What to Expect

Taking Charge of Your Life has been presented to hundreds of people as a seminar.

The response has been such that it is now offered as a series of personal study guides. If you are interested in growing to fulfil your potential this program is for you.

The approach is wholistic. Many are amazed at the scope as emotional, relational, motivational and spiritual needs are comprehensively addressed.

It uses insights from practical psychology, life skills, motivational and biblical perspectives to assist you in your personal and professional development.

The topics include:

YOUR PURPOSE: Assisting you to look again at what life is all about for you – your direction, goals, unique set of talents- the first life management step.

YOUR RELATIONSHIPS: Practical insights and skills that impact on friendship, marriage and career.

YOUR FEELINGS: Dealing with depression, anger, anxiety, conflict management.

THE ADDICTIONS: Workaholism, perfectionism, codependency, as well as substance addiction.

YOUR CHOICES: Awakening the giant within.

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS: Time and life management skills – getting in touch with those deeper passions that motivate and drive us to achieve.

 

Your Purpose

- The Foundation of Your Growth

Among our greatest needs is a sense of identity and purpose.

Richard Nixon, in his post-Watergate experience, wrote about purpose as a matter of life or death.
Read his quote opposite.

1. What did former US President, Richard Nixon, say every person needs?
    To be successful.
    To be loved.
    To have a reason to live.

Helen Keller was asked what was worse than being born blind. You will be interested in her answer in the quote.

Solomon wrote in the Scriptures that a lack of vision is fatal. (see quote opposite)

Richard Leider, writing in his book, Life Skills, defines lack of personal purpose as a state of “inner kill.” He asserts it is “the most insatiable killer” in modern Western society. “Inner kill” is dying without knowing it. It’s feeling like you’re coping without being fully alive.

“Inner kill’ is not growing. It’s taking the safe way. Always covering for yourself instead of taking risks. It’s reacting, instead of thinking. It’s giving up control of your life to whatever or whomever is around you. “Inner kill” is the death of self-respect (see quote opposite for Leiders summary of the symptoms of “inner kill”).

Knowing Yourself

A central goal of the Taking Charge of Your Life program is to assist you in understanding yourself and what you really want from life.

2. Leadership scholar, Warren Bennis, observed that: (Read quote opposite).
     Knowing yourself is a most difficult task..
     Knowing yourself is easy.
     Knowing yourself is relatively unimportant.

Dan Kaplan, president of the Hertz Rental Corporation, writes of his own self-knowledge in the quote:

3. Dan Kaplan, was concerned about his level of:
    Enthusiasm.
    Commitment.
    Product knowledge.

 

Brian Tracy, a leading authority on success and motivation, writes about the imperative of a clear sense of direction.

4. Brian Tracy, highlighted our need to engage with:
    Something bigger outside of ourselves.
    Something within ourselves.
    Something that is unknown and unfamiliar to us.

 

Take a few minutes to ask yourself…

• What are my values – the things that really count?
• What difference does my life make?
• Do I have a personal sense of purpose?
• Does my life have more to offer – is there more to discover?

Setting Goals

– the way to focus

The setting of goals is a powerful way of defining and focusing on purpose.

Take a few moments to think of one specific goal you would like to achieve. It is important to write it out. On our short Goal Activity, you have space to write out three of the strategic steps needed to achieve your goal. Your goal needs to be realistic and at the same time challenging. It is important to set deadlines for both goals and strategies. Make sure you print the page using the button at the bottom of the Goal Activity when you have filled it in and saved the answers.

The Goal Activity is a personal activity, and no information is sent or collected.

Your Self Image

-a central factor…

A major block to taking charge of our lives is an unrealistic self-image.

Clinical psychiatrists, Drs Minirth and Meier, write about the central importance of our self-esteem. (See quote opposite)

5. Understanding our sources of damaged self-esteem leads to becoming emotionally...
    dependent.
    intelligent.
    whole and healthy.

Our sense of self-worth determines how we function on every area of our lives:

• Our sense of purpose
• Our feelings
• Our behaviour
• Our relationships
• Our careers

 

The Scriptures have a great deal to say about personal attitudes. Note, in the quote what is written about how we should think of ourselves.

6. The ancient Biblical writings declare that we should conduct ourselves with:
    more confidence.
     sober judgement .
     less laughter.

We need to recognise the things we can and cannot do well. A modern translation puts it this way; “Have a sane estimate of your abilities.”

An understanding of our worth and our self-acceptance is a recurring theme in this series. It is an essential factor in emotional health and happiness.

 

Purpose

- Three levels

Three descriptive levels can help in thinking about purpose.

Each level has to be mastered, in turn, before the next can be fully processed. All three parts need to be discovered as we grew toward fulfilling our potential.

Dr Jonas Salk points out that to have a purpose in life is part of living systems and is essential to all living things. He said, “to become devoted to a calling, to have a sense of responsibility and to have hopes or aspirations are all part of being human.”

Our talents and abilities are gifts of life, but we must choose the work in which we will invest them.

Looking Deeper Into Your Purpose

Dr James Dobson writes of the widespread disappointment and cynicism of today. Note the words he uses to describe the “vast majority.”

7. James Dobson, commented that the youth of today are:
     Self-sufficient.
     Totally fulfilled.
     Bitterly disappointed.

According to Dr Hervert Kohn, the failure to find purpose is “the biggest single problem facing us today.”

8. What did the French philosopher, Jean Paul Sartre, say man had become?
     The peak of evolutionary development.
     A fallen damaged species.
     A bubble of nothingness.

 

Solomon, in the Scriptures, expresses the same kind of frustration with life we find today. He became convinced that life is meaningless.

He looked to the same sources for meaning that are common to modern society: wealth, wine, women, song, knowledge, and entertainment (See the Bible book of Ecclesiastes)

In describing his despair, Solomon used a recurring phrase. On 29 occasions, we find the phrase, “under the sun.” he says everything under the sun is meaningless; “there is no profit in anything done under the sun.”
(Ecclesiastes 1:5, 9, 14; 2:11, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22; 3:16; 4:1, 3, 7, 13; 6:1, 12; 9:5)

It was not until he looked above the sun – above the material, physical and earthly things – and focused on the spiritual dimension that he discovered purpose and fulfilment.

 

The Central Reason For Our Existence

When we look “above the sun,” we discover the underlying principle of life – LOVE.

We are reliant on love for our purpose. Alfred adler writes:

9. What are all human failures the result of?
     Poor parenting.
      Individual weakness.
      A lack of love.

 

We are capable of love because we have been loved: the warmth and comfort of a mother’s breast, the protection and security of a father, the unconditional acceptance by our parents regardless of the ups and downs of our growing years.

Love is basic to our sense of purpose and the grate healer of emotional pain and emotional dysfunction. Dr Karl Menninger writes of the practical power of love:

10. Menninger believed in the power of love to:
    Cure.
    Abuse.
    Destroy.

 

Many find the ancient wisdom found in the Scriptures provide a deeper understanding of love. It speaks of God, as the initiator, of love.

11. How are people first drawn to God? (1 John 4:19)
    His love - in that He first loved us.
    Through miracles.
    Through personal crises.

At the practical level of life, Gods love is expressed through   the nurturing care of parents. Those who have been deprived of love, especially during their tender years, experience deep-seated emotional pain.

These deeper needs are looked at in detail in other modules during this study program.

 

The Direction of My Life is Largely Determined by the Premise upon which I Build my Purpose

Finally

 

 

Victor Frankl was one of those who miraculously survived the horrors of Auschwitz, the dreaded concentration camp in Poland. Millions perished there during the Second World War. His focus on love and hope were the vital empowering factors in his great time of need. His book, Man’s Search for Meaning, is recommended.

 

 

The next topic is all about our relationships. You will enjoy the practical insights and skills as the stages of friendship and the principles of intimacy are outlined.

 

Check your answers

 

You have just competed TOPIC 1! Look forward ...

to continuing this TCYL Course by enrolling in Topic 2, which covers
how to handle the all important subject of Relationships.
Remember that this first lesson guide was just a preview of the course.
You are not yet enrolled for this Taking Charge of Your Life course.
You have the option of now doing the Course via the Internet, or via Australia Post.

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