Thursday 23 April 2009

Stepping Into The Talent of Your Role Model

Finding the skills you need from the talent you admire
This article offers you a practical and unusual way of recognising and learning some of the skills from someone you admire. It may help you overcome doubt, fear and even encourage problem solving. It has certainly helped me. I recommend using it together with real-world practices as it may accelerate your use of any gains made.

This post blossomed from an evening’s food and conversation with friends and their children. I realised that kids can give fantastic insights into how we adults can change our beliefs and positively change our behaviour.

Children and young adults will sometimes associate deeply with certain characters or celebrities and take on some of their characteristics. This may include a fashion and music style, mannerisms of speech or body posture and even a person’s attitude toward life. I suddenly remembered that this is an excellent way to explore how another’s skills or talents may be suited to you as well. It’s been used by a few self help teachers in the past and for good reason, as I’m sure you’ll discover.


Taking yourself into the Talent
The following technique is great to use when combined with your real-world learning of skills. It may help accelerate the use of that knowledge as I believe there is no substitute for real-world learning. As you know, we all share similar attributes of speech, thought, feelings and physical expression. We all know the wonderful benefits to be gained from our imaginations when we intend them for practical use.

Begin by sitting comfortably and reading the exercise below. Then go through it step by step and enjoy!

The 3 key attributes to gather for yourself are:
1. Skills
2. Confidence
3. Relaxation

  • Find someone whose skills or performance you will like to experience as your own. This may be a prominent public speaker like Barack Obama, Tony Robbins or Oprah Winfrey or any other accomplished person.
  • Take time in observing how they do, what they do. Study them on YouTube, Television, DVD or real life if you have the opportunity.
  • Relax whilst watching them. Absorb their movements, sounds and the feelings you get from the flow of their performance. Enjoy becoming very familiar with the way they perform.
  • Close your eyes and imagine them performing again. You can create any scenario you like. See them vividly going through their excellent routines.
  • Hear clearly what they say and more importantly, the ease and skill with which they say it. Feel throughout your body their confidence and assuring presence.
  • Mentally move around this person and watch them from different places. Decide which position feels best to appreciate and incorporate their talents for your own use.
  • Gently move into your image of the person. Pretend you are seeing through their eyes, hearing through their ears and enjoying their feelings. Make this your experience of their excellence.
  • Notice everything that is useful and positive about their excellent way of doing what they do.
  • Feel as much as you can from using their talents and have fun in repeating this for familiarity.
  • Gently move out from your role models’ body, having recorded their skills, assured relaxation and confidence for your own use.
  • Move your body gently and open your eyes slowly. Take some moments to relax further and be more aware of your own unique self. Then stand up, walk around and recall what you discovered.
  • When the first real life opportunity presents itself to you, practice your newly combined skills.

Remember to combine this technique with real-world learning of skills to help accelerate the use of that knowledge. I recommend you repeat this technique often to help you overcome doubt or fears. Use whenever it’s appropriate and useful to you. Change to suit your own wants and needs. It’s best practiced when you’re happy and comfortable to do so.


With your newly absorbed skills, imagine yourself doing the things you will like. Then ask yourself the following:
  • How much more relaxed do I feel?
  • How much more confident do I sound?
  • How much more assuredly do I move?
  • How much more comfortable am I when expressing my new behaviour?
This tool is all about relaxing, going inside and noticing new things and ‘realities’ for absorbing what is useful for you.
Taking a role model that you admire and enjoy watching is best. For ease of use, choose a person whose talents you can easily recognize. Notice how you can apply their talents to benefit you. Then discover your own unique expression with them. Wishing you the very best.

What were your experiences from using the technique?
Do you think this tool is useful to you?
Please let me know.

Thanks for reading
Jens


Thank you BT and VT for your inspiring examples.

4 comments:

  1. really cool summary of something i do but probably couldn't verbalise.

    learning from others can be indescribably powerful so very cool that you've written such an accessible guide.

    for me, it's most about observing and picking up on their mindsets and the way that they think - ask proactive questions, engage conversation, add value if the person is a role-model that you are around physically or think about what's going through thier mind in that situation and what caused them to respond the way that they did.

    also, perhaps the most helpful for me by far, is to record the insights that resonate with you most so that they aren't just a passing thought but actually intergrate into your life and help you to improve - after all, that's what a role model is for.

    really cool stuff.
    will check back on your blog for sure

    alex
    unleash reality

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hiya Alex

    I'm glad you find my article accessible. I agree with what you write. We can ask proactive questions from our role models and ourselves. To record and integrate what we find useful from their behaviour is important and often easy to do.

    I like what you wrote on your recent post:
    'Decide to do something.
    Or don’t.
    But take responsibility and make a decision.
    …because if you don’t, nothing will change.'

    Thanks for your comments.
    Jens

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Jen,

    Thanks for your comment on HealthMoneySuccess.com

    Reading biographies of our role model can help us learn how they think. This can help us to learn more about them and gaining new knowledge in the process.

    Cheers
    Vincent
    Personal Development Blogger

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hiya Vincent

    Pleasure to read your post.
    Biographies are a great resource for learning attitudes and behaviour of our role models. Blogs are providing help too!

    Thanks
    Jens

    ReplyDelete