The “Course Topics” series from Manage Train Learn and Slide Topics is a collection of over 4000 slides that will help you master a wide range of management and personal development skills. The 202 PowerPoints in this series offer you a complete and in-depth study of each topic. This presentation is on "Self-Development".

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Self-Development
Maximising Your Potential
MTL Course Topics
MAXIMISING YOUR
POTENTIAL
Self-Development

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Self-Development
Maximising Your Potential
MTL Course Topics
The Course Topics series from Manage Train Learn is a large collection of topics that will help you as a learner
to quickly and easily master a range of skills in your everyday working life and life outside work. If you are a
trainer, they are perfect for adding to your classroom courses and online learning plans.
COURSE TOPICS FROM MTL
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as your own.
Copyright Manage Train Learn 2020
onwards.
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Self-Development
Maximising Your Potential
MTL Course Topics
ARE YOU READY?
OK, LET’S START!

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Self-Development
Maximising Your Potential
MTL Course Topics
INTRODUCTION
Despite the fact that we know so little about the origin of
potential, we know, from the work of self-development
writers and the personal experiences of many, just how the
potential we have can be realised. We know, for example,
that the right mental attitude is crucial. We know that
realising our potential is enhanced when certain
foundations, such as trust and self-belief, are laid. We know
that realising our potential takes time, perhaps a lifetime,
but is always possible. We know that we invariably under-
estimate what we are capable of. And we know that what
holds true for the realisation of potential in individuals also
holds true for the realisation of potential in teams and
organisations.

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Self-Development
Maximising Your Potential
MTL Course Topics
SELF-MANAGEMENT
The basis of managing your self-development consists of
three principles, three beliefs about personal growth and
one general application.
These are:
Principle 1: Potential is a mental attitude
Principle 2: There is potential in every situation
Principle 3: Our potential is unlimited
Belief 1: Personal growth needs good foundations
Belief 2: Growth takes time
Belief 3: Growth is teleological
One General Application: Developmental growth can be
applied to individuals, small teams and large organisations.

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Self-Development
Maximising Your Potential
MTL Course Topics
THE MENTAL ATTITUDE
The driving force behind expanding and fulfilling our
potential is the mental attitude towards ourselves, our work
and our lives.
No self-management is possible if we see life as a random
set of events in which we are the hapless victims with no
control.
Mike Pedler in his book "Managing Yourself" suggests that
there are three key mental attitudes that self-managers
require:
1. security based on your past experiences and an
awareness of who you see yourself to be;
2. faith based on a belief in your talents, your
opportunities and your abilities;
3. hope based on a certainty that you can advance
towards your goals.

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Self-Development
Maximising Your Potential
MTL Course Topics
HIDDEN POTENTIAL
Strengths Theory is a theory that suggests that in every
situation, regardless of what it is, there is a potential waiting
to be exploited.
1. how we see a situation depends on our perception. If
we see a situation as "difficult", it becomes difficult; but
see it as "challenging" and it spurs us on.
2. if we care to look carefully, every situation has an
inherent strength which can be discovered or ignored.
This is true of even apparently "bad" situations.
3. every situation should be managed to make the best of
its inherent strengths. This requires a combination of
Perception and Action: see the potential, seize the
potential.
"If you have too many lemons, make lemonade." (Dale
Carnegie)

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Self-Development
Maximising Your Potential
MTL Course Topics
NORMAN'S MOUNTAIN
In 1995 Norman Vaughan conquered his mountain at last.
Norman Vaughan was one of the earliest explorers to map
out the landmass of Antarctica. In 1925, he discovered an
ice-capped mountain 10,000 feet high. His fellow explorers
named it Mt Vaughan after him. For over 60 years, Norman
cherished the dream of actually climbing his mountain. The
chance came when at the age of 88, he made an expedition
to Antarctica. But it was a disaster. The plane crashed, killing
his dogs, injuring the pilot and scuppering the whole
expedition. Norman determined to fulfil his dream. The next
year he tried again. Despite serious arthritis in his legs and a
dangerous icy climb that would have taxed a man a quarter
his age, Norman eventually made it to the top of his
mountain.
"It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves." (Sir
Edmund Hilary)

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Self-Development
Maximising Your Potential
MTL Course Topics
OUR POTENTIAL IS UNLIMITED
Our own personal potential is defined by our own
personalities and environment. Apart from that, it is
unlimited.
1. the limitations we place on what we can do are largely
self-imposed: "I'm too young to be Chief Executive";
"Women have never got far in this organisation."
2. our potential is as big as our imaginations. The history
of mankind is signposted by leaps of imagination by
men and women of genius. We do today things which
100 years ago and even 50 years ago would have been
unimaginable.
3. we have barely touched upon the huge potential of the
human brain. Most of us only ever use a small fraction
of what our brains can do.
4. managing our potential is not a once-off task, but a
lifetime's work.

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Self-Development
Maximising Your Potential
MTL Course Topics
DON'T LIMIT YOUR DREAMS
There are many inspiring stories of people in everyday
situations who refuse to give in to received wisdom and
limit their dreams.
English boy Chris Perrier for example.
Chris was a 15-year-old looking for his first job on leaving
school when he made up his mind that he would pursue his
dream of becoming a professional football player.
On April 15th 1997, Chris achieved his dream by signing on
for Second Division Walsall in front of a 6,000-plus crowd.
Nothing remarkable about that, you might think. But the
photographs tell a different story: Chris was born with only
one arm. Chris achieved the first step in his dream by
overcoming his own mental and physical limitations.

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Self-Development
Maximising Your Potential
MTL Course Topics
GOOD FOUNDATIONS
Personal growth is no different from the growth of any
other living plant or animal. To grow at all and to grow
strong, requires good foundations.
Foundations in personal growth work are the values which
we truly believe in. They include service to others; honesty;
integrity; fairness; and respect. These qualities act on our
personal development the way fertiliser acts on plants.
Without them, there is only stunted growth; with them,
living things grow to their full potential.
"Some day in the years to come, you will be wrestling with
the great temptation or trembling under the great sorrow of
your life. But the real struggle is here now...Now it is being
decided whether in the day of your supreme sorrow or
temptation, you shall miserably fail or gloriously conquer.
Character cannot be made except by a steady long process."
(Phillip Brooks)

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Self-Development
Maximising Your Potential
MTL Course Topics
SEEDS OF GROWTH
The following are the nine seeds of personal growth:
1. Industry: the recognition that to grow requires effort.
2. Intimacy: the acceptance of the need to work closely with
others.
3. Trust: the belief that the world is essentially a good place
to live and work in.
4. Creativity: the belief that any problem can be solved.
5. Integrity: the adherence to a cohesive and consistent set
of values.
6. Identity: the feeling of security that comes from knowing
and accepting yourself.
7. Generativity: the belief that the more you give, the more
you'll get back.
8. Power: the power to make a difference to the way you
live.
9. Autonomy: the ability to set your own goals.

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Self-Development
Maximising Your Potential
MTL Course Topics
GROWTH TAKES TIME
All personal growth follows a similar curve which has its
own momentum and takes its own time.
We can identify seven stages on the route to achieving a
goal:
1. the initial blip on the growth curve is the initial
excitement of new goals. Our motivation is high.
2. disappointment sets in soon after the initial blip when we
realise things aren't going to be as easy as we thought.
3. failures outstrip successes and we begin to wonder if we
did the right thing. This is the time for strong self-belief.
4. the arid plateau at the bottom of the trough is when we
stabilise things. This is the time to invest in the future.
5. dogged persistence accompanied by learning sends the
curve upwards.
6. the point of breakthrough occurs when we find the
formula that works for us.
7. we move comfortably to the goals we set and are able to
think about setting new ones.

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Self-Development
Maximising Your Potential
MTL Course Topics
GROWTH IS TELEOLOGICAL
When we set ourselves up to achieve personal growth, we
become like guided missiles: we set our course for a target
and automatically head for it. It is the science of rocketry -
teleology - applied to the human brain.
1. First, set a clear goal that is your ultimate aim; eg to
become fit. Totally commit to this goal.
2. Second, set some evidence targets which will prove that
you've reached your goals; eg running a marathon in
under five hours; topping the scales at under 11 stone.
See yourself in your mind's eye achieving these targets.
3. Third, take the action and opportunities which you think
will get you there. The more you focus on the goals, the
more opportunities will seem to arise.
4. Fourth, keep a lookout for what happens as a result of
your actions.
5. Fifth, like an oarsman in a rowing boat, adjust your
course as you go to stay on track.

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Self-Development
Maximising Your Potential
MTL Course Topics
THE POTENTIAL OF TEAMS
The principles and beliefs that can be applied to personal
development can also be applied to the management of
teams and organisations.
Making the most of teams makes sense because:
1. people are the greatest untapped resource in any
organisation
2. the difference between one organisation and another
no longer lies in markets, methods, materials or money
but in how people contribute
3. when organisations get people, they don't just get a pair
of hands, they also get unlimited potential thrown in for
free
4. a team has a potential many times greater than the sum
of the individual parts
5. when you tap people's potential for growth, you hit a
seam of gold: it's only a question of discovering and
releasing it.

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Self-Development
Maximising Your Potential
MTL Course Topics
POTENTIAL AND POWER
Potential and power both come from the same etymological
root: "potency". All groups have a potency and potential
many times greater than the potential of the people in
them. This potential can be unblocked by the processes of
empowerment.
1. Disempowering organisations require: passive
acceptance of the status quo; dependence on the
organisation; rigid following of rules; an interest only in
the job; a day-by-day focus.
2. Empowering organisations on the other hand,
encourage: active commitment to the organisation's
goals; interdependence between everyone in the
organisation; a fascination for how things work; a long-
term view of success; a healthy diversity of views; an
awareness of how we're doing.

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Self-Development
Maximising Your Potential
MTL Course Topics
THAT’S
IT!
WELL DONE!

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Self-Development
Maximising Your Potential
MTL Course Topics
THANK YOU
This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn