Your Divine Assignment

Posted on September 25, 2018 by Marvin Chambers, One of Thousands of Leadership Coaches on Noomii.

I recently wrote an article entitled, Know Your Story. It illustrated how self-discovery through critically assessing our personal life’s journey can help each of us find our true authentic self. Yes, that authentic self – the best version of our imperfect selves, who we are when we are most alive, most passion-filled, most engaged, and most impactful to the world.

This is sparked a dialogue with many of my colleagues, fueled by several thoughtful questions:

- How do I properly assess and analyze my story?
- I’ve been around awhile, what do I aspects on my story should I focus on?
- What should I do with the information?
- How can others benefit from my story?

Exploration for Self-Discovery
What follows is an outline of the key steps in the process of connecting to your story and using it to connect to your higher calling:

Document the Journey: Take the time to write down the key experiences that have impacted your life – successes, failures, high moments, low moments, key people, places, and things that affected you in a meaningful way. To aid the process, I suggest breaking down your life’s journey into the following age ranges: birth to 12; 13 to 17; 18 to 24; 25 to 30; 31 to 40; 41 to 50; 51 to 60; 61 to 70; 71 to 80; 81 to 90; 91 to 100. There is something to learn no matter your age.

Own it All: Embrace the entire roadmap – the ups and downs, the highs and the lows. There may be a temptation to skip over certain periods. It may be painful or embarrassing or frustrating. There are pearls of wisdom in all of it; especially, the times of pain and mistakes. The setbacks can serve as your greatest fuel. Remember: No promotion without pain.

Dissect It: It is important to critically analyze these moments. The insights will help you connect to your best self. Outline the “who, what, when, where, and why” around these key moments. Who was involved? What really happened? When did you happen? Where were you? What was going on at the time?

Look for the patterns that emerge. What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? When do you feel most happy, satisfied, fulfilled? What people, places, things, and situations drain you? What drives you crazy that others don’t seem to notice? Where do you spend your time, money, and energy?

Explore the lessons from your experiences. What do you learn to do? What did you learn not to do? What will you do more of, better, or differently because of these experiences?
Sometimes seeing the patterns can be difficult to do on your own. A coach can be very helpful in aiding in the process of critical analysis by asking the probing questions that surface what might be tough to see on your own.

Act On It: Let the insights drive you to action. What actions can you take to leverage your strengths, interests, passions, and values? The plan should:

- Leverage your strengths or superpowers in your daily activities;
- Strengthen the areas of weakness that can derail you if not course-corrected;
- Minimize or eliminate the impact of the people, places and things that drain you;
- Maximize the people, places and things that energize you; and
- Shield you from situations that seem to be your Achilles heel.

Note: It is important to outline the actions you will take as well as the timeframe for completion and how you will measure success.

Share It: Embrace the saying, “Each one, teach one.” It was meant for children. I believe it applies to all of us. Take the opportunity to mentor. Share your wisdom. Share your stories with others. Let’s make it as little easier for someone else. Isn’t that what’s it all about – making an impact on the world?

Marvin Chambers is a Leadership / Life Coach and Ally. Please contact Marvin at 1-866-434-0825 or marvin@marvinchambers.com for a complimentary power coaching session.

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