Des McCabe
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600 Personal Development Exercises

do one a day - every day!

What is the Workplace of the Future?

3/31/2021

 

THE WORKPLACE OF THE FUTURE
 
I remember the fields
and the farm,
where my grandparents
used to work.
 
I remember the factory
and the garage,
 where my parents
used to work.
 
I remember the offices,
hotels and training centres,
where I
used to work.
 
I remember the Internet,
phones and homes,
where we all
used to work.
 
And now our children live
in a different way,
where they can choose
to  make their life work.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What is your life's work?
​2. How is your way of work evolving? 
3. How are you being proactive rather than reactive in doing the work that is important for you? 


​Day 372 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

​What is our Consciousness?

3/30/2021

 

CONSCIOUSNESS
 

Our consciousness consists
of just two elements.
The journey of life
that has taken us to this point,
and the moment that is now.
 
Both are reinvented
and repositioned every second,
as we grow and change.
We are continually being
recreated in all that we are.
 
This moment informs
and defines the
pinnacle of our lives.
This moment is our end point.
Our  journey, has all been for this.
 
And that is why, this moment
holds all that we are, and ever will be.
This is why this moment
is so precious, as the amazing gift
that is now.

​PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What is growing, changing and being recreated for you in this moment?

​Day 371 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

When exactly was Creation?

3/29/2021

 

CREATION

Creation was not a one-off event.
Creation continues in every
zeptosecond, and in everything
that has been created.
 
More babies are born to build love.
The Universe continues to expand
at an incredible rate.
Creation is only in its infancy.
 
God is in every single molecule
 and in every quark of everything.
For God is the eternal
ever-expanding creation of love.
 
We too, have been given an
ever-expanding role beyond
our limited human thinking,
false beliefs and fear of failure.
 
We will never stop growing in love.
For this is our mission and purpose
as part of creation.
We too, are only in our infancy.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What is holding you back from becoming an eternal ever-expanding creation of love?

​Day 370 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

Is it time to Recharge your Battery?

3/28/2021

 

BATTERY RECHARGING

​My watch battery
has run out of power.
I plug it in, and it is
quickly restored to 100%.
 
My phone battery
has run out of power.
I plug it in and
it is restored to 100%.
 
I have seen these
power levels decrease
over the last day, and
I should have acted sooner.
 
My own energy level
is running low on power
It's time to plug myself in, and be
quickly restored to 100%

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. Where do you get your inner energy from?
2. What is your inner energy level today?
3. How do you restore yourself?


​Day 369 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is Personal Strategy?

3/27/2021

 

PERSONAL STRATEGY

When you fill in
your daily planner or
write your to-do list today,
don’t start with activities
and things to do.

Start instead with times
of quiet and nothing to do.
Plan these first into your day
and let other actions fit
around these quiet times.

We can look after ourselves
as we move from one 
activity to the next.
Let us not be a slave to time
but allow time to work for us.

It’s all about personal strategy.
For although we all need
to work in the business,
we also need some time
to work on the business.

​PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. When will you work on your Personal Strategy today?

​Day 368 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is Distraction?

3/26/2021

 

DISTRACTION

All life is distraction
from who we really are.
 
All activity is distraction
from what we should do.
 
All thinking is distraction
from not needing to think.
 
All distraction is a reminder
of looking in the wrong place.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What does distraction mean for you?

​Day 367 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What are Real Followers?

3/25/2021

 

​REAL FOLLOWERS

If you don’t have a dream,
 then make sure,
that you follow
someone who does.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. Do you have a dream you are working towards?
2. Who are you following?


Day 366 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

Can we Be Always Beginning?

3/24/2021

 

BE ALWAYS BEGINNING

You have a lifetime
of experience and
no past to carry.
Be always beginning.
 
You have a lifetime
of learning and
everything to understand.
Be always beginning.
 
You have a lifetime
of knowledge
with wisdom yet to arrive.
Be always beginning.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What are you beginning? 
2. Think about all aspects of who you are - your experience, your learning and your knowledge. Where can you begin again with each of these? 


Day 365 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What Happened on This Day?

3/23/2021

 

THIS DAY

This day is not
a list of things to be done.
This day is not
a day of deadlines.
This day is not
about tomorrow.
 
This day is not a day
to weigh heavily on you.
This day is not a day
for you to struggle.
This day is not a day
for you just to get by.
 
This is the day to be joyful.
This is the day to stop and look.
This is the day to listen.
This is the day to be grateful.
 
This is the day to smile.
This is the day to be kind.
This is the day to reach out.
This is the day to look in.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What happens on this day for you? ​

Day 364 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

​​What is Disorderly Behaviour?

3/22/2021

 

​DISORDERLY BEHAVIOUR
 
I’m thinking of everything
and then nothing.
Fully alert and
then nearly asleep.
I’m scheming about work
and then lost in daydreams.
 
My morning time
when I sit on my own,
is without order and format.
It is not planned or predictable.
I am all over the place,
with no direction or focus.
 
So I accept what comes,
what stays, what goes,
and what is.
For all is now, in this time
and all, somehow makes sense,
in this disorderly behaviour.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1.  How do you make sense of all that  you are? ​

​Day 363 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercise

What are Stone Buildings?

3/21/2021

 

STONE BUILDINGS

I carry a little stone
in my pocket.
I picked it up
on a beach in Ireland.
 
Every day, it reminds me
to build something,
never to hurt anyone and
be thankful for all that I have.
 
My little stone
will still be here
long after I am gone,
in everything I’ve created,
 
So, I keep this little stone
in my pocket,
as a gift from the world
to be given back to the world.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What are your three daily reminders for yourself?
2. I use a little stone as a way of remembering these. What do you use?
​

Day 362 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is Intergenerational  Learning?

3/20/2021

 

​INTERGENERATIONAL LEARNING

Always speak well of older people
for they have made a journey
beyond all your understanding.

​And in due course, I hope,
that you too, will come to see
what they already know.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. How do you speak well of older people?
2. What is it that older people already know about the journey of life?    
3. When will you sit down and ask them? 


Day 361 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What does your Fuel Gauge say?

3/19/2021

 

FUEL GUAGE

They don’t tell you that
every day is not the same.
That we have good days,
and not so good days.
 
We are meant to work
at full performance
 all the time,
but life isn’t like that.
 
They don’t tell you that
there will be good times,
and bad times.
All times are not the same.
 
We are meant to be
at our best
all the time,
but life isn’t like that
 
There are peaks and troughs,
ups and downs,
times when we work
on full power,
and times when
our tank is nearly empty.
 
So, remember,
when you meet with others,
that one of you
might be low on fuel.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What does your fuel gauge say at the moment? Are you looking after yourself?
2. What about others? Do you know anyone who needs some fuel? How can you help them?​


Day 360 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is Collaborative Education?

3/18/2021

 

COLLABORATIVE EDUCATION

We have schools that are largely empty of students after 4pm each day. We have schools that are largely empty every Saturday, Sunday and school holidays. Surely, we can use these resources better to support the complete personal development of our young people?
 
Collaborative education includes all aspect of personal development including individual creativity, sports, sustainability for our planet, healthy eating, wellbeing, income generation, relationship building, personal projects, music, gaming, interpersonal skills, starting a business, global events, personal care, volunteering, project management, confidence and public speaking, tackling poverty, arts, drama, team-working, kindness, local community initiatives, home finance, fair trade, leadership, website development, etc. There is a whole new fabric to be created here!
 
So, can we encourage and help our young people to work together more, to take greater ownership of their future and become changemakers? Can we enable them to be the architects and partners of an education process that includes and promotes all students?
 
All of us can support a Collaborative Education process in a direct hands-on way. We can share our ideas, workplaces, projects and experience with young people. This is about active engagement and participation by all of us and seeing young people as partners not subjects in this process.
 
Individuals within Businesses, Community groups, Public Sector bodies, and Charities all have key roles to play here. Teachers and Parents can be the champions at the heart of this new collaboration and ensure we are meeting the needs of all children.
 
Older people and recent graduates can share their wisdom and experience. They can help to explore areas of interest, crazy ideas and the dreams of youth. They can support those who are struggling. This is intergenerational learning with a local, national and international focus. It about our role in life and our place in the world.
 
Our school-based education system needs to become a collaborative, joined-up, community-based, personal development and support framework for young people. We need to move from 19th century schoolrooms to 21st century engagement and empowerment. Collaborative Education is a process where everyone can participate, work in teams, contribute and share their skills, online and in person, to help our next generation.
 
We have the buildings. We have the students. We have the expertise. We have the technology. We have the time. Collaborative Education brings it all, and all of us, together.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What role will you play in Collaborative Education?
2. How can you begin to play your part from now? ​


Day 359 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is the Good News?

3/17/2021

 

THE GOOD NEWS

The Good News is
an understanding
and an awareness of
who we truly are.
 
We are love
and we are loved.
This love can never die.
 
Jesus overcame death
by rising from the dead
to show us this,
so that we would
believe  in ourselves.
 
So, the Good News
is an ongoing call to believe
in the goodness of yourself.
It’s about you recognising
that you are a loving person
and a giver of love.
 
You also make sacrifices
for love and in turn, you too,
will go beyond death
and live forever.
 
The Good News is the
gift of eternal love
that asks nothing of you
but to believe in yourself.
 
With this understanding
and self awareness you can
do amazing work
in helping others and
in creating a kinder world.
 
These are the fruits
of the Good News,
the love that is each of us
and the reason that we are here.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. How do you show love? List 5 examples
2. How do others show you love? List 5 examples
3. What could you do today to help others ?​


Day 358 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What are Workpieces?

3/16/2021

 

WORKPIECES

Over the last thirty years
we have moved from Lifelong jobs
to Portfolio working to Workpieces.

Our​ Workpieces are the way that
we use our time. We do freelancing, we
sell online, we create and make, we have
part-time jobs, and we do ad-hoc work.  

Some of our workpieces pay us money
and some don’t - like minding our kids,
home-schooling, helping  others, 
or looking after an elderly relative.

But everything that we do is a workpiece,
including  social media,  watching sport
or the latest box set!  They are all the ways
we use our time,  at whatever age we are,
and whatever our situation.

Workpieces are proactive rather than
just reactive. They call on us to
unleash  our skills, experience, knowledge
and passions to explore and be more.
To  do what  we really want to do.

Homeworking has now taken us  out of
the office. Couples manage their workpieces
and income based on their needs and plans.
Individually and collectively, we  are
taking more control of all that we do.

As our lives change and develop, we need
to constantly re-evaluate and re-balance
our workpieces as best we can,
not just for income, but as the framework
of our overall health, wellbeing and
life development strategy.

Our workpieces can help us to achieve and
become all that is important to us.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. Write down all of your workpieces.
2. Which workpieces that you would like to see, are missing?
3. Which workpieces would you like to change? ​


Day 357 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is Dynamic Interplay?

3/15/2021

 

DYNAMIC INTERPLAY

We sometimes think of love as not
the most practical of things.
We see love as an emotional connection or
something we need more of in the world.
 
But love is real within each of us,
in every moment, as our inspiration,
our guide, our teacher, our helper,
our personal assistant and our friend.
 
Love sits within us and with us,
as a dynamic interplay
that gives us ideas and direction,
comfort us and keeps us safe.
 
It is a priceless resource
that is available and
working for us,
in every moment of our lives
 
Love is our personal group of experts,
our own support network and
our team of freelancers,
all working tirelessly for us.
 
But often they work in the dark,
for we do not actively engage
with all the resources and expertise
at our disposal.
 
And because love is given
to us freely, it is easy for us
not to value it, in the ordinary
and mundane activities of life.
 
Yet love is there,
in our lives, our work, our
relationships, our family and
in all that we are.
 
So, talk to your team every day.
Listen to them.
Tell them all that you need.
 
They are excited
to be working with you, in this
ongoing dynamic interplay
that is your amazing life.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. How can you develop your dynamic interplay with love?
2. When do you talk, listen and tell love what you need? ​


Day 356 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is Within and Without us?

3/14/2021

 

WITHIN AND WITHOUT

There is something
too deep for words
that is part of us.
There is something
too deep for thoughts
that is part of us.

​​There is something
too gentle for words
that is all around us.
There is something
too gentle for thoughts
that is all around us.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What is too deep for words or thoughts that is part of you?
2.
What is too gentle for words or thoughts that is all around you?​

Day 355 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is Factory Reset in people?

3/13/2021

 

FACTORY RESET
 

When we are born
we consist only of love,
goodness and trust.
 
We give ourselves totally
to those around us.
For we have no choice.
 
As we grow, we develop
our own personality and ego.
We make our own choices.
 
We meet our own needs first,
often forgetting
those around us.
 
We can however,
press our factory reset button
at any time.
 
We can become love
goodness and trust
again.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. How can you become closer to your original self - full of love, goodness and trust?
2. What is it in life, that takes you away from  what you want to be? Is there a way to reset who you are? 


Day 354 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is Enough?

3/12/2021

 

WHAT IS ENOUGH?

The greatest privilege
is to be alive
today.
And that is
enough.
 
The greatest gift
you will ever receive
is today.
And that is
enough.
 
The greatest that
you will ever be
is today.
And that is
more than enough.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What will you do with the wonderful gift that is today?
2. When will you say 'I have enough'?


Day 353 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is the best advice for the Self-Employed?

3/11/2021

 

SELF-EMPLOYED

When you’re self-employed
the focus can be on cash flow,
finding new business,
and keeping current clients.
In all of this juggling,
it’s easy to get lost in the money trap.
We can end up chasing business
rather than building our dream.

So, our priority must be
to focus on our purpose and
to work on activities
that take us forward, every day.
And if we share our vision with others,
they too can help us.
We can do more than make a living.
We can be delivering our dream today.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. Write down your dream. Describe it in detail. Read this description each day. 
2. Now be determined to do something every day to make your dream a reality. Make this your daily priority. Make this  your new habit!


Day 352 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What does Empowerment really mean?

3/10/2021

 

EMPOWERMENT

Empowerment is not something
we do to others, or something
we encourage others to do.
Empowerment is not something
we teach or train people to do.

Empowerment is when we
give ourselves permission to
be something bigger than we are.
 Empowerment is enabling ourselves
to become part of a bigger reality.

So, what is the bigger reality
that you want to be part of?
And are you willing to
immerse yourself in this,
and give yourself to this?

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. In what ways might you be trapped?
2. What is the bigger reality you would like to explore? 


Day 351 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

Where is your Soul?

3/9/2021

 

VISITING TIME

​We are already in heaven.
Our soul was created as pure love
in the beginning,
for an eternity of love.
 
Our soul has already given
totally of itself,
so that we can experience
life and love in this world.
 
For when we were conceived,
ownership of ourselves
was entrusted
to our human self.
 
Our brain has no memory of heaven.
Our ego knows nothing but itself.
So, our journey in life
is one of understanding.
 
For soon we will go.
Back to our souls.
Back to heaven.
Back to reality.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What would you like to say to your soul? 
2. What have you learned on this journey of understanding about who you really are? 


Day 350 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises​​

Why is it so important to let go?

3/8/2021

 

​LETTING GO

​The more you try
to hold on to something you value,
the harder it is to keep.
 
The more that you are willing
to let go of something you value
the more it remains with you.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What are you desperate to hold onto?
2. What do you need to let go? ​


Day 349 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is Effective Listening?

3/7/2021

 

EFFECTIVE LISTENING

I am sometimes asked how God 
is continually working with us?
How does he communicate, help,
encourage and guide each of us?

The first point is that God is love
 and we are love,
so we are intimately connected
as one.

Once we see this,
then we can begin to understand
 that we are in a dynamic
 and loving relationship.

Secondly, everyone else is also
made of love,
 and so, we are in this
human endeavour together.
 We are  all working for the same purpose.

God communicates directly with us
and directly through others to us.
Indeed, everything happening around us
 is a conversation from God,
a conversation of love.

Everything that happens, guides us,
more and more,
 to become total love,
for this is what we are all to become.

Very few people receive mystical visions,
so how does God communicate with us?
He speaks to us directly not through words
 but in thoughts, ideas, laughter, reflections,
wonder, success and disappointment.

He speaks directly to us through others,
through their encouragement, their help,
their guidance, their kindness and their support.
All of this is happening constantly,
within us and around us.

But effective communication
depends on two things,
listening and responding.

If we don’t ‘listen’ to what is happening today,
within us, around us, in the direction of our lives,
in our habits and in our work,
then how can we ever understand our journey?

And if we don’t respond with acknowledgement,
with gratitude, with conversation, with
challenging ourselves, and taking responsibility
for the love that we are,
then how will we grow?

God is speaking to you now, as always.
Love is calling you to listen, today.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. How well are you listening to yourself?
2. Are you giving yourself time to grow?
3. How are others helping you on your journey to total love?


Day 348 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
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