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600 Personal Development Exercises

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What is Jenny's model of Inclusion?

6/30/2021

 

INCLUSIVE PARTICIPATION

Jenny, a food scientist has been
working for a major consultancy,
 training a group of women in Dubai
on how to build a local food business.
 
Jenny’s passion though was to help women
in Kenya to build their food businesses.
She was trying to link her priorities,
and make it work financially.
 
Jenny knew she could sell her courses
to the wealthy Dubai women, and
then use the money to train
the poorer women in Kenya.
 
That would be a traditional
‘charity’ model, where we earn our
money and then give it (or use it),
to help those who are less well off.
 
Jenny took a different approach however,
and ran only one course.
On that course, she brought the women
from Dubai and Kenya, to work together.
 
One group paid and one group didn’t.
But they all learned how to build
their local food businesses together.
 
The women shared stories of cultural
difference, and built relationships that
not only spanned continents, but were
the beginnings of global businesses.
 
This is different to the typical charity
model where 'donors' and 'recipients'
do not meet and are separated
by an intermediary organisation.
 
This is inclusive participation.
One woman, one course, one group
of women, one world and one amazing
inclusion initiative from Jenny. 

​PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What inclusive participation initiative could you create with your skills, experience and expertise? What is your passion? 
2. What help would you like to make this happen? Who could help you? 
​

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Day 463 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is the First Rule of Coaching?

6/4/2021

 

THE FIRST RULE OF COACHING

​Coaching is not a dominant relationship.
The Coach is not in charge.
The Coach is meant to facilitate, encourage
and enable progress to be made.
This means that the Coach is
also part of the coaching process.
 
 In other words, the person being coached,
should also be coaching the Coach.
For example, this can be as simple as
‘What is your key priority this week?’ or
‘What is the one thing you need
to achieve by our next session?’
 
In other words, being accountable
 to your Client makes you real.
 It makes the relationship
more equitable.
It makes the struggle a ‘two-way’
rather than ‘one-way’ process.
It ensures that you are embedded in,
and not detached from the process.
 
So real coaching, is two-way not one.
The coach has to invest in the process.
It has to be a journey for them.
The learning, benefits and outcomes then
are not only for your Client,  but also,
for  you as Coach, and for the journey
that you undertake together

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. How can you apply the first rule of Coaching at work, with your family, and with your friends and colleagues? 
2. How might we journey better together?


Day 437 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

Can we have Unity and Uniformity?

5/22/2021

 

UNITY AND UNIFORMITY 

Uniformity is where we
want and require
everyone to be the same.
To wear the same shirt.
 
Unity is where we
actively encourage everyone
to come together.
In their own clothes.
 
Uniformity puts us all
into a box created by others.
Unity allow us
​to bring our own box.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE?
1. How do you bring people together? 
2. What team are you seeking to build at the moment? 
3. How might you incorporate Unity and Uniformity together?


Day 424 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is Dual Responsibility?

5/10/2021

 

DUAL RESPONSIBILITY

We must love others
as we love ourselves.
This is called
dual responsibility.

This is a personal and
proactive approach to inclusion,
where we work with,
and support all others.
 
Dual responsibility is our
individual way of working.
It is us reaching in, and
reaching out, at the same time.
 
For when
we reach out to help others,
we become problem solvers,
connectors, and creators.

We get out of our heads
to explore, make new links and
find new possibilities.
We  make life better for everyone. 
 
Dual responsibility is so much more
than simply helping others.
You see, with every interaction,
we are building a kinder world

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. Start a new discussions with others. Find out how they are, what they are doing or what their current challenge is. See if you can suggest some ideas to help them. Explore the possibility of working together to make it happen.

Day 412 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What's the Rule of Fishing?

5/5/2021

 

RULE OF FISHING

We’ve been working
on our own, for years.
Trying to get things done
and make things happen.

There were many of us
all in the same boat.
And all fishing away
on our own.

We are now trying 
a different approach.
We’ve got together and we're
working with each other.

You see, we’ve packed
away our fishing rods.
And, as one, 
we’re casting out our net. 

It's a huge net and we
need your help.
Then, we will get more done,
and make more happen.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. Are you still fishing on your own? 
​2. What net are you going to help with?
3. What are you trying to get done and make happen?


Day 407 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is an effective Personal Development Strategy?

1/21/2021

 

​PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Personal development is
not a valid concept.
It implies that we can
take ownership of ourselves,
grow in our own right, 
learn new skills and become happy.
 
Personal development is, in fact,
the opposite of what it says.
Our real potential for growth
lies with, and among all others,
and all that we encounter.
 
Personal development is about
how we contribute to the whole,
and not what we keep for ourselves.
For the whole, is greater
than the sum of the parts.
This is where our real value is.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE. ​
1. What is your Personal Development strategy this year? 

Day 303 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

How do you Compare?

12/8/2020

 

​COMPARISON TABLE

Have no doubt.
We all have a role to play.
Your life has a distinct and specific purpose.
Each person is different and unique,
but equally important and significant,
no matter what we may think.
 
Do not compare yourself with others
or some worldly expectation.
For your role is a collaborative and
not a competitive one.
To become, with God and with all others,
all you can be today,

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. How might you collaborate today?

Day 259 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

How can we Build a Better Future?

12/2/2020

 

FUTURES

To build a kinder world and a
more collaborative way of working
where people help each other,
look after each other, share skills
and actively work together,
it’s not to the big organisations
that we need to look.

For they are lost in their
agendas and policies,
and trapped in old ways of working.

Real change will come from
millions of new workpiece groups
where two or three ordinary people
come together, wherever they live,
and help each other to grow.

For this is not just about
more products and services.
It’s the development of collaborations
that reach into every aspect of our lives
and the lives of all others.

The power and opportunity
rests gently with each of us, together.
We are the futures.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What would you like to really see happen in our world?
2. Who will you talk with today about this? How can you find a like minded soul?
3. How will you together begin to build your workpiece group.?


Day 253 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is Collaborative Working?

10/27/2020

 

COLLABORATIVE WORKING

Let’s sort it out.
Let’s get going.
Let’s not wait for others.
Let’s join together.
Let’s start the ball rolling.
 
This is our task.
This is our piece.
This is our love.
This is what we are about.
And this is who we are.
 
Let’s press the button.
Let’s change things.
Let’s lend a hand.
Let’s share what we know.
Let’s give what we have.
 
This is our task.
This is our piece.
This is our love.
This is what we are about.
And this is who we are.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE. ​
1. What is your piece?
2. Who are you working with? 
2. What are you going to sort out?


Day 217 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is our personal Stamp?

9/15/2020

 

STAMP COLLECTION
 
The world demands
outputs and results,
achievements and success.
But we long for
love and peace,
happiness and health.
 
We can be dominated
by external events,
or we can choose
to work together,
and create
a different way.
 
We can be continually
stamped upon in an
uncaring and demanding world.
Or we can come together,
and gently put our stamp
on all before us.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. How has the world stamped on you in the past?
2. How are you gently putting your stamp on all before you? 


Day 176 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

Can we create the best Gift Shop in the World?

9/10/2020

 

GIFT SHOP

There is no lock.
The door of the gift shop
is always open.

We are invited in
and we are able
to take what we wish.

This is fantastic!
Free gifts galore.
Let’s take more of these.

And then we realise,
that if we continue,
soon the shop will be empty.

So we stop taking.
Instead, we begin to bring
and to share our own gifts.

For we see now,
that together, we can create
the best gift shop in the world.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What gift can you bring to the best gift shop in the world? 
2. What do you enjoy most about the gift shop? 


Day 171 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is your Positioning Statement?

8/31/2020

 

​POSITIONING STATEMENT 
 
I had a mentoring call
with an author in New York yesterday
from my rural base in the UK.
 
‘How are you today?’ she asked.
‘I’m brilliant!’ I responded.
She looked at me quizzically.
 
After a pause, she said ‘Here in the US
that means you’re like Einstein,
a genius, incredibly clever?’
 
I laughed.
‘No, I just meant I am in really good form.’
And we arrived on the same page.
 
I learned about her work,
empowering those who felt inadequate
 and the millions of people she had helped.
 
At the end of the call, she said ‘Thanks!’
I smiled and said, ‘You are brilliant!’
And we laughed.
 
How are you today?

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What do you say when others ask, ‘How are you today?’
2. How often do you tell others that they are brilliant? ​


Day 161 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What's the alternative to the Rat Race?

8/17/2020

 

RAT RACE

We have inherited a world
where jobs and work
are allocated to people.
 
Employers decide on the tasks
that need to be done and
carve up the activity.
 
It’s an out-dated economic model
where we are paid to do what we are told.
And where many people have no jobs.
 
With technology we can now
create work in different ways,
driven by what really matters.
 
We can link up with others
and collaborate on projects
that are important to us as individuals.
 
We can take responsibility
for creating and shaping all of our
futures and a better world.
 
We can share resources
rather than waiting, like rats,
for the food pellet to arrive.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. How can you use your skills, experience and passions in new ways?
2. Who can you start to work with today to create your new projects? 


Day 147 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

Can we Outsource our Life?

8/7/2020

 

​OUTSOURCING

Don’t do everything yourself.
Share your dream with the world.
Collaborate with others.
Reach out and build your team.
For when we don’t try to do everything,
we can do anything.

Don’t do everything yourself.
Create projects and initiatives.
Let others work with you.
Set out the plan and make it happen.
For when we let it all go,
we will all do everything.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE 
1. How will you work with others so that they can help and support you?
2. Who is (and will be) on your team?
3. We all have a dream to share with the world. What’s yours? 


Day 137 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

What do we mean by Hands-On?

5/28/2020

 

HANDS-ON
 
I can remember you
washing your hands in the kitchen sink.
You'd just come home from work
with garage grease up to your elbows.
And Ma rescued the situation with a towel
whilst serving us our tea.
 
I can remember you
asking me to hold out my hands
So that you could wind the wool into balls.
And then you'd sit at night
knitting Aran jumpers
that were admired by all.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. Being hands-on means that we are actively involved. We make things happen with others. What are you making happen at the moment?
​2. What hands-on activities do you have with your partner and/or children in the daily activities of home life?
3. How are you working with others who are holding out their hands, asking for help?


Day 66 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

How can we Build a Better World?

5/21/2020

 

​BUILDING SERVICES
 

There are people looking to
build a better world.
They’re looking beyond
business models and consumerism.
They’re looking at the development
of a collective approach
with a collaboration of ideas and support
defined by service.
 
This is a different model and
way outside of the business box.
It is defining what we are about
in a different way.
It is about setting
different expectations of ourselves,
proactively supporting those we know
and those we do not know.

​PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What is your model for working with others?
2. How are you proactively working with others to build a better world?


Day 59 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What do you own?

5/11/2020

 

​OWNERSHIP
 
There is no such thing as mine.
It is there for all of us.
For as soon as we claim
something for ourselves
we lessen its potential and
we limit our capacity for growth.
 
Let us shift from ownership and self
to potential and possibilities.
Let us leave all

in that sacred space
that we cannot own
so that we become

all that we should be. 

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What do you own?
2. What is it that are you be holding onto that in some way may limit you?
3. Where is your real potential ?


Day 49 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

How can I increase my Response Rate?

5/6/2020

 

RESPONSE RATE

When I shake the little tree
every single leaf responds.
Instantly, hundreds of leaves
all wave back to me.
They shimmer enthusiastically as one,
each in their own unique way.
​

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What tree will you shake today?
2. What are you responding to enthusiastically with others as one?


Day 44 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What do we mean by Give and Take?

4/24/2020

 

GIVE AND TAKE

In the world of want I strive for more.
More income, a bigger house or a better job.
Recognition, popularity or a sense of importance.
 
In the world of plenty I have more than I need.
From this place I can reach out to you,
free to share all that I have and all that I am.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. List 5 times or situations when you have been in the world of more.
2. List 5 times or situations when you have been in the world of plenty.
​3. What do these 10 points tell you about yourself?


Day 32 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

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