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600 Personal Development Exercises

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Is time and activity driving who you are?

7/31/2020

 

HEADMASTER

I am still in the office at home.
 I am still at work.
My head is full of stuff.
The number of things to do
seems to be getting longer, not shorter.
 
For as soon as I cross something off the list
another two things appear needing to be done.
My brain and my whole self are consumed
and controlled by this list
 of what needs to be done.

I can’t just walk away from it
for it all needs to be sorted.
And who else will do it, if I don’t?
If this day was twice as long, I would fill it.
If it was shorter, I would cram even more in.
 
Then it hits me, that I am being managed
by the time available – not by who I am.
I have it all the wrong way round.
For it's not about doing but being.
Being is the master of time, my headmaster.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What is your 'Headmaster'?   
2. How does time and activity drive who you are? 
3. What does 'being' mean to you - in practical terms? 


Day 130 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

Do we lose our Creativity with Artificial Intelligence?

7/30/2020

 

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
 
Years ago, when we were travelling
we would stop at a lay-by,
take out our map
and plan our route.
 
We would create options,
factor in a coffee break
at a little village
and plot a route that worked for us.
 
Now we put our destination
into our phone which is more efficient.
The route is planned for us
and we do not have to think.
 
We don’t pause in the lay-by.
We don’t create our options.
We don’t stop in the little village.
We can just go where we’re told.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What options and opportunities are you creating?
2. Where is your 'little village'?


Day 129 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is Life by Numbers?

7/29/2020

 

COLOURING BY NUMBERS

When I was a child I had a book called
colouring by numbers.
The outlines of everything
were all there on the picture.
I just had to colour in the spaces.
 
Areas with ‘one’ were blue
and those with ‘two’ were yellow
and so on.
The picture came alive in front of me.
The outcome was complete and perfect!

Imagine if you could have the outline of your life
as a picture ready to be filled in now.
It would mean that we wouldn’t live
on the basis of process or journey
thinking about what happens next year
 or what our next job will be.

It’ll all be there in the outline.
We just need to follow the numbers
in any order we want.
Nothing will be left out.
All will be complete and perfect.
Draw your outline!

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What would you include in your picture?
2. Is it about events, people, success, happiness - and what’s the background?
3. Who else is in the picture?


Day 128 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is a Personal Staycation?

7/28/2020

 

​​STAYCATION 

Go beyond the junk
always.
See past the hassle
always.
And stay where you are.

Look at the bigger picture
always.
Be true to yourself
always.
And stay where you are.

Get rid of the distractions
always.
Discard what is unnecessary
always.
And stay where you are.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What can you do to go beyond the junk and be true to yourself?
2. Where are you staying?


Day 127 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is Personal Leadership?

7/27/2020

 

TOW ROPE
 
The world keeps
pulling us back
to its way of working.
To follow its rules.
To behave in the way
that it wants us to be.
 
Untie the rope.

The world keeps
taking us to places
away from where we should be.
Away from all we value
Away from our true selves,
to be dependent on it.
 
Untie your rope.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. How is the world pulling you back?  
2. How is the world taking you away from where you should be? 
3. How can you untie your rope?


Day 126 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

Is today a Holy Day?

7/26/2020

 
​
HOLY DAYS

 
There were no visits to a church.
There was no kneeling in prayer.
There were no readings.
There was no sitting in silence.
 
and yet
 
today was the holiest of days.
I spent every moment with you
working tirelessly
on the project.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What is your project?  
2. How is today a holy day for you?


Day 125 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

Is Community Cohesion the same as Inclusion?

7/25/2020

 

COMMUNITY COHESION
 
A new community will emerge.
A new type of community
will emerge and grow.
Offering help and hope
 
A new definition of community
will emerge and grow
changing the why and the how
and serving all.
 
For community is not an organisation
or a structure.
Community is not based in a place
or even in a virtual space
 
Community rests in each of us
enabling us
to reach outwards and
to work with all others.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. How can you build a new type of personal community?
2. What will you work on?
3. Who will you offer 'help and hope' to?


Day 124 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What will you say to Yourself today?

7/24/2020

 

DAILY BLOG

Start your daily blog today.
Grab a notebook.
Put day one on the first page.
And write something.
 
This is a blog for you,
not for the world.
Not for marketing your products
or promoting your expertise.
 
This is your daily feedback,
conversation and notes for yourself.
It’s your life training manual.
To underpin all that you do.
 
These are the words that tell you
what’s really happening around you
and within you.
It’s only for you.
 
And as you build your blog
day by day
you will see themes develop,
ideas flourish and a plan emerge.
 
You will build a greater sense
of who you really are.
Every day write your blog.
Grab a notebook start today.
 
It is here where seeds
can be planted and flourish.
For if you write it down
It can become real.
 
Capture what’s happening
or isn’t happening.
Capture all the joy and gratitude
and all that causes you pain.
 
For your daily blog
is an ongoing conversation
with all that really matters.
Start your daily blog today. 

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What would like to say to yourself today? 
2. And how will yourself respond?
 


Day 123 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

How should we start each day?

7/23/2020

 

ALARM CALL
 
Started in work mode.
Straight onto my phone.
Planning the day.
Checking my appointments.
Writing my to do list.
Forgot to smile
and say good morning
to the one I love.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What is the first thing you do each morning when you awaken?  
2. Where is your smile?  


Day 122 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is a zero Occupancy Rate?

7/22/2020

 

EMPTY CHAIR
 
This is a spiritual journey,
not a business or work one.
This is the journey in my eternal now,
not a plan for the next year.
 
This is a journey beyond this place,
not a marketing or income strategy.
This is a journey away from me,
not a reliance on myself.
 
This is a journey which cannot be described,
not one plotted by success or failure.
This is a journey without family or friends,
and without myself.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What is your journey?
2. Why is this called empty chair?


Day 121 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

Have you written your personal Operations Manual?

7/21/2020

 

OPERATIONS MANUAL

Today I’m going to be a bit radical.
I’m going to break my rules.
I’m going to do things differently.
I’m not going to follow
my normal routine.
 
Today will take on a life
and a process and a
perfect purpose of its own.
Whatever happens, happens.
If it feels right, I’ll do it.
 
Today I’m going to trust
in the deeper part of myself,
the one that is so often trapped
or locked away.
Today will see a different me.
 
I’m re-writing my Operations Manual.
Looking at the sky,
walking somewhere different,
just smiling and loving
being with myself.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. Write the contents page of your personal Operations Manual.
2. Now write the Introduction as if you were talking to yourself.


Day 120 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

Are you Waiting for Something to arrive?

7/20/2020

 

​ONE DAY DELIVERY
 
True understanding cannot
be accessed by us.
Our normal tools of thinking, reading,
listening and reflecting are of little use.
 
For this tool kit
can only help us to make sense
of what is already in our heads.
What we already know.

 
We have to receive new thoughts,
inspiration and ideas from outside
to help us to make sense
of what is going on.
 
True understanding is
​outside of us.

Our toolkit is of little use
Until the package arrives.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What do you not understand?
2. What package would you like to arrive tomorrow?​

Day 119 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

Is there such a thing as Magic?

7/19/2020

 

​MAGIC

The most curious thing we can witness
is an impossible magic trick.
 Everyone wants to know
the secret!

 Yet, for most,
the secret is a disappointment

But the magic is gone
and will never come back.


 Sometimes, the magic lies
in the joy

of not knowing
​everything.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What is the one thing deep down, that you would really love to know?
2. Why might it be better to enjoy the magic and not rush to work it out?


Guest  post by Tomas McCabe - International Mind Reader and Magician
How are you thinking differently about everything?  www.tomasmccabe.com /
email Des McCabe with you Guest post .


Day 118 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What are the best Career Development Models?

7/18/2020

 

CAREER CHANGE
 
When we speak of career change
we don’t mean changing jobs
or sectors or a new job title.
 
We don’t mean getting promotion,
going back to college or
having flexible work arrangements.
 
We don’t mean working from home,
working for yourself
or starting a business.
 
What we mean is
changing the career model
and becoming fully ourselves.
 
We can step out of the career box
that we are put in, for this is only
one construct for guiding our lives.
 
There are many alternatives such as
time, purpose, age, self-knowledge, family,  
personal situation, wish list, relationships,
spiritually, love, service or trust.
 
The career model is not our only choice.
We can all have a frame of reference
for our lives that works for us
.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. Which alternative to the career development model might you explore - time, purpose, age, self-knowledge, family, personal situation, wish list, relationships, spiritually, love, service or trust?
2. What does your future look like based on this?


Day 117 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

How do your respond to Breaking News?

7/17/2020

 

BREAKING NEWS
 
All the birds
are chirping away
loudly and enthusiastically.
All talking at the same time.
It’s deafening!
 
And then, total silence
as they fly off together
to do what they must do.
Responding to breaking news
in their world.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What ‘breaking news’ is happening in your world?
2. How will you respond?


Day 116 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

Do you suffer from Impostor Syndrome?

7/16/2020

 

LIMITING BELIEFS
 
We can see the door
and not open it.
 
We can approach the gate
and not go through it.
 
We can be told the path
and not take it.
 
We can be shown a new way
and not go there.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What negative thoughts are holding you back from doing all you want to do?
2. All is possible through love and we are made of love. You can be all you should be. Open the door. Go through the gate. Take the path. Start your new way.
​


Day 115 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is the best Garden Hose?

7/15/2020

 

GARDEN HOSE
 
The garden hose lies there
like a dark green snake on the grass.
It can take water
to areas needing refreshment and
to the plants that are struggling.
 
We too can go
where we are needed.
We can bring all we have
to areas needing refreshment and
to those who are struggling.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. Who do we know that may be struggling?
2. What refreshment can we bring?
3. How do we turn our tap on full? 


Day 114 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

Is today really your Birthday?

7/14/2020

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
 
Imagine if you arrived born
into the world at the age you are now.
Imagine if today was your first day,
your birthday.
 
You will meet your family,
partner and friends
for the first time.
You will see the house where you live.
 
You will see trees and water.
You go to work for the first time,
 meet your colleagues
and see how you’re using your talents
 
Today, on this your birthday
you will see all that has been given to you.
You will discover all of  the places
where you make your mark.
 
As you begin to take it all in, you’re filled
with wonder, excitement and questions.
You just can’t wait to get started,
to find out more and to explore.
 
It’s just so amazing
what you’ve been given on this your birthday.
And then, you receive the most
incredible birthday present of all time.
 
You will have a new beginning like this
every single day for the rest of your life.
A new day will arrive each morning 
ready to be discovered.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 
1. Imagine if today was your very first day alive. Where would you start?
​2. Where will you explore? How will you capture the wonder and excitment? What questions will you ask?
3. What will you do at the end of this amazing birthday? 


Day 113 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is your Dream?

7/13/2020

 
​
COLLABORATION

 
The sky gives me perspective.
Ideas create my map.
Random thoughts plot co-ordinates.
Crazy dreams show alternatives.
 
Harry sits on the roof
to help wherever I go.
Time has stopped for me as
friends fuel the dream.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. Who or what is collaborating with you?
​2. What is the dream?


Day 112 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

Is Spatial Recognition the same as Prayer?

7/12/2020

 

SPATIAL RECOGNITION 
 
There is no set formula
or words in prayer.
Every conversation is different.
 
For it’s not about talking.
It’s about sitting patiently
and waiting.
 
Not for some miraculous
words of wisdom,
but for a gentle thought.
 
This is prayer.
Sitting, quietly waiting and
leaving space for that thought.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. Where and when will you sit quietly today – ‘leaving space for that thought’?
2. The process of prayer is bespoke to each of us. I use the word Spatial Recognition to describe prayer. What word or phrase would you use?


Day 111 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

How many Steps did you take Today?

7/11/2020

 

STEPS
 
Every morning around seven
two women arrive
outside our house
on their morning walk.
 
There are chatting as
they walk briskly
getting in their steps and
sorting out everything they need to.
 
Our house is the
turning point on their walk.
They change direction and
head back to their separate days.
 
We too can create a new routine
going out and coming back each day,
getting in our steps and
sorting out everything we need to.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What steps do you need to take?
2. What or where is your turning point?


Day 110 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

Is your Purpose the same as your Career?

7/10/2020

 

CAREER DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

I was building my career and income and
learning to live my purpose through this.
 
Now I'm delivering on my purpose and
building my career and income through this.​​​

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What is your career development strategy?
2. How can your purpose help to steer your career?


Day 109 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

How can we Live Forever?

7/9/2020

 

TIMESCALE
 
Time is not a linear concept.
It is a circle.
It is the never-ending present
for there is no start and no finish.
 
Live in this moment
for it holds all moments
and as you live in all moments
you live forever.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. Draw your life as a complete circle. Where have you placed everything - people, events, relationships, understanding....? 
​2. What is on the rim of your circle? What sits within the rim? What is at the very centre? What is outside your circle?


Day 108 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

Are you coming back to the House?

7/8/2020

 

OPEN DOOR POLICY
 ​
There may be storms outside
but inside all is calm.
 
There may be darkness outside
but inside all is sunny.
 
There may be fog outside
but inside all is clear.
 
Forget the weather
and come back to the house.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What is your weather like today? What are your storms? What is your darkness? What is the fog?  
​2. Tell me about the house.....
​

Day 107 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

How does your Soul talk to you?

7/7/2020

 

HIGHWAY CODE
 
The sIgns are there for you.
Watch out for them.
They’re not billboards
and they’re not traffic signs.
Yet they are within the landscape
and all around us.
 
Signs are moments of feeling,
of awareness and sensitivity,
when windows of light open
and you know that something
is significant or special.
Or just meant to be.
 
Be open to your signs,
to see and listen to what is here
and to follow with a 'thank-you'.
For deep down this is how
your soul talks
and works with you.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. When did you last sense that something was special or just meant to be?
​2. How will you respond the next time you get this feeling or awareness? 


Day 106 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises
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