By: Four for Growth – Suzy, Dorothy Doreen & Doris
Have you read Wheel of Life – Part 1? If you did, you may reminisce how a conversation between four ‘not-so-young-girls’ led to a roller-coaster experience of self-identity and emotional discoveries during a 2-day retreat. By the end of the first day, as we shared in the story, we had firmly identified two nuggets for success – meditation and wellness. Guess what? The story continues here.
As the morning rolled on us on the second day of our retreat, we picked up on our conversations from where we ended the night prior after breakfast, having had a deep and well-meaning sleep together in the hotel suite. With meditation beautifully ticked on the checklist box on this day, we quizzed each other, ‘What do we feel?’ ‘What emotions have come to visit us lately?’
Our emotional-self
Lately, Afia scoffed and offered the first response. ‘These emotions don’t seem like visitors any more girl friends’. ‘I live with them.’ Then there was silence, an extended period of silence, as we all sipped on our mid-morning prosecco. As we watched tears swell up in our best friend’s eyes, we observed that she tried not to blink. But with emotions, as it builds up in us, Afia had to eventually give up as the tears won by streaming down her cheeks. ‘I’m such a mess’, she finally managed to say. ‘A beautiful mess’, we teased. We all laughed trying to tone down the tension infused by Afia’s tears.
Amongst the many reasons we gathered at this retreat, one of our goals was to help an individual surmount a hurdle in her life. So we asked Afia one more time, ‘do you want to name the emotions and what they are saying to you?’ Afia sighed and then responded; ‘anger, I feel like everyone needs me so much so that, I rarely have time for me.’ ‘Fatigue, I’m tired all the time, I don’t enjoy anything anymore; I remain unappreciated, I am afraid, I am lonely’, she continued.
With lessons in emotional intelligence, we pressed her further for answers. We asked again ‘What stories are these visitors (emotions) presenting this time?’ Afia opened her mouth to speak and then paused, as though remembering something. ‘Girls, that wheel we did the last time; please let’s look at it again, I think I just had a permutation.’ She pulled out her tablet from her handbag and pulled up her wheel of life from one of our previous conversations. Pointing to her ‘emotions pie’ she said, ‘Girls, help me unpack my feelings ok!’
Self-awareness
It’s such a beautiful experience to dialogue with a friend with a high level of awareness. As observed by Dr. Tasha Eurich (author of Insights: How to Succeed by Seeing Yourself Clearly), self-awareness is the ability to see ourselves clearly, to understand who we are, how others see us, and how we fit into the world. From our lived experiences and those of others, be they friends and or clients, being self-aware is only half the story.
Personal mastery
The other equally important piece is self-management. As defined by Jennifer Porter in her Harvard Business Review article on Self-Improvement, self-management is the conscious choice to resist a preference or habit, and instead, demonstrate a more productive behavior (one that would generate the best outcome). Herein, lies our love for personal mastery. A practice defined as the art and science of knowing, growing, and being productive. Art because personal mastery equips you with skills to become stronger at a skill through constant practice. It is also seen as a science as there’s a body of knowledge and proven tools (often used by professionals in the helping industry) as a guide to personal growth.
The path to success
There is this power of conscious choice bequeathed to the individual on the journey to success, wealth creation, healthy bodies, and minds, as well as the ability to build a legacy. Imbibing the principles of personal mastery is accepting that as an individual, we can learn and make choices that transform us and move us closer to success as defined by us, for us, and our context. Some individuals can manage this journey on their own. Others work with coaches, mentors, and/or accountability partners. All in the bid to expand their level of awareness that allows them to make the conscious choices for change and success. Find your path, get on the journey alone, or join with partners to grow. Make that choice today.
Wealth as it relates to our success
As we consider the journey to becoming successful, let us also keep wealth creation in mind. Wealth is also an important reference to strike an identity of our own as successful persons. That we are known for who we are, what we stand for and what we can do. After all, what is success without wealth? Where it becomes difficult to alter what happened to us in the past, let us rather hold on to the current and focus on how we transform our lives successfully in the future. We can only achieve success by taking the needed steps to create and maintain wealth.
Richard Templar, a British author counseled in his book ‘The Rules on Wealth’ that, we must think wealthy, get wealthy, get wealthier, stay wealthy, and share the wealth. We believe as individuals on the path of being successful, we must embody the desire to learn about wealth creation and begin to take the necessary steps to achieve that. We also believe that, when we have the next generation in mind, we are more able to think about wealth creation beyond ourselves. For Chinonye J. Chidoluete, an actor and public speaker once said, “the purpose of our existence is to positively affect others with our gift.” So, when the conversation is no longer about us and what is just ok for us, we leave some mental space to take successful steps in creating and sharing wealth. Sharing the wealth is a path to success.
The journey to creating wealth as successful individuals begins with our savings and investment culture. Through our investing habits and a purpose to create and sustain wealth, we become successful people. So, as we meditate to ensure wellness in our body and soul, let us begin to take well-focused steps consistently to create, maintain, and stay wealthy as successful people.
As we parted company after our retreat
We reminded ourselves that, in our aspiration to be successful, we must remember to live. Success is not a destination or endpoint for a competitive race. Success is a journey and mindfulness of the present. Notwithstanding the turbulences we may experience in our lifes, meditation, together with consciousness of and commitment to our complete emotional and physical well-being will ensure that we have a calm, fulfilling, and deeply satisfying living experience. We felt fulfilled to have made the time in the year 2020 for a retreat. It paid off. Why not make time this new year -2021- to have a me-time? Please do it. It pays!
ABOUT THE WRITERS
Dr. Suzy Aku Puplampu
Dr. Suzy Aku Puplampu is the CEO of OctaneDC Limited, a fund management firm. Suzy loves to write on finance and other social issues. (She blogs at https://suzydotblog.wordpress.com) and she has been a Business Mentor for Ashesi University’s Mentoring Program since 2018.
Dorothy Ametepe
Dorothy Ametepe is Founder and Principal Consultant at Rothcorn Limited. Prior to assuming this role, Dorothy was Managing Director at First Atlantic Asset Management Ltd and Head of Wealth Management at Databank Asset Management Ltd.
Doreen Baffoe
Doreen Baffoe is an addicted Personal Mastery practitioner and currently leads People and Culture at Bayport Savings and Loans PLC. Currently her focus is helping individuals understand themselves, grow and, increase their ability to create harmony in their relationships and transform culture in their teams.
Doris Ahiati
Doris Ahiati is a Senior Consultant (DISC Accredited) & Lead Coach (John C Maxwell certified Coach Speaker & Trainer) at Crescendo Consult Ltd and General Manager at Mondia Longlivety- a complete well-being business. Doris is passionate about helping individuals, families and Corporates to achieve financial and spiritual liberation.
