Balance and Personal Development

1
Balance and Personal Development

• Objectives
• At the completion of this module, participants
  will be able to
  
• Develop a daily practice to center themselves.
• Explore the concept of a personal mission.
• Recognize options for personal development.

2
Balance and Personal Development

• Definitions
• Daily practice- the planned opportunity of quiet,
  alone time each day to renew and to center
  oneself for increased strength and focus.
  
• Whole person- someone who can fully and freely
  express herself and relate to others as whole
  people.
  
• Mission- a statement of purpose for ones life.
  It is an expression of all priorities and
  important aspects of ones ideal life.
  
• Roles- the parts a person plays in our
  relationships and in activities such as parent,
  teacher, employee, colleague, mentor, runner,
  gardener, etc.

3
Balance and Personal Development

• Personal Check-In A Look in the Mirror
• Take a few minutes to consider the following
  statements. Mark each one with a yes or no.
  
• Work
• _____ When I introduce myself, I am proud to
  say
  
• what I do.
• _____ When I take vacations, it is hard to
  relax.
  
• _____ Work is my top priority.
• _____ I feel like my real self at work.

4
Balance and Personal Development

• Personal Check-In A Look in the Mirror
• Take a few minutes to consider the following
  statements. Mark each one with a yes or no.
  
• Family
• _____ I feel my own needs are selfish.
• _____ My schedule is filled with family
  obligations.
  
• _____ I dont have enough time for my own
  interests.
  
• _____ I worry about my family.

5
Balance and Personal Development

• Personal Check-In A Look in the Mirror
• Take a few minutes to consider the following
  statements. Mark each one with a yes or no.
  
• Partner
• _____ I am afraid to be honest with my partner.
• _____ I do things I dont like in order to
  please my
  
• partner.
• _____ I react to my partners ups and downs.

6
Balance and Personal Development

• Icebreaker A Whole Person
• What makes up a whole person?
• For example, we know thinking is part of being a
  person. What else is?
  

7
Balance and Personal Development

• Know Yourself
• Mission
• You can begin to write a mission statement for
• yourself by considering the following questions
• What is most important in my life?
• What do I want to be in my life?
• What will I need to do to be that?
• How do I want to be remembered by my family?

8
Balance and Personal Development

• Know Yourself
• Mission
• You can begin to write a mission statement for
• yourself by considering the following questions
• How do I want to be remembered by my colleagues?
• How do I want to be remembered by my friends?
• Draft a few sentences which describe your mission
  or the purpose of your life. Read over it in
  three days, one week, and two weeks and revise
  it.

9
Balance and Personal Development

• Know Yourself
• Roles
• Consider the different aspects of your life.
  List the roles you play.
  
• Which roles are most important to you?
• What is one goal you have for each of these most
  important roles?

10
Balance and Personal Development

• Daily Practice
• Consider how you spent your time over the last
  week. How much time did you spend in the
  following activities each day?
  
• Sleeping Sharing with friends or family
• Exercising Watching TV
• Doing meaningful work Serving others (community
  service)
  
• Focusing on spiritual growth Other
• Renewing yourself (recreation)
• What would be the impact of devoting 30-60
  minutes to your well-being each day?

11
Balance and Personal Development
Daily Practice Your daily practice can include
one or several activities such as the following

• Exercising
• Walking or running
• Time alone
• Silence
• Journal writing
• Yoga
• Prayer or meditation

• Reading or studying wisdom or inspirational
  literature
  
• Focusing on spiritual growth
• Renewing yourself (recreation)
• Listening to music which lifts you
• Drawing, painting, or weaving

12
Balance and Personal Development

• Reality Practice Case Study
• What differences do you see in how Trina and
  Monica
  
• arrange their lives?
• What is important to Trina?
• What is important to Monica?
• What could Monica do to create more balance and
  joy
  
• in her life?
• What could you do to improve the balance in your
  life?

13
Balance and Personal Development

• Develop Yourself
• Here are some key actions to take to ensure that
  your life is balanced and full of growth.
  
• Set aside time to reflect on your life, dreams,
  and goals.
  
• Determine your areas of strength.
• Identify what you enjoy doing.
• Set some short-term (one day, one week, one
  month) and
  
• long-term (2 years) goals.
• Schedule time to plan your week and include
  steps to
  
• accomplish your goals.

14
Balance and Personal Development

• Develop Yourself
• Here are some key actions to take to ensure that
  your life is balanced and full of growth.
  
• Check the fit of your skills and work to the
  lifestyle you want.
  
• Share or communicate your goals with others you
  trust.
  
• Indicate your long-term professional goals to
  your manager or
  
• director and seek assistance in achieving
  them.
  
• Take responsibility for your own path, choices,
  and actions for
  
• personal growth.
• Commit yourself to life-long learning and
  development.

15
Balance and Personal Development

• Checking Out Daily Practice
• 1. If you were to establish a daily practice,
  what activities could you include?
  
• 2. What time of day would be good for your daily
  practice? Morning, midday, or night? What
  hour?
  
• 3. Where would you do your daily practice?
  Inside or outside? Bedroom, living room, deck,
  or porch? Favorite chair?
  
• 4. What materials, books, music, etc. would you
  gather around you?
  
• 5. If you chose to begin a 30-minute daily
  practice tomorrow, what would you include?

16
Balance and Personal Development

• Checking Out Daily Practice
• My daily practice will be at ________ oclock
  each day. I will spend this time doing
  ________________, _________________, and
  ___________________ for at least 30 minutes to
  center myself and to focus on my needs and
  energies.
• ____________________________
• Signature
• Mission
• Rewrite the next draft of your mission statement
  here
  

17
Balance and Personal Development

• Checking Out Develop Yourself
• Once you begin to focus on your mission and to
  develop a daily practice, you may choose to live
  your life around what is important. Use the
  following questions to prompt your own
  development.
• When will you spend focused, alone time on your
  life, dreams,
  
• and goals?
• What are your strengths?
• What do you enjoy doing?
• Given your missions, strengths, and areas of
  enjoyment, what
  
• long-range goals do you have?

18
Balance and Personal Development

• Checking Out Develop Yourself
• What short-term goals do you have?
• When during the week could you plan your weeks
  activities
  
• so that you are working on what is important?
• With whom would you like to share your responses
  to these
  
• questions?
• What do you need to share with your manager in
  order to have
  
• support in achieving your professional goals?
• Are you committed to being a life-long learner?