PERSONAL AGILITY: AN ESSENTIAL PRACTICE

In a recent coaching conversation, a client asked, “What exactly is personal agility?” 

As we discussed this concept, three ideas resonated with me and I invite you to join this conversation.

To explore what agility means on a personal level, I realize, somewhat reluctantly, that I must grapple with an essential yet relentless practice around three truths in my life:

My relationship with uncertainty is tortured. I use the word, “tortured” purposefully. 

• Unless I practice daily, the courage to look at what I fear the most, I will always allow fear to rule
• Unless I practice curiosity, I will always believe I have limited choices
• Unless I embrace the discomfort of uncertainty, I will always yearn for certainty in my life

Pema Chodron says. “The greatest harm comes from our own aggressive minds.”

I must pay attention to how social norms create and sometimes erroneously inform my story-telling.

• Unless I pay attention to how I define success, I will always fall outside my core values
• Unless I change the ending of my story, I will always be on the edge of sadness or desperation
• Unless I ask uncomfortable questions of myself, I will always lean towards easier answers

Brene Brown suggests, “When we own our stories, we avoid being trapped as characters in stories that someone else is telling.”

Continue to show up in the “arena,” as President Roosevelt called it. 

• Unless I lean towards vulnerability, I will always ignore conversations that challenge my biases
• Unless I am grounded in authenticity, I will always allow shame to speak first
• Unless I act with compassion and kindness, I will always find someone to blame

Parker Palmer reminds us, ““I want to learn how to hold the paradoxical poles of my identity together, to embrace the profoundly opposite truths that my sense of self is deeply dependent on others dancing with me and that I still have a sense of self when no one wants to dance.”

If I were creating a poster for personal agility – a trait that possibly helps in making sense of all that perplexes us daily, I would include this:

Daily Courage + My Stories + Willingness to Show Up = Personal Agility. I would then use art to decorate the poster even though I completely lack the talent of a true artist.

Thoughts?

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