This week, we had students in the three different classes (HHS125: What Could I Do With My Life, HHS135: Redesign a Life You’ll Love, and ENT/HHS250: Purpose-Driven Entrepreneurship) present their final projects. In the HHS125 class, students shared their Personal Charters projects; in the HHS135, students shared their Dream Board projects. In the ENT/HHS250 course, students presented the results of their 2nd half-semester projects, either creating a product or services and sharing it with the world in one month. Many of the students share how much they learned about themselves in each of the different classes, whether it was changing their major, eliminating/creating a new (positive) habit, or starting a new side gig. And it got me thinking…how do I really define what I do?
On Thursday afternoon, I was checking my overfull Inbox; after reading a post from the Live Your Legend blog, it hit me – my work is to help create “self-experts.” For the past 20 hours (including 5 hours of sleep), I’ve been thinking about and defining what a “self-expert” means to me and how I help students (and others) become self-experts. And here’s what I came up with:
What is a Self-Expert?
A person who takes the time to look inside and listen to oneself – through introspection and reflection – in a profound way to create an intention to transform one’s life. Realizing that he or she is ultimately in charge of their own life.
Inspirational Quote
“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. If you realize that you have enough, you are truly rich.” – Lao Tzu
Feelings of Non-Self-experts
Scattered. Lost. Unfocused. Incomplete. Adrift. Distracted. Unfinished projects. All over the place. Feel like something is missing. Decisions and actions that don’t feel right.
What it means to be a Self-Expert?
- Leading a life of success by going to school on yourself first.
- Taking the time to know yourself, since you are the expert on you.
- Experiencing the world on your terms, not on the terms of others.
- Creating intentional experiments in developing your authentic self.
- Gaining clarity on actions and decisions based on what’s most important.
- Trusting yourself, because you have the answers already inside you.
- Becoming the master of yourself and your life.
The self-expert at school (or work)
Doing work that matters, creating your best work, and engaging in work that makes a lasting impact.
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Now, I have a definition about the work that I do, not only with the students that I serve in my work, but also the workshops and trainings that I facilitate across the country. It’s also clear that the Life Design Catalyst Coach Training Program is different than most academic/success coaching programs because the focus is on students becoming self-experts; without learning how to be self-experts, identifying and pursuing majors, jobs, and careers fall short of their intended goal, which is helping students pursue work that matters.
I would love to hear from others on their thoughts about this, especially from those that work with students – or career changers.
The Dream Dean 