Post on 09-Feb-2022
The notion of personal mastery sounds big,
lofty, perhaps even unattainable. We tend to
reserve the term mastery for people who are
top in their field, celebrated, or who possess
near super-human talent. Oprah Winfrey,
Tiger Woods, Eckhart Tolle, or Nancy
Pelosi may come to mind.
Don’t be discouraged. You can experi-
ence personal mastery today. You don’t have
to donate millions to charity, win a champi-
onship, write a best seller, or be elected to
high public office. If doing one or more of
those things is important to you, then, by
all means, go for it. But for most of us,
personal mastery can be achieved in our
day-to-day lives–at work, at home, in our
communities, and most importantly, within
ourselves.
Personal mastery is that feeling we have
when we set out to accomplish something
that’s important to us and succeed. It’s that
sense of satisfaction that comes with a job
well done, a goal accomplished, or an item
checked off the to-do list. The experience of
personal mastery can come from something
as small as making it to the gym after work
or as big as wrapping up a challenging,
complex project that will have a significant
financial impact on your practice.
DEFINE PERSONAL MASTERY
FOR YOURSELF
The first step in achieving a sense of person-
al mastery is knowing what creates it for
you. Defining personal mastery may depend
on where you are in your career or your
priorities and objectives. The young prac-
tice administrator driven to advance his
career may achieve personal mastery in
different ways than someone who has been
working in healthcare for 30 years and is
content to stay in his current position until
retirement. The office manager with small
children at home will define personal
mastery differently than the one whose chil-
dren are grown and on their own.
We all have routines and ways of doing
things that give us a sense of satisfaction. I
once worked with a man who made his to-
do list for the following day each afternoon
before he left his office. He scribbled it on a
yellow legal pad, and the list often filled the
page. When he arrived at his desk each
morning, he picked up his list, went
straight to work, and, almost without fail,
by the end of the day, his list was complete.
He’d then make his list for the next day, and
26 | PRACTICE MANAGER • MARCH 2007
Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It’s not a day whenyou lounge around doing nothing; it’s when you’ve had everything to do, andyou’ve done it. –Lord Acton
personal mastery
REAPING THEREWARDS OF
by Karen Childress
so it went. When I watched my friend
honor his routine and saw the obvious
pleasure it gave him, I always felt like I was
in the presence of a master at work.
Think for a moment about what makes
you say, “I had a great day today” or “This
was a really good week.” Was it that you got
a lot done? Were you conscious of main-
taining a good balance between work and
your personal life? Was it that you made
time to take care of your-
self by exercising, medi-
tating, or getting enough
sleep? Did you accom-
plish a huge goal you’d
been working toward?
Having your own clear
definition of personal
mastery puts you on the
path to achieving it.
SELF-CONFIDENCE
AND SELF-ESTEEM
We’ve all heard people say, “I don’t have
enough self-confidence” or “I need to work
on my self-esteem.” Perhaps they had a
tough childhood or had some career
setbacks, or for whatever reason, they just
don’t feel positive about themselves and
their abilities. Good news: Self-confidence
and self-esteem are not like eye color or IQ.
They can be changed–bolstered, improved,
and enhanced.
Self-esteem and self-confidence are close
relatives, connected to each other in many
ways. When we feel confident in our abili-
ties, our self-esteem goes up. When our self-
esteem is high, we’re more likely to feel that
we can accomplish what we set out to do. A
significant factor in bolstering self-confi-
dence and self-esteem–and in achieving and
maintaining a sense of personal mastery–is
keeping the agreements we make with
ourselves and with others. It’s doing the
things we say are important to us. It’s stay-
ing true to our word.
MAKING, KEEPING, AND
RENEGOTIATING AGREEMENTS
David Allen, author of Getting Things Done:
The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, says self-
esteem is a key component to performance
and success and that not keeping agreements
we make with ourselves can quickly under-
mine self-esteem. This might be a surprise
coming from someone who Fast Company
magazine called “the personal productivity
guru,” but Allen is also an
advocate of being flexible
with agreements when
conditions, priorities, or
goals change.
“You need to know
what all of the agreements
are that you’ve made with
yourself,” says Allen, “but
you have options.” Allen
says it’s perfectly okay to
renegotiate agreements.
Once you’ve set out your
agreements with yourself, Allen says there are
three options: you can unmake an agreement,
keep an agreement, or you can renegotiate.
Unmaking an agreement may seem, at
first blush, to be a cop out. But, think of all
the times you’ve agreed to something in the
excitement of the moment only to realize
later that what you agreed to was not the
least bit important or interesting to you.
Sometimes unmaking an agreement isn’t fail-
ure, but rather the most responsible course of
action you can take.
Keeping an agreement is just that–doing
what you’ve said you’ll do. But what if you
want to keep an agreement and realize that
you can’t deliver exactly as you had original-
ly planned, that you can’t have it done by the
deadline you had set, or you realize halfway
through that the finish line has moved and
your strategy needs to be revised as a result?
Then it’s time to renegotiate–with yourself,
with your boss, with your team–with whoev-
er is involved or depending on you.
PRACTICE MANAGER • MARCH 2007 | 27
It may sound almost
unattainable, but
personal mastery–the
sense of satisfaction
and accomplishment–
can be achieved by
taking simple steps
for personal growth in
our careers and lives.
YOU CAN DO IT ALL …
JUST NOT ALL AT ONCE
Allen’s Getting Things Done productivity
system is based in large part on capturing
everything in one place. “Most people don’t
even know what their agreements are,” says
Allen. “You need to collect and organize all
your agreements, big and little, personal and
professional,” he says.
Some tasks or goals may be immediate, to
be done today or this week; others may be on
a list to do at some later date. Some priori-
ties, says Allen, can even be on the “some
day” list, without a deadline attached at all.
These “some day” items are on the list simply
so you won’t forget about them.
Once you know what is truly important
and you’ve prioritized things, it’s worth
spending some time clearing the decks of
distractions. “Our psyches can only handle
so much,” says Allen. “There is a lot of value
in cleaning up and shoring up,” he says.
Allen is an advocate of holding a “dumpster
day” to clean up files, systems, and space to
create the conditions necessary to accom-
plish tasks and achieve goals.
WHAT DERAILS YOU?
Even with the best intentions to follow
through on what we deem important, we
sometimes get off track. We get interrupted
with someone else’s priorities, we slip in
crisis management mode, we get sick, or we
just temporarily lose our momentum and
enthusiasm. Think for a moment about
what tends to derail you. The reasons may
be external and beyond your control. But
just as often, the causes are internal.
Sometimes, we are our own worst enemies;
we slip into procrastination, perfectionism,
rationalization, or denial, or we become
overwhelmed.
“The biggest barrier to getting things
done is addiction to stress,” says Allen.
“Everyone has a certain quotient for stress. If
you don’t have enough [to meet your
quotient], you’ll create it. If the good fairy
shows up and empties your e-mail inbox,”
says Allen, “you’ll fill it up again to your
current comfort level, whether that’s 30 or
3,000 e-mails.”
Allen asks his clients how much stress
they’re willing to tolerate. Then, he says, the
question is, “What level of clarity and relax-
ation do I deserve, given who I really am.”
Now, that is a question with the potential to
uncover true personal mastery.
APPRECIATE YOURSELF
Personal mastery is, well, personal. What
you choose to do, the agreements you keep
with yourself, how you go about maintain-
ing self-confidence and self-esteem are
things that you decide for yourself. One
important component of enjoying personal
mastery on a regular basis is the ability to
appreciate ourselves, to pat ourselves on the
back.
Certified coach Betty Till works with
physicians and other healthcare profession-
als, helping them become better leaders and
take control of their business and personal
lives. She encourages clients to be their own
cheerleaders. “It’s nice to get praise and
recognition from others, but you can’t rely
on it,” says Till. “We have to find it within
ourselves. That’s what keeps us striving for
the next thing.”
So, the next time you find yourself in
awe of someone you consider to be master-
ful at something, keep in mind that you are
also a master–in big ways and in small ways,
at home and at the office. And you need
only look inward for the recognition and
acknowledgement to keep yourself on that
daily path of personal mastery.
Karen Childress is a Colorado-based
freelance writer. She writes about
personal growth, practice management,
and marketing.
28 | PRACTICE MANAGER • MARCH 2007
Think for a momentabout what tends to derail you. The
reasons may beexternal and beyond
your control. Butjust as often, the
causes are internal.Sometimes, we are
our own worstenemies.
stay ontrack
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