to my value of closure more than I already do. I tell the people I love that I love them. I say sorry when I feel I am wrong, or when it is brought to my attention that something I said or did had a negative impact. I try to express my feelings rather than letting things fester under the surface, hidden by my silence. This is something I still need to work on, especially in my personal relationships, but I have come a long way in that regard and I will not be dismissive of my improvement. I try to make sure that things are “right” between me and the people I interact with. I am getting better about asking people the question, “Are we ok?” because I want to take the time and energy to fix it if we’re not.

The last value I feel I wrote about was my sense of purpose in supporting and connecting with others. I feel I do that through my work. I feel I do that at the dojo when I train with the other members. I help them improve and through helping them I help myself. I teach them to try and that their effort is not unnoticed. I teach myself to be patient and to think of something other than myself or my personal gain. I teach myself to care and see the world, the whole world, not just my narrow perspective.

By helping this eight-year-old girl not be timid and shy, I am showing her that it’s ok to be self-confident, to trust herself and that if she does something wrong it’s ok. There is honor in learning. There is honor in trying. I am teaching her that swinging and missing is ok as long as you take the time to regain your stance and try again. I’m teaching her the things I wish I had learned when I was her age because where would I be now if I had? Where would I be, what conflicts could I have avoided or navigated better if I hadn’t struggled so much with self-worth and self-confidence or the fear of failure?

I feel I do a fairly good job of living in accordance to my values. There is always room for improvement, but the defensiveness I felt at the beginning of this question I think stems from being made to question if what I do isn’t enough which may be my own Shadow Beliefs coming to the surface.