Getting To The Core…of Your Core

Many people invest heavily in self-help courses, books, and conferences but in what, exactly, are they investing? How many of us have a deep understanding of how we tick based on our natural talents, passions, mission, values and purpose?

It occurs to me that a good starting point before heavily investing in self-help stuff – is to know the core of who you are. Where are the behavioral strengths that need focus, and the struggles which need managing? What is your life vision and how well prepared and gifted are you to deliver it?

From a very early age, I knew who I wanted to be and what I wanted to do. I watched people around me behaving badly towards each other in the workplace and in some cases ridiculing others for the dreams and visions they had for their lives. Determined to correct this dysfunctional behavior set in and my passion for building others up and pointing them in the right direction became my life’s work as a mentor and a people culture trainer.

For years I invested in the self-help market to train myself on how to understand others and be their mentor. How to understand the reasons people communicate inappropriately with each other and to find ways in which, through self-help, I could be the answer to some of the challenges I was seeing around me in the workplace.

My personal tipping point (source: Malcolm Gladwell) came on the day I completed the DNA Behavior Natural Behavior Discovery process. I realized that I was investing in all the wrong areas of my inherent personality. I needed to activate the skills and talents (strengths) I had, and build on those without over doing mending the struggle areas, but without the insight, I gained from completing the DNA Natural Behavior Discovery, I wouldn’t have been able to refocus on my career and achieve the success I now have.

So – what did I discover?

I discovered I have the following strengths for mentoring and training others:

1. Very creative – not in the arts as most would understand – but in wordsmithing and in providing out of the box thinking to help others solve a problem.
2. Capable of giving frank feedback when people are off track and need clarity in being guided to the right path
3. Quite reserved in nature which helps me listen to others as a priority before giving my feedback. This slowness to express emotions or opinion means I am more suited to one-on-one meetings and training small groups rather than continually facilitating and presenting to large groups.
4. Somewhat of a generalist so that I keep the feedback at a high level rather than bogging people down with the specifics before they are ready.
5. Enjoy working as part of a team rather than being left on my own island. Having others to collaborate with regularly is much better for me than working independently.

These insights put me on a sound footing to understand where I needed support, training, coaching and mentoring to deliver the vision I had for my own life.

Very quickly I realized the foolishness of investing in self-help that is unfocused and serves no useful purpose in using behavioral strengths, building confidence, or keeping anyone on track to deliver their life vision.

Having completed the DNA Behavior Natural Discovery process, I was able to target specific areas of self-development; but more than that it also revealed to me the most effective approach to mentoring and training others.

So the moral of this story – invest in revealing your personality; then identify the gaps that need managing. Not only will this save significant $$$ regarding self-help and education, but it will also ensure the $ you spend produces a good or even great return on investment throughout your life.

You will see results in your life, deliver on your vision, and above all, stay with your Plan A – not even tempted to have a Plan B or even C.

To learn more, please speak with one of our DNA Behavior Specialists (LiveChat), email inquiries@dnabehavior.com, or visit DNABehavior.com.

• About the Author

Carol Pocklington

Carol Pocklington - Chief Insights Accelerator

Carol is a Human Performance Accelerator. She has worked with Hugh Massie since 2001 since the Financial DNA understanding concept was conceived. She works with people and businesses worldwide. Her real-world application of behavioural insights, gives her the capability to serve as a business strategist, coach, mentor, and trainer. She is also a prolific blogger, a public speaker and author, specializing in human behavioural insights.

Carol's DNA Natural Behavior Style is - Facilitator

Carol is a Facilitator. Facilitators are persistent, goal-oriented people who promote team effort in order to complete tasks. Facilitators lead by setting examples and by achieving goals. Their strong work ethic encourages others to excel and they have an excellent ability to deal calmly yet firmly with people using a facilitative style.