Acknowledging for Personal Growth – Part I

Acknowledgement as stated by Wiktionary is “The act of owning or recognizing a particular character or relationship; recognition as regards the existence, authority, truth, or genuineness.” For many individuals, acknowledgement is a ground breaking concept – it will change your life…it help you in your personal growth.

Before I move on, I’d like to thank my coaching school, ICA, for the support and much of the information about ‘Acknowledging.’

Acknowledgement is the capacity to recognize something wonderful about a person and to let them know about it. By wonderful, it could be a skill, a competency, a strength, an attitude, a value, an act of goodwill and so on the list can go. To acknowledge is to see someone in their purest form – to see them for the unique being they really are. This occurs because we see something of ourselves as well…to acknowledge ourselves for who we are.

Yet we live in times where acknowledgement is a rarity. We rarely hear someone acknowledge another person and there is a really good reason why this is so. To be able to acknowledge ourselves or someone else we cannot be needy. Acknowledgement is a very pure form of giving. We can only give if we are well topped up. To acknowledge another person means you have to move beyond yourself and see them only and this takes inner strength and mental strength.

Acknowledgement is not comparing another person to ourselves i.e. “You‘re really good at that and I should know because I have been doing that myself for a long time.”  This is not acknowledgement…this is ego.

We acknowledge ourselves and others when we are confident, strong and in our personal power. If we are not feeling on top of things then we cannot see past ourselves. If we cannot see past ourselves then we cannot see the strengths of another. Sometimes at this point in our life we can‘t find it in ourselves to acknowledge others as it feels too painful. How can we tell another person they are great when we don‘t feel great about ourselves? Yes it‘s impossible if we are not on a path of personal growth! We may think we are acknowledging but it will come across as insincere. We won‘t be putting our heart and soul into it.

So to acknowledge is to put aside our ego, tap into our personal power and to see the greatness in others and to let them know about it. Giving – pure beautiful giving.

Contemplation

• How often do we have people to cheer us on in life?
• How often does someone let us know that they see how great we truly are?

Usually, we only hear from someone when we make mistakes, or when something does not turn out right.

We all appreciate getting acknowledgment. To feel bad, guilty, “not good enough”, or wrong is a typical perspective we all too often fall for. Many of us simply accept it as part of our thinking and take it on automatically without question. Clearly, this is not in alignment with mental strength thinking for producing good peak performance results in any aspect of our lives.

A negative feeling can translate into a negative image about oneself and this may take time to overcome. And with the help of mental strength coaching and NLP, Time Empowerment® or hypnosis the time it takes to overcome this can be just an instant.

Acknowledgment must be sincere and truthful. It must be more than what Kegan and Lacey refer to as the “customary praising, stroking…handing out warm fuzzies and attaboys‘” (Kegan and Lacey, 2001). We don‘t just say something is great if it is not.

In life, you will usually find what you’re looking for. If you’re looking for the best in someone, you’ll see it. If you’re looking for their flaws you’ll see these too.

Remember the old saying, “Give a dog a bad name and he’s live up to it.”

Acknowledgement could be described as simply noticing people doing things right and telling them. When we acknowledge the good deeds of others, they tend to do more of them. When we believe in others we support their higher vision of themselves to have personal success. As human beings our objective could be to hold the highest possible potential for a person to achieve peak personal performance and personal success.

Their success is our success!

Acknowledging is different than giving a compliment to someone. When we give a compliment, it is about us. For example if I say, “I like your dress,” I am simply saying I approve what you are wearing because it pleases me. However, when I acknowledge someone, it removes me from the picture and instead the situation is completely about the other. If I say, “I would like to acknowledge how well you always look. You do a great job of creating your own style.” This statement is about the other person, and it is more empowering and positive in nature.  It puts both of us in our personal power.

 Encouragement

There is a Chinese proverb that states: “The participant’s perspectives are clouded while the bystander’s views are clear.” There are many times when we cannot see what others can see. This is so, because they have the advantage of being distant from the situation, plus they have not been buffeted and rocked by the challenges, difficulties and emotions that we may have experienced. They may be able to see the situation more clearly than us or to see something we may have overlooked.

Acknowledgement occurs after action, whereas encouragement relates to actions in the future. When we encourage a person we hold the vision of the future up to them and support them to move towards it. Encouragement goes a long way when a person is feeling that things are not working out, or they are not being supported in different areas of their lives.  Encouragement can provide the inner strength to take action.

When we encourage, we say things like:

• “I know you can do this. Look how far you‘ve come.”
• “You are a strong person. I trust you will get through this.”
• “I believe in you.”

“You can do it! I know you can!” These are words that are all-too-infrequently voiced. Sincere encouragement can go a long way in helping someone stay on course. The more specific you are, the better the results. “I remember when you got through your decline last year and ended up winning the sales contest. I’m willing to bet that you’ll do even better this time.” (Michael Angier, Success Net)

Many times we are in the “muck and mire” and cannot see the other side of a situation.

This is when, a coach, can hold a higher vision for us.

I’ll continue with this topic next week.

If you’d like to additional information on improving your mindset, confidence and personal performance grab a copy of, “Develop the Mental Strength of a Warrior” now.  It will affect the way you think and act, so that you can live up to your ultimate personal power!

If you’d really like to make fast progress towards realizing your full personal power and potential as well as develop the mindset of confidence, request your Introductory Consultation today!

Please let me know your thoughts about ‘Acknowledgement’ in the comments below.

Related articles

• Mental Strength Tip #23 – Criticism vs. Advice (warriormindcoach.com)
• Mental Strength Tip #24 – You Do Have A Choice (warriormindcoach.com)
• The Mindset of Confidence – Part II (warriormindcoach.com)
• The Mindset of Confidence – Part I (warriormindcoach.com)
• Mental Strength Tip #26 – Personal Success and Delayed Gratification (warriormindcoach.com)