Common Misconceptions About the

Christian Life
New Christians quite often have misconceptions about God, the Christian life
and other believers. This look at the common misconceptions of Christianity
is designed to dispel some of the myths that typically hinder new Christians
from growing and maturing in the faith.

1 - Once you become a Christian, God will solve all of your

problems.
Many new Christians are shocked when the first trial or serious crisis hits.

Here's a reality check -- get prepared -- the Christian life is not always easy! You will
still face ups and downs, challenges and joys. You will have problems and
troubles to overcome. This verse offers encouragement for Christians facing difficult
situations:

1 Peter 4:12-13
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as
though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you
participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his
glory is revealed.

(NIV)

2 - Becoming a Christian means giving up all fun and following

a life of rules.
A joyless existence of mere rule-following is not true Christianity and the
abundant life God intends for you. Rather, this describes a man-made
experience of legalism. God has amazing adventures planned for you. These
verses give a description of what it means to experience God's life:

Romans 14:16-18
Then you will not be condemned for doing something you know is all right.
For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living
a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. If you serve Christ
with this attitude, you will please God. And other people will approve of you,
too. (NLT)
1 Corinthians 2:9
However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has
conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" (NIV)

3 - All Christians are loving, perfect people.

Well, it doesn't take very long to discover that this is not true. But being
prepared to meet the imperfections and failures of your new family in Christ
can spare you future pain and disillusionment.

Although Christians strive to be like Christ, we will never obtain complete

sanctification until we stand before the Lord. In fact, God uses our
imperfections to "grow us" in the faith. If not, there would be no need
to forgive one another.

As we learn to live in harmony with our new family, we rub each other like
sandpaper. It's painful at times, but the result brings about a smoothing and
softening to our rough edges.

Colossians 3:13
Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against
one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (NIV)

Philippians 3:12-13
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect,
but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I
do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead ... (NIV)

4 - Bad things don't happen to truly godly Christians.

This point goes along with point number one, however, the focus is slightly
different. Often Christians begin to wrongly believe that if they live a godly
Christian life, God will protect them from pain and suffering. Paul, a hero of
the faith, suffered much:

2 Corinthians 11:24-26
Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I
was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I
spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the
move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger
from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in
danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers.

Some faith groups believe the Bible promises health, wealth and
prosperity for all who live a godly life. But this teaching is false. Jesus never
taught this to his followers. You may experience these blessings in your life,
but they are not a reward for godly living. At times we experience tragedy,
pain and loss in life. This is not always a result of sin, as some would claim,
but rather, for a greater purpose that we may not understand immediately.
We may never understand, but we can trust God in these difficult times, and
know he has a purpose.

Rick Warren says in his popular book, The Purpose Driven Life - "Jesus did not
die on the cross just so we could live comfortable, well-adjusted lives. His
purpose is far deeper: He wants to make us like himself before he takes us to
heaven."

1 Peter 1:6-7
So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary
for you to endure many trials for a while. These trials are only to test your
faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and
purifies gold--and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if
your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you
much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to
the whole world.

5 - Christian ministers and missionaries are more spiritual than

other believers.
This is a subtle but persistent misconception that we carry in our minds as
believers. Because of this false notion, we end up putting ministers and
missionaries on "spiritual pedestals" accompanied by unrealistic
expectations.

When one of these heroes falls from our self-constructed perch, it tends to
make us fall too -- away from God. Don't let this happen in your life. You may
have to continually guard yourself against this subtle deception.
Paul, Timothy's spiritual father, taught him this truth - we are all sinners on
an equal playing field with God and each other:

1 Timothy 1:15-16
This is a true saying, and everyone should believe it: Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners--and I was the worst of them all. But that is why
God had mercy on me, so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example
of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize
that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. (NLT)

6 - Christian churches are always safe places, where you can

trust everyone.
Although this should be true, it is not. Unfortunately we live in a fallen world
where evil resides. Not everyone who enters the church has honorable
intentions, and even some who do come with good intentions can fall back
into old patterns of sin. One of the most dangerous places in Christian
churches, if not properly guarded, is the children's ministry. Churches that
don't implement background checks, team led classrooms, and other
security measures, leave themselves open to many dangerous threats.

1 Peter 5:8
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a
roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. (NKJV)

Matthew 10:16
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore
wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. (KJV)

7 - Christians should never say anything that might offend

someone or hurt someone else's feelings.
Many new believers have a wrong understanding of meekness and humility.
The idea of godly meekness involves having strength and courage, but the
kind of strength that is submitted to God's control. True humility recognizes
complete dependence upon God and knows we have no goodness except
that which is found in Christ.
Sometimes our love for God and our fellow Christians, and obedience to
God's Word compel us to speak words that may hurt someone's feelings or
offend them. Some people call this "tough love."

Ephesians 4:14-15
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and
blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and
craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in
love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.

(NIV)

Proverbs 27:6
Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses. (NIV)

8 - As a Christian you should not associate with unbelievers.

I am always saddened when I hear so called "seasoned" believers teaching
this false notion to new Christians. Yes, it is true that you may have to break
off some of the unhealthy relationships you have had with people from your
past life of sin. At least for awhile you may need to do this until you are
strong enough to resist the temptations of your old lifestyle. However, Jesus,
our example, made it his mission (and ours) to associate with sinners. How
will we attract those who need a Savior, if we don't build relationships with
them?

1 Corinthians 9:22-23
When I am with those who are oppressed, I share their oppression so that I
might bring them to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone
so that I might bring them to Christ. I do all this to spread the Good News,
and in doing so I enjoy its blessings.

9 - Christians should not enjoy any earthly pleasures.

I believe God created all of the good, wholesome, enjoyable, and fun things
we have on this earth as a blessing for us to enjoy. The key is not holding on
to these earthly things too tightly. We should grasp and enjoy our
blessings with our palms held open and tilted up.

Job 1:21
And (Job) said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will
depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the
LORD be praised."(NIV)
10 - Christians always feel close to God.
As a new Christian you may feel very close to God. Your eyes have just been
opened to a brand new, exciting life with God. However, you should be
prepared for dry seasons in your walk with God. They are bound to come. A
life-long walk of faith requires trust and commitment even when you don't
feel close to God. In these verses, David expresses sacrifices of praise to God
in the midst of spiritual times of drought:

Psalm 63:1
[A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah.] O God, you are my
God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in
a dry and weary land where there is no water. (NIV)

Psalm 42:1-3
As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while men say to me all day long,
"Where is your God?" (NIV)
 Facing Lifes Challenges 3
Things to Expect
Yesterday my Bishop (Bishop A Ray Rouson) preached a sermon titled, You
Can Face It. It spoke to me directly as only God knows about the challenges
in life I am currently facing and dealing with. I was truly ministered by it and
wanted to take this time to encourage and share a portion of the sermon
with you.

Whatever it is you are facing OR need to face; whether thats facing

problems, obstacles, issues, weaknesses, decisions, a wilderness experience
or etc, know that through the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells in you, you
can face it.

3 things to Expect When Facing

Lifes Challenges
The enemy will try to put fear in you
When you make a decision to face something, one of the tactics of the devil
is to embed fear in you. Convincing you to believe you cant do it and to
think of all the things that will happen as a result of you confronting what
needs to be faced.

Dont give into the schemes of the devil. We know that he comes to kill,
steal and destroy and that God has NOT given you the spirit
of fear, but power, love and a sound mind. Overcome the spirit of fear with
faith.

Expect people to change on you

When Jesus was here on earth, the same people who smiled in His face were
the same people who turned on Him and yelled for him to be crucified. Truth
be told, when you are facing whatever it is you need to face, not every
person will understand. They may smile, talk behind your back and even
reject you as they did with Jesus.

Although Jesus knew this to be so, He didnt let facing rejection, mockery,
suffering and rejection stop Him from going to the cross. As the time
became closer for Jesus to be crucified, He said to his disciples, The Son of
Manmust suffer many terrible things, he said. He will be rejected by the
elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He will be killed,
but on the third day he will be raised from the dead (Luke 9:21)

As the time of crucifixion got even closer Jesus said, Father, if you are
willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to
be done, not mine (Luke 22:42). As you see, Jesus didnt want to face being
crucified, but He did for you and I. But while doing so, He had people, such
as Judas, change and turn on him.

When you make a decision to face lifes challenges and confront the things
you know needs to be faced, dont be surprised when people begin changing
on you as they did with Jesus.

But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So
dont worry or be afraid of their threats (1 Peter 3:14).

Expect God to work through you

The Bible never says that everything we face and go through will be good;
however it does say that ALL things work out for our good. When you
confront the thing God has pricked in your heart to face, expect God to work
through you; revealing His glory through you to others around you.

You may not see it right now, but once you confront this thing, at the end of
it all you will realize that it was for your good that you needed to confront
and face it.

You Can Face It: Final Words

Know that when you face this particular thing in your life, you can expect the
devil to bring more temptation your way. Why? Because youre actually
doing something to spiritually grow in Christ.

While you were wavering and unsure on whether or not to face this particular
thing, the devil didnt need to do too much; but now that youre facing it,
expect the devil to tempt you morebut greater is He that is in you than He
that is in the world.

I dont know what you need to face, but the Lord used my Bishop yesterday
to tell the church that we canface it and now Im telling you that YOU can
face it. Dont allow the devil to hold you back from spiritual growth in Christ
because of your fear to face this particular thing. Cancel fear with faith.
Dont allow the devil to convince you into believing you cant face it.

If Gods been nudging at your heart to face something, do it. Dont worry
about this or that. You may have to make some adjustments, but God will
give you the strength and grace to face and confront it.

Prayer for Facing Lifes Challenges

Heavenly Father, I ask in Jesus name that you help my brother/sister face the
very thing that youve laid on their heart to face. Give them the strength
and grace needed to confront, face and deal with the very thing you know
needs to be dealt with.

During this time, open their eyes to the schemes of the devil and allow them
to overcome every temptation. God I thank you for them. I ask that you
allow them to see that theyre not alone, for you have promised to never
leave nor forsake them.

I thank you Lord for my brother/sister in Christ. Give them the strength,
grace, joy and peace needed to get through this. In Jesus Christ name I pray;
Amen.

Be blessed and encouraged in Jesus name; Amen.

 Adult Faith Development
What is Adult Faith Development ?
All religions and churches emphasise that humans are:

-weak and sinful while God is strong and holy

-totally dependent on the all-providing God,
-servants of God to whom we owe absolute allegiance,
-children of a Father God and a Mother Church
-called to be humble and obedient to the parent-like divine power.

The metaphor of the child is extensively used in conventional

spirituality. Phrases like childlike trust, loyalty, obedience,
under authority all denote a sense of dependency that is not
congruent with adult maturity. The tendency to structure religion in
patriarchal-type institutions, with a strong focus on those who
govern from on high, breeds co-dependency rather than mutual
interdependence. Such metaphors and systems militate against the
emergence of wholesome, adult people.

Much more serious and less obvious to the nave observer, is the
tendency of religions to alienate people from the planetary and
cosmic web of life. The dualism of the sacred v. the secular
truncates natures invitation to live in a convivial, cooperative
relationship with the earth and its living systems. Properly
understood, earth-life systems function best when humans treat
other life-forms with a sense of adult care and responsibility. But this
experience of being human, in an integrated planetary and cosmic
way, is largely unknown to people of our time

THE CONTEXT

Adult Faith Development wishes to reclaim our integral place in

creation:

- There is a cosmic dimension to our lives, elegantly illustrated in

the fact that
stardust is essential to our existence and all sources of nourishment
ultimately belong to sunlight.

- There is a planetary/earthly dimension: our very existence is

dependent on the
healthy functioning of the earths bio-systems.

- There is an organic dimension, highlighted in the bacterial

foundations of all life, thriving primarily on cooperation, not via
competition.

- Our own human existence belongs to an amazing creative story

of some 7,000,000 years, often dismissed by academics as
primitive and barbaric.

- Contextually, we are an integral part of a greater whole that

confers on us our integrity and dignity, forever calling us to mutual
engagement with the evolving life-forces of cosmic and planetary
life. Because of our disconnection from the larger context, we end
up condemning ourselves to a contrived, minimalistic, childish
participation in the great enterprise of universal life.

AT HOME IN CREATION

Creation is our true, authentic home, the houshold of all life, including
those who have gone before us. The afterlife does not exist outside
creation, but within it, a realm in which our departed loved ones inhabit a
different level of being - within the one cosmos.

Religions negative regard for the created order is responsible for much of
the meaningless suffering in the contemporary world. Because this
suffering is often so overwhelming, many people throw themselves at the
mercy of God. Although an understandable response, and often the basis
of survival against heavy odds, this is an abdication of our call to be co-
creators with God in enhancing the growth and development of Gods
creation.
 RECLAIMING ADULT FAITH

Faith in our time requires us to grow up and learn to relate with God in a new
way. As co-creators with our creative God, we are invited and challenged to
relate as adults to an adult God, modelled for Christians in the adult life-
example of Jesus. This requires that we replace:

The patriarchal sky-God with the divine life-force we encounter in

-

the miracle of Gods creation.

- Hierarchical top-down dependency with a sense of mjutual eqaulity

and interdependence.

- Power-over with power-with (empowerment).

-Parental-type, controlling relationships with those based on

mutuality (as modelled in the Trinity).

-A product mentality in which everything is essentially

predetermined with a process outlook that respects the divinely
inspired evolutionary nature of life.

- Faith communities where the focus tends to be on control and top-

down governance (priest, imam, rabbi), to one centred on people
and programmed for mutual empowerment.

PRINCIPLES OF ADULT FAITH DEVELOPMENT:

In contemporary cultures secular and religious calling forth the

adult is either construed as a non-issue because, allegedly,
adulthood is already fostered and protected, or it is subverted as
dangerous propaganda. For the religions, in particular, it is quite a
new concept with consequences that are likely to be perceived as
threatening and dangerous for the status quo. In promoting a culture
of adult faith the following principles are crucial:

1.Faith is a process of life-long learning, not some magical, divine

product bestowed by church or religion.
2.Grace builds on nature (St. Anslem; St. Thomas Aquinas);
consequently, appropriation of faith at different life-stages needs
informed attention (see the pioneering work of James Fowler).

3.Adults learn by doing in a dynamic, interactive and co-operative

endeavour in which educator and learner are equal partners.

4.In adult learning, everybody is endowed with wisdom and all are
beneficiaries of divine revelation. Both educator and learner have
joint responsibility for the awakening and appropriation of faith.

5.Story-telling is a central strategy in articulating a meaningful faith.

Discernment skills arise from this context.

6.Adult faith matures when life experience is honoured, and the

ensuing challenges are explored through mature adult
conversations (stories).

7.Adult faith tends not to be incapacitated by perfectionism. It is

much more at home in soulful realism in which paradox is
honoured , vulnerability is protected, questions are respected and
dogmatism gives way to trust and dialogue.

8.Adults commit to faith-based structures in which power is shared

equally and justly at the service of empowerment.

9.Adults desire transparency through open dialogue, pursuing truth

that is always in the process of being realised.

10. Adults seek to change co-dependent metaphors, images and

language into more imaginative and intuitive constructs that
challenge people to act as adults, faithful to an adult God, modelled
on the adult life-example of Jesus.
 Becoming a Sage: The Keys to Life-long Self-development

People define success differently. For some, success means having

achieved financial security or career pinnacles. Some people judge
their success by the positive impact they have made on others
whether these are clients, students, associates, or family.

Other successful people have acquired a level of expertise that is

recognized and respected by peers. But despite these differing
definitions of what constitutes success, successful people themselves
have similar characteristics.

First, they are self-confident without being arrogant. This comes

from being self-aware: knowing one's strengths and weaknesses,
knowing ones goals and remaining true to ones values and
capabilities.

Second, they are willing to grow by challenging their limits of

knowledge and experience.

And third, they are willing to reflect and learn from experience.

Webster's Dictionary defines a sage as one who is wise through

reflection and experience. In ancient cultures, a groups sages were
those who had experienced rich lives and were thoughtful about what
they had learned through these experiences.
In contemporary times, groundbreaking research by the Center for
Creative Leadership in the late 1980s found that successful executives
were those who had benefited from the lessons of experience.

So from these common traits of successful people, those striving for

success can seek to practice three fundamental steps to self-
development.

Self-development Step: Know Thyself

This is the most basic tenet of psychology, self-improvement, and
emotional intelligence. If you think you need to get to know yourself
better, try these basics.

Solicit Feedback Regularly: Perception is reality. Seek to

understand how people perceive you. You may not be achieving
the impact you expected in leading or working with others. You
can not adjust your approach without the benefit of feedback that
can inform you in terms of how your intentions were received by
others. Be proactive in finding out what people think about you
and your style of interacting and your approach. Be open to and
appreciative of the feedback you receive, not defensive. Seek to
understand rather than to be understood.

Reflect on Performance: Some successful people are

gregarious and extroverted while others are reserved and
introverted. But all successful people know how to spend time
alone being reflective and thoughtful about recent performance
and behavior. Take time every day to reflect on the days work
and interactions.

Always take ample time at the conclusion of major elements of

work to reflect on the quality of what you produced and the
effectiveness of your work with others. The key to reflecting on
performance is remaining balanced in your self-assessment. Be
self-critical: understand what you could have done better and
learn from these mistakes. But also acknowledge success
whenever warranted: celebrate and take pride in what you have
done well.

Know Your Strengths and Weaknesses: As you collect

feedback and reflections, come to understand your personal
 strengths and weaknesses. Know that everyone has both.
Successful people build success from their strengths while they
limit the negative impact of their weaknesses. The reason to
identify your key strengths and weaknesses is not so that you can
improve your weaknesses. It is much more important to identify
your key strengths and leverage these.

The management guru, Peter Drucker, in his classic article,

Managing Oneself , states: One should waste as little effort as
possible on improving areas of low competence. It takes far more
energy and work to improve from incompetence to mediocrity
than it takes to improve from first-rate performance to
excellence. And yet most people . . . concentrate on making
incompetent performers into mediocre ones. Energy, resources,
and time should go instead to making a competent person into a
star performer.

Know Your Joys and Passions: Be in tune with your emotions

as you engage in your work. We all need to do elements of work
that are tedious or displeasing, but the bulk of how you spend
your day should satisfy you and make you feel good about your
contributions and the impact of your efforts. Success is difficult to
achieve without that level of satisfaction. Know that people who
excel enjoy what they do and do what they enjoy.

------------------------------------------------------------------

**Susan McKeone, founder of Sage Management Consulting, consults

worldwide in all aspects of developing and deploying talent since 1998.
She designs and implements integrated HR systems that leverage
human capital: talent management and career development systems.
She has specific expertise in leadership dynamics and building
leadership capability. Susan holds a Master of Science in Organizational
Psychology from Villanova University where she was a Dean's Scholar.

Want to know more about the second Self-development Step: Learn

From Experience?

In the first part of this article, Susan McKeone, discussed the first Self-
development Step: Know Thyself.

As stated earlier, contemporary research affirms what ancient societies

have known all along: those who are the wisest amongst a group are
those who have had rich experiences and have learned from them.
Consider these aspects of learning from experience.

Development Occurs Within the Context of Work: During

most of the 20th century, companies and their employees tended
to think about professional development as something that
happened away from the job, in classrooms and workshops and
seminars. These development options are useful to build basic
skills and provide opportunity for workers to interact within a
cohort, but they do not compare with the capacity for
development of real skills learned on the job and through the
experiences of meaningful work with real implications and
results.

Growth Occurs Through Challenge and Stretch: Once one

achieves a level of comfort and ease within their job
responsibilities then high performance may continue but growth
and development will not. Individuals with the highest potential
and talent need to continue to grow until their potential is
reached. This means applying a consistent level of tension with
respect to challenging the individuals skills, perceptions, and
experiences. The appropriate stretch for development is
consistently requiring job expectations that are just beyond those
skills already mastered.

Diversity of Experience and Depth Versus Breadth: Know

that ones career goals need to shape career experiences or else
career experiences will shape career potential. Understanding
how to apply this goes back to the tenet of Know Thyself. Know
how you will define your career success so you can build the
appropriate career path to get there. Are your passions energized
through expertise: would you like to know all there is to know
about a particular area? If so, you need to build an experts
career that is deeply steeped within that area of expertise.

Or perhaps your passions are energized by leading broad sets of

people and your vision stretches across an organization or
industry. In this case you need to build a leaders career that is
broad and encompasses a variety of knowledge and perspective.
However, whether you are building depth or breadth, diversity of
experience is critical to ongoing development. Always be looking
 for the next challenge, the newest goal that will mix things up
and add another layer to the fabric of your career.

Apply Your Lessons of Experience: So, an important

distinction in understanding how to develop through experiences
is that the experience itself is only half the task. What is critical is
that you learn from the experience and thus apply these lessons
to future experiences. Again, this requires reflection and self-
awareness and purposeful cognizance relative to learning. What
did I learn from that? is a common question you should ask
yourself following successes and failures. And when you have
your answer to that question, be sure it is applied to your next
experience.

Want to know more about the third Self-development Step: Learn from
People?

In the second part of this article, Susan McKeone, discussed the

first Self-development Step: Learn From Experience.

Learning from the experience the task, the challenge, the work, the
goals is only half of the lessons potential. Each experience puts you
in touch with people clients, peers, reports, bosses, teachers and
mentors all of whom have their own sets of lessons for you.

Seek Diversity of Perspective: Just as you should seek diverse

experiences to expand your skill set, you should also seek diverse
perspectives to expand your own thinking. We all enjoy and have
a comfort level with people who are like me. But these people
will only reinforce your current thinking without necessarily
expanding or challenging you to think differently and just as in
experiences, collecting diverse perspectives results in growth and
development.

Observe Others: Be a people watcher. Be aware of how your

colleagues interact with others and assess what works and what
doesnt. Learn from those colleagues who are effective borrow
their strategies and approaches. Learn from those colleagues who
are ineffective guard against making the same mistakes you
see them make as they interact.
 Exposure, Exposure, Exposure: Anytime you can work on a
project that exposes you to new contacts, new audiences, new
networks do it! Remember this: it isnt really about who you
know but it is all about who knows you.

Solicit Feedback Regularly and Ask for Support: Okay, so

you heard this one already in Step One. Its that important to
hear it again. One way you learn from people is to learn what
they think about you and can provide feedback about how
effective you are in interacting with them. When you receive
feedback that requires you to adjust your behavior or experiment
with new ways of interacting, ask your feedback providers to
support you and help you to improve by reminding you when you
slip back to old patterns or acknowledging you when you
successfully implement new ones.

Networks: Successful people are well networked, period. It may

seem as though their broad and loyal networks of friends and
associates are effortless and naturally attracted to the successful
persons charismatic style. But the truth is probably more likely
that the successful person works hard to keep connected to these
networks by remaining cognizant of comings and goings and by
keeping proactive and systematic goals to stay connected.

Manage Your Own Performance Management: Development

on the job almost always means needing to learn from your boss.
But some of us are more blessed than others when it comes to
bosses who are natural coaches and mentors. Dont let a boss
who is poor in performance management deprive you of the
lessons you need to learn from him or her. Be proactive and
persistent. Manage upwards: schedule time with him or her,
come prepared to the meeting with a structured agenda, a self-
assessment of recent performance, and be prepared to solicit
feedback directly.

In closing, wisdom and success are within everyones reach through

three steps you should practice daily.

Know thyself: solicit feedback, reflect, do what you love!

 Learn from experience: use work to learn, challenge yourself,
expose yourself to diverse experiences, and apply your lessons of
experience.

Learn from people: seek diversity of perspective, be a people

watcher, seek exposure, ask for support, maintain your networks,
and take responsibility for your own performance management.

University of Perpetual Help Calamba

College of Engineering
FCL 4

Research
Dizon, Paul Hedson P. Dizon Sir Ian
Pradilla
BSCE IV Instructor
Nov. 11, 2016