COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF

When I sit down at my desk
in the morning, it’s like
taking my seat at Mission Control.

For this is no ordinary desk.
It has a laptop that connects me
to the world!

I power up the machine and
all is laid out before me.
What shall we do today?

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. How is your laptop at the heart of your Mission Control? 
2. What  is your Mission?
​3.   What shall you do today?​

​Day 440 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

SELF-SCULPTURE

​ Personal development, is
about chipping away
at the pieces we do not like,
about ourselves.
 
It’s about using a selection
of tools, from heavy duty drills
to fine chisels, as we get closer
to what we might be.
 
For deep inside our concrete exterior
is our real self, looking to be freed.
Our perfect ‘me’ is already within us,
and so, we chip away.
 
You see, personal development
is not only  about learning
new skills, or adding more layers,
to what we already are.
 
Personal development is about
chipping away to uncover
what is already here,
and to become what we really are. 

​PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. How is your Self-Sculpture coming along?
​2.   What tools are you using ? What are your heavy duty drills and fine chisels? 

​Day 439 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

CONSULTANCY SKILLS
 
It’s sometimes hard
to be a leader,
to stand out  and
to stand alone.
 
This is the primary role
of a Consultant.
To have a perspective
and to lead.
 
Our role is to challenge
the value system,
for how else can we
give value for money?
 
And how else
will we enable others
to make changes,
that can make a difference?
 
We will not always
win the contract, for many
do not want to  listen,
or change.
 
At times, we are all
called as Consultants,
to stand out  and 
to stand alone.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. When did you last take a stand or give a different opinion to others? 
​2.   What are your core values?  Write these down.....​

​Day 438 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

PEN NAME

Our God comes with
no baggage or history,
no image or place,
no authority or stories,
no religion or belief.
For our God has no name,
but love.

​​PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What does your God come with?
​2.   What do you call love? 

​Day 437 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

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?

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
 
Say it in the
present tense, or it
can never happen.
 
You see, ‘I am’ and ‘I have’, are now.
‘I will’, is in the future and
can never happen.
 
Say it in the
present tense every day and
watch it happen.
 ‘I am’ and ‘I have’, are waiting now
for you to say these words, and
​watch it happen.

​Day 435 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

​THE JIGSAW OF  EVERYONE
 
Without you, this world
would be incomplete.
Like a thousand-piece jigsaw
your absence is
all that we would see.
That one empty space.
 
It is because you are here
that everything is complete,
and all is as it should be.
 
You are irreplaceable.
You are the one that makes
everything worthwhile.
You are the one that we all need.
For without you
our jigsaw is nothing.
 
And when we understand this,
we understand inclusion.
We understand everything.

​PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1.  What does your piece of the Jigsaw look like?   Draw it. Describe it.
2. What is the overall picture on the Jigsaw of Everyone? 

​NICHE MARKETING
 
Joe Karbo, famously said that
‘you know more about something
than half the people in the world’.
 
What do you know about?
What is your passion?
Where is your experience?
Where is your joy?
 
For this is your purpose made real,
by design and by chance.
 This is your expert position,
and your gift to share.
Half of the world is waiting.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1.  What do you know about?
2. What is your passion?
3. Where is your experience?
4. Where is your joy?​

THE INCLUSION PRAYER
 
I always pray for everyone
in the world.
‘Please help everyone’
It's  an easy prayer!
 
It’s not that I’m lazy.
It’s just that I know
that for all to be well,
we all need to be well.

​Day 432 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION

The great transformation
of your life is about to begin.
You will see things
in a different way.
You will think about things
in a different way.
You will relate to others
in a different way.
 
And there are no words
to describe this transformation.
For all words limit, and reduce
what you are about to become.
 
Your transformation has begun.
Hold the seed gently.
Be quiet. Walk slowly.
Give this process a chance
to take root in your busy brain,
and predictable life.
 
For you will never think
the same again.
You will never act
the same again.
You will never be
the same again.
 
Today you have received
the invitation of all invitations.
Begin to get ready.
Clear the decks.
Be willing to grow.
For everything you do
from now on, will speak
to you of transformation.
 
The words you hear
will be of encouragement
for your transformation.
The people you meet
will be the helpers
for your transformation
 
And every day will give you
the next stage,
the next piece, and
the next step forward
in your transformation.
 
You  have nothing to do
but to be ready,
to be open,  and
to say yes each day,
to your great  transformation.