Wednesday, July 23, 2025

Self-Observation & Self-Analysis

                          

 Chapter 29


Self-Observation & Self-Analysis




CONSTRUCTION STAGE 4.1   Security

SAL MODEL STAGE 4.1   Self-Evaluation



CONSTRUCTION STAGE 4.2   Structural reviews, safety checks, and quality controls

SAL MODEL STAGE 4.2   Self-Analysis


A skyscraper's security staff closely monitors its property for purposes of employee accountability and to protect it from unauthorized entry and vandalism.

As a self-action leader, YOU need to similarly observe your own thoughts, speech, actions, attitudes, and beliefs—and their consequences—so that you can then analyze them to see if they are moving you closer towards, or farther away from, your vision, mission, values, standards, and goals. These ongoing observations and analyses are essential to assessing and adjusting your approach to life, work, and relationships.  


SELF-OBSERVATION

Taking thoughtful notice of your thoughts, speech, actions, attitudes, and beliefs.


SELF-ANALYSIS

The thoughtful examination of your thoughts, speech, actions, attitudes, and beliefs to check for their alignment (or lack thereof) with your vision, mission, values, standards, and goals.  


Self-Analysis involves taking stock of your results in various life arenas and then adapting your ACTION PLANS as needed in a never-ending, upward cycle of personal progress and Existential Growth. It is similar to having a quality control expert or facility manager inventory and inspect a skyscraper and its property before submitting a report with recommendations for changes, improvements, renovations, replacements, and upgrades.  




In Your Journal

  • For one full day (or week), carefully observe everything you think about, say, and do. Record these thoughts, speech, and actions in your journal. Then, conduct an analytic review in your own mind to see if the things you thought, said, and did are the kind and degree of things you would like to have thought, said, and done for that day (or week). If they were not, record what changes you would like to make the following day (or week) to bring you closer to achieving your goals.  

  • Conduct a comprehensive Self-Analysis by mentally traveling through the Eight (8) Life Arenas of SAL (Constitutional, Spiritual, Physical, Mental, Emotional, Social, Moral, and Financial) in preparation to answer the following questions.

  • How are you currently doing in each life arena?

    Which areas are currently your greatest strengths?

    Which areas are currently your greatest weaknesses?

    How would your prioritize these Eight Life Arenas in terms of which areas need the most work right now

     

 

Dr. JJ

Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA


Author's Note: This is the 471st Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 262nd consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.   

Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 470 FF Blog Articles 

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL QUOTES  

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL POEMS   

Click HERE to access the FULL TEXT of Dr. JJ's Psalms of Life: A Poetry Collection

Click HERE for a complete listing of Self-Action Leadership Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Fitness, Heath, & Wellness Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Biographical & Historical Articles


Click HERE for a complete listing of Dr. JJ's Autobiographical Articles

.........................

Tune in NEXT Wednesday for another article on a Self-Action Leadership related topic.  

If you liked this blog post, please share it with your family, friends, colleagues, and students—and encourage them to bookmark this blog to access a new FREE article every Wednesday.



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Chapter 29 Notes

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Observation, Analysis, & Change

                         

 Chapter 28


Observation, Analysis, & Change




CONSTRUCTION  STAGE  4:  MAINTENANCE and UPGRADES

CONSTRUCTION  STAGE  4:  OBSERVATION, ANALYSIS, and CHANGE




Once you have completed the Pre-Construction phase (Planning & Preparation), laid the Foundation (Developed an Integrity-Based Character), and built the Superstructure (Taken Action), it's now time to consider Maintaining and Upgrading your property (Observation, Analysis, and Change). 

This STAGE involves SIX (6) steps.  


CONSTRUCTION  STAGE  4:  MAINTENANCE and UPGRADES
  • Security
  • Structural reviews, safety checks, and quality controls
  • Maintenance
  • Blueprints review
  • Inventory and change recommendations
  • Replacements, renovations, and upgrades

The SIX (6) metaphorical analogues in the SAL MODEL are as follows:


SAL  MODEL  STAGE  4:  OBSERVATION, ANALYSIS, and CHANGE
  • Self-Observation (1)
  • Self-Analysis
  • Self-Renewal
  • Purpose Examination
  • External Feedback
  • Self-Alterations




In Your Journal

  • Now that you are into the last quarter of the SAL Model, what are some of your thoughts and reflections about its purpose, meaning, and potential application in your life, career, and relationships?

  • Who is someone you work with, live with, or otherwise care about who could benefit from the principles and practices of the SAL Model?  Invite that person to embark on the SAL Master Challenge and journal about your experience extending the invitation.    


 

Dr. JJ

Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA


Author's Note: This is the 470th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 261st consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.   

Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 469 FF Blog Articles 

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL QUOTES  

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL POEMS   

Click HERE to access the FULL TEXT of Dr. JJ's Psalms of Life: A Poetry Collection

Click HERE for a complete listing of Self-Action Leadership Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Fitness, Heath, & Wellness Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Biographical & Historical Articles


Click HERE for a complete listing of Dr. JJ's Autobiographical Articles

.........................

Tune in NEXT Wednesday for another article on a Self-Action Leadership related topic.  

If you liked this blog post, please share it with your family, friends, colleagues, and students—and encourage them to bookmark this blog to access a new FREE article every Wednesday.



Click HERE to buy the SAL Textbooks


Chapter 28 Notes

1.  Neck, C. P., & Manz, C. C. (2010). Mastering Self-Leadership: Empowering Yourself for Personal Excellence (Fifth Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Pages 15-16, 27-30, and 38-51.

Tuesday, July 15, 2025

SAL MASTER Challenge #24

 

SAL Master Challenge

EXERCISE  #24

Self-action leaders REWARD Themselves


What healthy and productive SELF-REWARDS could you use to motivate yourself to make good decisions, remain on task, stay focused, and work hard until a goal has been achieved?





List some work activities and tasks you find naturally rewarding. Why do you find these tasks and activities rewarding?





How might you increase your opportunities to spend more of your time engaged in work activities and tasks that you find naturally rewarding in your present life and/or career?  





Are you presently in a life and/or career situation that maximizes your opportunities for participating in activities and tasks you find naturally rewarding? If not, what steps would you need to take to improve your situation and expand said opportunities?  



What is a work activity or task you have never tried, but that might prove naturally rewarding for you?





How might you position yourself to receive an opportunity to begin pursuing said work activity or task? 



 



I have completed the SAL Master Challenge EXERCISE #24


Your initials:__________         AP initials:__________




Dr. JJ

Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA


Author's Note: This is the 469th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 261st consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.   

Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 468 FF Blog Articles 

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL QUOTES  

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL POEMS   

Click HERE to access the FULL TEXT of Dr. JJ's Psalms of Life: A Poetry Collection

Click HERE for a complete listing of Self-Action Leadership Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Fitness, Heath, & Wellness Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Biographical & Historical Articles


Click HERE for a complete listing of Dr. JJ's Autobiographical Articles

.........................

Tune in NEXT Wednesday for another article on a Self-Action Leadership related topic.  

If you liked this blog post, please share it with your family, friends, colleagues, and students—and encourage them to bookmark this blog to access a new FREE article every Wednesday.



Click HERE to buy the SAL Textbooks


Chapter 28 Notes

Wednesday, July 9, 2025

SELF-Rewards & NATURAL Rewards

                        

 Chapter 27


SELF-Rewards & NATURAL Rewards




Construction Stage 3.5   Landscaping

SAL Model Stage 3.5   Self-Reward and Natural Rewards



As a self-action leader, YOU can use both SELF-Rewards and NATURAL Rewards (1) as personal motivators along your SAL journey through life. 

A Self-Reward is something concrete and tangible you give to yourself as a reward for making good decisions, remaining on task, staying focused, and working hard.


SELF-REWARD

Something concrete and tangible you give to yourself as a reward for

making good decisions, remaining on task, staying focused, and working hard.    


Examples of self-rewards include: edibles, leisure time, naptime, material gifts, travel, etc. 

Natural Rewards, on the other hand, are intangible rewards that come as a by-product of engaging in activities and tasks from which you naturally derive joy, pleasure, and satisfaction. Natural Rewards result from enjoying an activity for its own sake and can come even in the absence of external compensation, financial remuneration, self-rewards, and other gifts or perks.


NATURAL  REWARDS

Intangible rewards that come as a by-product of engaging in activities 

and tasks from which you naturally derive joy, pleasure, and satisfaction. 

 

In the words of self-leadership experts, Chris Neck and Charles Manz, "No special externally administered or self-administered incentives are necessary to motivate [naturally rewarding] behavior [because] the incentives are built into the task itself." (2)

Naturally rewarding activities are often fun—the kind of tasks you would gladly perform even in the absence of external assignments or incentives. Work tasks that are naturally rewarding for me include conversation, reading, writing, speaking, teaching, organizing, making decisions, physical exercise, and travel.  When I am engaged in these activities, I often enter FLOW (3) states, where I become so productively engrossed in the activity that I lose track of time, become hyper-focused on the task at hand, and experience a variety of positive emotions. Because I love work of this nature, I can focus intensely for long periods of time if necessary—and enjoy the process. 

I enjoy—and even love—the work for the work's sake!

In our skyscraper metaphor, effectively utilizing Self-Rewards and Natural Rewards is comparable to landscaping the property grounds to enhance overall aesthetical atmosphere and beauty. Self-Rewards and Natural Rewards provide both beauty (in the form of motivation) and appeal (in the form of pleasure) to various tasks you will engage at home and work. 

Effectively and strategically utilizing Self-Rewards and discovering Natural Rewards in whatever tasks you undertake can lead to increased motivation, satisfaction, fulfillment, pleasure, and even joy along the pathways of your work obligations and life's journey.

As Mary Poppins famously remarked: In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun and snap! The job's a game! (4)  


"In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun.

Your find the fun and snap! The job's a game!"

Mary Poppins


In the words of self-leadership expert, Dr. Charles C. Manz:

"The road to higher performance, while often rocky and challenging, should be made as naturally rewarding as possible. ... [We] can build enjoyment into [our] work. To the extent that work can be enjoyed—that is, that it can naturally pull workers to perform—tremendous motivational power is available." (5)

Self-Rewards and Natural Rewards are two of the most powerful tools at your disposal as a self-action leader. Make sure to utilize both kinds of rewards to their utmost along your journey up the SAL Hierarchy.   


SAL Master Challenge

EXERCISE  #24


What healthy and productive SELF-REWARDS could you use to motivate yourself to make good decisions, remain on task, stay focused, and work hard until a goal has been achieved?





List some work activities and tasks you find naturally rewarding. Why do you find these tasks and activities rewarding?





How might you increase your opportunities to spend more of your time engaged in work activities and tasks that you find naturally rewarding in your present life and/or career?  





Are you presently in a life and/or career situation that maximizes your opportunities for participating in activities and tasks you find naturally rewarding? If not, what steps would you need to take to improve your situation and expand said opportunities?  



What is a work activity or task you have never tried, but that might prove naturally rewarding for you?





How might you position yourself to receive an opportunity to begin pursuing said work activity or task? 



 



I have completed the SAL Master Challenge EXERCISE #24


Your initials:__________         AP initials:__________


 

Dr. JJ

Wednesday, July 9, 2025
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA


Author's Note: This is the 468th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 260th consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.   

Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 467 FF Blog Articles 

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL QUOTES  

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL POEMS   

Click HERE to access the FULL TEXT of Dr. JJ's Psalms of Life: A Poetry Collection

Click HERE for a complete listing of Self-Action Leadership Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Fitness, Heath, & Wellness Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Biographical & Historical Articles


Click HERE for a complete listing of Dr. JJ's Autobiographical Articles

.........................

Tune in NEXT Wednesday for another article on a Self-Action Leadership related topic.  

If you liked this blog post, please share it with your family, friends, colleagues, and students—and encourage them to bookmark this blog to access a new FREE article every Wednesday.



Click HERE to buy the SAL Textbooks


Chapter 27 Notes

1.  Neck, C. P., & Manz, C. C. (2010). Mastering Self-leadership: Empowering Yourself for Personal Excellence (Fifth Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Chapter 4, pages 27-28.

2.  Ibid. Page 38.

3.  Jackson, B. H. (2011). Finding Your Flow: How to Identify Your Flow Assets and Liabilities—the Keys to Peak Performance Every Day. College Station, TX: Virtualbookworm.com Publishing Inc.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York, NY: HarperPerennial ModernClassics

4.  Walt Disney’s Mary Poppins (1964). Directed by Robert Stevenson. Written by Bill Walsh and Don Da Gradi.

5.  Manz, C. C. (1983). Improving Performance Through Self-Leadership. National Productivity Review (pre-1986). Volume 2, Issue 3, p. 288-297. Pages 294-295.

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

SAL MASTER CHALLENGE #23

 

SAL Master Challenge

EXERCISE  #23

Self-action leaders Orient their Surroundings for Success


  • Take inventory of your surroundings. Are there any negative cues bringing you down? If so, remove them if possible. 

  • What about visual reminders (positive cues) of your goals or important priorities; do you have any of them? 

  • If not, creatively add at least three (3) such reminders (cues). If so, then add three (3) additional cues to the ones you already have. Make sure your cues are displayed so that you will see them regularly. Do this today or before the end of the week. 



Negative cues and reminders I will remove from my living and/or work space include:






Positive cues and reminders I will add to my living and/or work space include:  






I have completed the SAL Master Challenge EXERCISE #23


Your initials:__________         AP initials:__________



Dr. JJ

Tuesday, July 8, 2025
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA


Author's Note: This is the 467th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 260th consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.   

Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 466 FF Blog Articles 

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL QUOTES  

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL POEMS   

Click HERE to access the FULL TEXT of Dr. JJ's Psalms of Life: A Poetry Collection

Click HERE for a complete listing of Self-Action Leadership Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Fitness, Heath, & Wellness Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Biographical & Historical Articles


Click HERE for a complete listing of Dr. JJ's Autobiographical Articles

.........................

Tune in NEXT Wednesday for another article on a Self-Action Leadership related topic.  

If you liked this blog post, please share it with your family, friends, colleagues, and students—and encourage them to bookmark this blog to access a new FREE article every Wednesday.



Click HERE to buy the SAL Textbooks



Wednesday, July 2, 2025

World Altering Strategies

                       

 Chapter 26


World Altering Strategies




Construction Stage 3.4   Carpeting, painting, woodwork, and interior decoration

SAL Model Stage 3.4   World-altering Strategies



Just as an architectural firm seeks to invoke an attractive, pleasant, and professional ambiance with its interior and exterior designs, YOU can create an environment around you that inspires and uplifts yourself as a self-action leader. 

Construction stage 3.4 involves adding carpets, tiles, woodwork, painting, and interior decoration. It is analogous to the SAL Model Stage 3.4, which involves employing world-altering strategies to remove negative cues and add positive cues to your environment (1) that will inspire you and uplift you to be your best as a self-action leader.

Removing negative cues involves getting rid of visual or auditory triggers that might tempt you to engage in behaviors you're trying to avoid. Increasing positive cues involves decorating your environment with reminders that encourage you to engage in healthy and productive actions, pursue worthy goals, and rise to your potential.  

For example, if you want to cultivate a healthier diet, don't fill your pantry with junk food or browse the Internet for dessert recipes. Instead, prepare healthy snacks, visualize yourself achieving your goals, and fill your mind with images and success stories of others who have accomplished what you desire to achieve.  

Since I was just a little boy, I have always found it inspiring to adorn my personal work and living spaces with pictures, posters, awards, quotes, symbols, and other visual reminders of what is most important to me. These visual cues help me to continually re-energize and refocus on my vision, mission, values, and goals. 

Purposely arranging and decorating your environment will help you develop the habit of positive visualization, which focuses your mental energy and creativity on solutions and successes rather than on problem and failures. It also helps you rid yourself of negative self-talk. Perhaps most importantly, it assists you in maintaining an ongoing vision of what you want most in your life, relationships, and career. 

Stephen R. Covey calls this process the "mental or first creation," (2) which always precedes the "physical or second creation" of whatever you are seeking to animate in your life. 

REMEMBER: Envisioning yourself mastering a task is prerequisite to actually doing it well.  


Utilizing Positive Cues to Become a Champion

This section details how I used positive cues to help me achieve an important goal I set for myself in high school: winning the State Championship cross-country meet as both an individual and as a team.  

My oldest brother, Paul, worked for a sales and marketing organization for over a decade. His career path led him to become deeply interested in personal development literature and related audio-visual material. Our mutual interest in this subject led, in-turn, to discussions where we would share what we were learning. 

I also had the opportunity to listen to several of his company's charismatic speakers as they delivered motivational messages on personal and professional development as it related to personal achievement and sales training. These experiences, and others like them, exposed me to the art of utilizing positive cues (and removing negative cues) as a tool for achieving personal goals and growth.

I used these tools extensively while setting athletic goals for myself in high school. 

My freshman year (9th grade), I finished 15th at the State cross-country meet for my school's classification (2A). My sophomore year, I finished fourth. My junior year, my goal was to finish FIRST. To make this goal both explicit and visible, I wrote it down and hung it in my room where I would see it every day.

I also added a couple of other visual reminders in the form of inspiring quotes and pictures that positively reaffirmed my desire and commitment. These positive cues helped me stay focused and driven throughout the duration of the cross-country season. 

On race day, as I stood behind the starting line as the recently crowned Region 13 Champion, I glanced over at the Region 12 Champion as he was preparing for our race to begin. As I did so, doubts began to creep into my mind. To combat this, I began repeating (sotto voce in my mind) positive affirmations that reflected my goal, preparation, talent, and work ethic. These confident mantras helped quell my doubts and anxieties and kept me focused on my positive intentions for the day's outcome. 

Such affirmations may seem like a small thing, but there's no doubt in my mind they played a role in my individual and team victory that day in late October 1996. 

The next spring, I learned the hard way that such strategies, while certainly helpful, don't always guarantee you will reach every goal you set for yourself. After winning GOLD as both an individual and team in cross-country, I confess I got a little greedy. My new goal for the upcoming track season was to win ALL FOUR (4) of my events and thereby quadruple the gold medals I currently possessed in one fell swoop. I also desired to break the State Record in all three of my individual events. It was an extremely ambitious, but theoretically doable goal (based on my past results). 

Unfortunately—or fortunately, depending on how you look at it—I did not achieve any of my track goals. It was "unfortunate" because I really wanted those gold medals and state records. However, it was "fortunate" because I learned a good SAL lesson from the experience.

Despite my disappointment at having fallen short of my ideal goals, I also recognized that I made personal improvements in three of my four events, and from a SAL perspective, self-improvement is always more important than defeating others. So, while I may not have realized the lofty goals displayed on my positive cue card in my bedroom, there is no doubt that displaying that card helped fuel my best performances, which represented tangible personal improvements on my past times.   



SAL Master Challenge

EXERCISE  #23


Take inventory of your surroundings. Are there any negative cues bringing you down? If so, remove them if possible. 

What about visual reminders (positive cues) of your goals or important priorities; do you have any of them? 

If not, creatively add at least three (3) such reminders (cues). If so, then add three (3) additional cues to the ones you already have. Make sure your cues are displayed so that you will see them regularly. Do this today or before the end of the week. 



Negative cues and reminders I will remove from my living and/or work space include:






Positive cues and reminders I will add to my living and/or work space include:  






I have completed the SAL Master Challenge EXERCISE #23


Your initials:__________         AP initials:__________

 

Dr. JJ

Wednesday, July 2, 2025
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

Author's Note: This is the 466th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 259th consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.   

Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 465 FF Blog Articles 

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL QUOTES  

Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL POEMS   

Click HERE to access the FULL TEXT of Dr. JJ's Psalms of Life: A Poetry Collection

Click HERE for a complete listing of Self-Action Leadership Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Fitness, Heath, & Wellness Articles

Click HERE for a complete listing of Biographical & Historical Articles


Click HERE for a complete listing of Dr. JJ's Autobiographical Articles

.........................

Tune in NEXT Wednesday for another article on a Self-Action Leadership related topic.  

If you liked this blog post, please share it with your family, friends, colleagues, and students—and encourage them to bookmark this blog to access a new FREE article every Wednesday.



Click HERE to buy the SAL Textbooks


Chapter 26 Notes

1.  Neck, C. P., & Manz, C. C. (2010). Mastering Self-Leadership: Empowering Yourself for Personal Excellence (Fifth Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Pages 15-16.

2.  Covey, S. R. (1989). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. New York, NY: Fireside. Page 100.

Self-Observation & Self-Analysis

                             Chapter 29 Self-Observation & Self-Analysis CONSTRUCTION STAGE 4.1    Security SAL MODEL STAGE 4.1    Self-...