Professional Well-Being
Hello – and welcome back to you!
I remember once telling my mother I was studying leadership and attending a training course. Her response was very telling as she was unusually quiet. I asked her what she thought of more training and her reply was very telling. She asked about the other two courses I had taken, and wondered out loud when I would be done. By that point, I realized that my leadership training would be a lifelong experience because one never really knows about leadership – truly – until you become more self-aware. When I explained this to her, she thought about it a moment and said: OK. Simple as that.
However, this fixed view of leadership has stuck with me. Leadership cannot be a fixed training course but needs to consider the individual and their experiences. If you think you understand leadership after a primer course, you are very naive because this is just your beginning. There is so much more to offer a person who is studying motivation of people, leading people, and managing an outcome. One needs to be secure in their own ‘situation’ – whatever that may be.
One of the most helpful (and foundational) courses was this one linked here. (Note: I get no benefit for the recommendation other than having an improved you at the outcome.) As a person who has chased happiness their entire life and not really understanding what would make me happy, this created in me a “tail wagging dog” scenario. I was searching for happiness when I really didn’t understand what would make me happy. This course taught me the science behind happiness and why my prior goals or habits did not make me happy.
This course is not a ‘one and done’ type of course. It will take time. It will take reflection. You may not like the result … at first. Stick with it and the changes are astounding. You will learn what happiness truly is and, more importantly, how you can achieve it. This course set me on a path that would never have been possible because I did not recognize the path for what it was…an answer. Remember, life gives us all choices that change depending on you and your situation. In all cases, you have two choices: You can continue to be wagged by your unhappiness or you break the cycle and figure out the science.
Peace.