Mission Possible: Dealing with my Saboteurs

I will never be confused with Tom Cruise when it comes to characters in a movie or even in life.  Just the same, I am dealing with my own saboteurs every day and so too are you.  Let me share a little about my own journey, how it got started and the types of saboteurs I am dealing with.

Positive Intelligence is a concept that I first learned about last year and the book, written by Shirzad Chamine, goes into great detail about how to identify your saboteurs as well as how to develop your better options, what he call Sages.  Just like Tom Cruise has to deal with the forces of evil who would thwart his effort to protect the world and save humanity, I also have to deal with forces that keep me from maximizing how I work with others and also prevent me from being my most effective.

While there are 10 saboteurs, the ones I have to battle most frequently include my Judge, being Restless and being a Pleaser.  Let me elaborate a little on each.  The Judge afflicts everyone and it is one that beats you up repeatedly over mistakes or shortcomings, warns you obsessively about future risks, wakes you up in the middle of the night worrying, gets you fixated on what is wrong with others or your life, etc. My Judge is my greatest internal enemy, activates my other top Saboteurs, causes me much of my stress and unhappiness, and reduces my effectiveness.  The Restless saboteur causes me to constantly be in search of greater excitement or activity, often leading to a state of constant busyness.  I am easily distracted and can get spread thin very easily. The Pleaser saboteur works to keep me constantly seeking acceptance and affection by pleasing, helping rescuing or flattering others.  I often am so focused on the needs of others that I forget my own.

Those three would be enough, but there are 7 others that also have an affect.  During an 8 week program I am engaged in with a group of Vistage chairs from across the United States, we work daily and meet weekly to discuss our progress and to share our successes and shortcomings.  Much like the environment my own members have in the groups I lead, I too have a safe place to form bonds of trust with peers who are all seeking to become more effective and less encumbered by the saboteurs in our lives.

If this sounds interesting to you, click here to visit the Positive Intelligence site.  Better yet, drop me a line by clicking here and we can discuss your saboteurs and how you can work to keep them at bay more often.

In closing, let me share one other piece of learning I am constantly engaged in.  The book, The Wisdom of Crowds, is one I am currently reading and it gives great evidence into how a collective group of diverse individuals can arrive at superior results in comparison to any individual in most circumstances.  By surrounding myself with diverse peers I too can benefit from the collective wisdom of the group.

Let’s talk sometime to learn more together.