Chetan Sharma_BLP050_SelfLeadership_Sep2012

Attending self-leadership class is a highly enriching experience and it makes me think about myself. We usually are occupied with our work and do not spend much time in introspecting about ourselves. I try to relate everything that is taught to myself in order to know more about myself. Life presents us with a lot of challenges and we need to be know ourselves well in order to live happily.

I got to know about my goals and aspirations that are most important for me and made me to focus my efforts towards them. I learnt that Emotional Intelligence can be acquired and it is developed by the way one is brought up. Listening to others as if life depends on it will result in enhancing our Emotional Intelligence. Understanding the emotions of others helps us in taking fair decisions. We must learn to put ourselves even in our opponent’s shoes and try to understand the emotional dimension also. I understood the difference between Sympathy and Empathy through a very good demonstration shown in class. We must free our minds from biases that we already have towards our own viewpoint in order to understand others. It does not mean that we should suppress our own viewpoint, we need to enhance our listening skills and our emotional intelligence. Leaders have the ability to make every interaction fruitful through the use of paraphrasing. After listening to someone, we should paraphrase the gist of what was said in a short and concise manner. This gives a positive impression to the speaker and makes the interaction fruitful. Also, EQ is derived through building trust, respecting others and accepting the uniqueness of the other person. Leaders share authenticity and lack of guile.

I got to know about my strengths and tried to enhance my listening skills through the Appreciative Enquiry exercise. I tried to figure out the situations in which I do my best work and also those in which I do not live my potential. This class inspired me to understand the purpose of my life, my strengths and weaknesses and will help me in becoming a good self-leader.

Chetan Sharma_BLP050_Self Leadership_September2012

In my opinion, happiness is a state of mind in which you are in harmony with yourself and consequently with the external world. It is similar to peace of mind. Happiness is there in all small things of daily life. We should enjoy each and every moment without worrying about our past and future. We should have clarity of our goals, self-confidence and a sense of bonding with God. With this belief system, if we work dedicatedly towards achieving our goals and enjoy every moment, we would be able to achieve success in most of our endeavours and will also build positive relationships with others. Spending quality time with family, friends and colleagues is a good source of happiness. Bringing a smile on the faces of others also provides a lot of happiness.

Doing anything that gives satisfaction to us and makes us feel good about ourselves provides internal happiness. Enjoying whatever we do and producing positive results provides a lot of satisfaction and happiness. Happiness is linked to our aspirations and desires. Taking care of our parents, contributing to our society, professional success are major sources of happiness but these all are possible only if we are cheerful in life and believe in enjoying every moment. We should be ready to face all challenges that life presents and bounce back strongly from our failures. One should be full of energy and should be strong and resilient in difficult situations. A positive attitude in life and deep self-confidence are essential in order to achieve lasting happiness. Staying happy and cheerful and spreading happiness around creates a positive environment in which one can experience deep feelings of inner joy and happiness.

We can get a lot of happiness from our external surroundings also. The natural beauty, pursuing our hobbies like sports, painting, singing, dancing etc. are great sources of joy and happiness. When we are happy, our mind is relaxed and a positive energy flows through our body. We should always strive to live our life cheerfully and should not keep in mind any regrets from our past. We should cherish every moment in life, thank God for whatever he has provided us and follow our values in order to attain lasting happiness.