Exploring Your Individual Success with George Karavattuveetil

In life, there are some things that you have total control over and some things that you have zero control over. Everything in between total control and no control is influence. By understanding the level of influence you have in your life, you can more easily evaluate what is important and how to take control over your success.

We had the opportunity to listen to George Karavattuveetil of Psyched LLC, as he talked to us about understanding the influences in your life and using them to set expectations and benchmarks for your success. We’d like to share this presentation with you in hopes of giving you a deeper understanding of how influence can affect you and your life.

Gifts & Talents

A key to understanding your individual success is to engage in self-reflection and evaluate your gifts and talents so that you can measure the influence in your life. Much of the influence in your life comes from work, as we spend so much of our time working.

• Skills: These are things that you do well and others think you do well too.
  • Example, if you work in construction, one of your skills might be carpentry.

• Knowledge: This is expertise that you have that can be of value to you and others.
  • Example, if you are a big sports fan, you could say you have sports knowledge.

• Characteristics: These are traits about you that would be seen as valuable.
  • Examples: honesty, punctuality, etc…

Having a solid understanding of the talents that you bring to the table is imperative to fostering your personal success and taking control over your life.

Individual Roles

In life we play many different roles. A role is any type of position that you fill, whether it be a personal or professional. Life is fluid, roles can take higher importance than others based on your position in life, or the circumstances that surround your situation. The biggest factor that plays into our individual roles is the expectations that have been set for that role by its’ stakeholders. Expectations must be clearly defined before you can accomplish anything in your role.

• Your Expectations
• Others’ Expectations

With evaluating expectations, the power comes from asking questions, not knowing the answers. You need to be ready to ask the questions, while being ready to hear the answers (even though you may not like it). Feedback is critical to the understanding of your role(s), because, while it isn’t always positive, it opens conversations about problems and helps to fix them. When there is no feedback, problems will only get worse as there is no outlet for expectations.

The “WHY” in setting expectations is key as it helps cement and back your expectations. When you include the “why” you give it that much more power. Understanding your individual roles and defining your successes starts with mapping out the process.

• VISION 
  • What do we want to become?
  • Why?

• MISSION 
  • This is what we do.

• VALUES 
  • This is who we are.

• STRATEGY 
  • How we will achieve our vision.

• GOALS & OBJECTIVES 
  • Measures of success
    • Your definition of success might be different than someone else’s definition.
    • You have to measure success in this role based on the view of the stakeholder.
    • In what time frame do you want to accomplish this goal/objectives.

CAREER/LIFE PLANNING

When planning your life and career, success is measured by the goals and milestones that you set for yourself. If you only set a target for your life, there is no way to know if you’re succeeding on the way. Think about what your life planning looks like now and how you are moving towards that goal. Setting benchmarks helps you to define a clear pathway to achieving your overall target. Make educated decisions rather than emotional decisions when moving toward your goals.

PURPOSE & VALUE

In the roles that you are in, what is the value that you bring? Understanding your self-value and applying 100% of your skills and characteristics will move you closer to fulfilling your purpose.

Much of George’s presentation centered around the group doing self-reflection to understand the obstacles that are inhibiting their success and how to take control. The key here is influence. Understanding the influence that you have over your life is key to taking control over your individual success. Be clear about what things are in your control and what things are not. Preparation for overcoming obstacles is within your control, so take control over your life and make a plan to succeed.

If you’d like to learn more about George Karavattuveetil, please visit his website.

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