PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT SKILLS
As we’ve covered in a previous post, we don’t grow personally and get a healthy mindset. It works just the opposite. Personal development skills are required to foster transformation. First, we get a healthy mindset and then we grow personally. With the onslaught of “quick fixes” and a “new life in 4 easy steps” type pitches, it is easy to be misled. That takes work.
THE HERO’S JOURNEY
The significance of the Hero’s Journey is something pop-psychologists and guru’s want to side-step because bumps, bruises and work is something the hero must go through to learn and master the personal development skills to succeed… to traverse the journey successfully. Want to guess why they don’t want to tell you?
Telling potential customers or clients that work is involved, hard mental labor, simply does not sell in cultures where the thirst for instant gratification and an abhorrence for inconvenience rule.
You wouldn’t be reading this far, [thank you], if you had not grown past the nonsense of entitlement, reward without work and change with no pain mentalities.
Joseph Campbell discovered and coined the phrase the Hero’s Journey. In studying myths spanning 4000 plus years, he found the same story, the hero’s journey, is in every story, play, book, movie and biblical parable, [Noah, Moses, Gideon, Job, Jonah, etc.].
A person, like you or me, has a life we know…and we get the call to adventure. Generally, the Hero at first refuses the call as it requires stepping from the life we know into the unknown or in other words personal development skills.
SUPER NATURAL AID
For the record, both Star Wars and The Matrix are not movies but, in fact, documentaries of Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. We see Neo and Skywalker both initially “refuse” the call to adventure, a common motif that Campbell discovered… fear of the unknown gets displaced by a bigger fear or change.
It is at this point, when the hero, [not a hero yet], crosses the threshold and steps into the unknown. When this happens, mentors and helpers appear, the universe supporting the quest of the hero.
In the Matrix, Morpheus played both helper and mentor. Skywalker had Yoda and Obi Wan… and both Neo and Skywalker went through trails, temptations and, with help and some beatings, learned and mastered the skills needed for the bigger tests.
These are obviously metaphors for personal development skills. As they improved their skills and awareness, their confidence grew.
ANSWERING THE CALL?
Again, thanks for reading this far. Let’s get to the top four personal development skills so you can be a bit more willing to forget the world’s ideas of success, happiness, and the incredible gravity of the majority. These four must be there to carve a new reality. Takes courage to plunge into a new reality…
ONE: Courage. The personal development skill here is understanding no one gets courage and does the thing they fear. Nope. Sorry, it’s unfair but it just does work that way. We do the thing we fear, pause, realize we took action in the face of fear and … tada… courage grows a bit.
TWO: Insight. Morpheus, Yoda and Obi Wan provided insight, wisdom if you prefer. The skill we need to develop here is open-mindedness. Most people never realize internally that for things to change, we need to change. Without developing non-judgmental open-mindedness, we cannot receive insight.
THREE: Being the observer of our own reality. Since the subconscious mind makes a minimum of 95% of our decisions and operates below our consciousness, we really aren’t aware of what we are thinking. Our life is a printout of our thoughts. Being the observer is a skill, so we can identify self-sabotaging behavior. We can’t fix what we cannot see… being the observer is a huge personal development skill.
FOUR: Distinguishing fear and faith and knowing what the one thing they have in common is.
Love to know your thoughts, leave me a comment below…
believe
mark j
They sure do!!
Powerful wisdom here. Love how you highlight that the Matrix and Star Wars are really Hero’s Journey documentaries.
yes! Once we begin, the others choices seem pointless
that is so powerful, once we see it, we can’t unsee it… which sure helps me LOL
Absolutely love the movie character connections to the hero’s journey.
Stepping into the unknown is scary, but the other side is so rewarding. You finally get want you want. You won’t regret finding yourself. Thanks Mark for showing us the hero’s journey.
The Hero’s Journey is a powerful and exciting challenge you can embark upon.
I agree Mark, the 4 skills you mentioned are a precursor to having the courage and determination to set forth and be successful.
My own Hero’s Journey, which I’m still traveling, is made possible following your steps.
Thank you.
awww… so thoughtful… and you are so, so correct … we earn it with good, old-fashion work to develop winning habits
thank you Shirley… always true… it takes skills, not luck or gifts…
thanks David… always great to hear from you!
Great idea Mark. I love the easy access to it
Mark, I love how you frame success in the Hero’s Journey as using/mastering 4 skills. THAT makes it less formidable. Anyone can learn or sharpen a skill or four! The tool chest the MKE has given us is such a gift…and I’m so grateful.
People’s addiction to instant gratification is a flame being fueled by hand-held devices, AI, online marketers and retailers every day. You said it here: “Telling potential customers or clients that work is involved, hard mental labor, simply does not sell in cultures where the thirst for instant gratification and an abhorrence for inconvenience rule”. At some point… despite being sucked into that vortex… I believe most people will experience unrest… they’ll hear the “whisper” of their greatness crying to be released… and answer The Call.
This felt like a hug and a high five. Real talk about growth — no fluff, no shortcuts, just the truth (with some movie magic sprinkled in). Courage, insight, and faith aren’t handed to us… we earn them. And somehow, you made that feel exciting. I’m in. Let’s go!
Just 4 little skills and of course the epic Hero’s Journey the only journey worth taking!