Event recap: Learning to Unlearn: Self Management for Personal and Professional Success

/
The YWiB Toronto Team and Workshop Facilitators

The YWiB Toronto Team and Workshop Facilitators

How many times have you set up a goal, only to watch yourself backtrack within a few days? Goals are key catalysts for change and growth, and act as road maps to guide us towards what is meaningful to us. Yet so many of us find ourselves struggling to pursue these goals or find ourselves overwhelmed by the plethora of obstacles that come in the way.

It is here that mobilizing one’s energy, and organizing available resources comes into play. Despite our best intentions and readily available tools, we often find ourselves in situations where we can’t seem to get unstuck because of learned behaviour in the past. This was the theme of the highly informative and inspirational workshop by our facilitators.

Regardless of how much time you spend on Netflix, there is rarely anyone completely unaware of the phenomenon of Marie Kondo. A revolutionary approach to home organization, that has taken up the society and social media landscape by storm. But what if there was a way to “spark joy” in terms of your goals? What if you could throw out harmful habits and keep the ones that bring you happiness?

Effy Nicopoulos

Effy Nicopoulos

Our first facilitator and Certified KonMari Consultant, Effy Nicopoulos, introduced us to a novel way of organizing our goals, and analyzing our motivations. Are all goals equally important? Through guided questions and exercises, participants were given more insight into accessing the valence of their goals, and to asses which goals were worth keeping.

A memorable line from the workshop was “Don’t commit to anything in a year, if you wouldn’t feel like doing it tomorrow” (sic). In a society where we are being told to prioritize so many competing goals and aspirations, this way of thinking can help salvage the few goals that in fact matter to us personally and save us from the turmoil of should’s and shouldn’ts.

Yvonne Ruke Akpoveta

Yvonne Ruke Akpoveta

After getting equipped with the tools to filter the goals that matter, the participants were given resources to reach those meaningful goals by our second facilitator, Yvonne Ruke Akpoveta. As a Change Management Strategist, Yvonne brought with her tools that can help one break free from barriers and constraints and achieve great success.

An extraordinarily powerful approach was performing a SWOT Analysis on oneself. For the uninitiated, A SWOT Analysis is a tool used by business management to access the company’s strengths, weaknesses, external opportunities, as well as external threats. Participants were given a chance to perform their own SWOT analysis and were encouraged to share with the audience. By hearing women share their personal struggles and strengths was empowering and a powerful learning experience.

Yvonne also spoke about the importance of mindset. Every situation can be dichotomously considered a threat or an opportunity, depending on one’s state of mind. She also provided the participants with a framework for change, and strategies to make effective changes. Perhaps the most powerful was Yvonne’s openness to sharing her own story and encouraging the women in the room to create positive encouraging relationships that help them grow.

With summer upon us, this is a great time to dust off those goals, discard the ones that don’t serve you, and strategically pursue the ones that do. And if staying cool this summer is a goal, then nothing better than ice cream to spark a little joy!

Written by Aashima Makol

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Additional Resources

The YWiB team created a great workbook with resources and links to help you in your journey to achieve your goals. Check it out here -> Resources Handbook.

Also, check out Yvonne’s article for YWiB where she answers why change management is an essential skill and why how you view yourself affects your career. Check it out here —> https://ywib.ca/toronto/blog/learning-to-unlearn-yvonne-ruke-akpoveta

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Getting Involved with YWiB

Thank you for attending our event. We hope that we have provided a  meaningful workshop and facilitated new connections today. Please consider joining our community!

If you want to chat about Sponsorship opportunities, or a Custom Corporate Program for your organization, contact us directly at toronto@ywib.ca.