Like several other GHC fellows, I’ve had the opportunity to work with Eric Bing, Senior Fellow and Director of Global Health at the George W. Bush Institute and a good friend of GHC. Together with a small group of 2012-2013 GHC fellows, we worked through Eric’s 4-week “I did It!” program and I wanted to share my experience with you. Through phone calls and emails with Eric, and exchanges through our group’s Facebook page, we all came up with a personal mission statement, completed a personalized “Strengths Finder” assessment, and cultivated a daily practice of inspiration, meditation, and journaling, a.k.a. the “10, 10, 10” practice (10 minutes reading or watching something inspiring, 10 minutes of meditation or reflection, and 10 minutes of written reflection through journaling).
I’d never had a personal mission statement and I’d never done a true “strengths assessment” like the one Eric does. Instead, I’ve based my strengths on what other people have told me: “You’re a good writer… You’re a people person,” etc. With Eric’s program, he helped me to identify my unique strengths, or gifts, that tell me not just what I am capable of or what I can learn to do — but rather what I do that is so natural to me that I excel without even thinking. The process helped me to identify characteristics of how I interact with others, how I communicate, and how I think — things that I actually take for granted because they are so natural to me. Eric was quick to remind me that once we figure out the unique gifts that we possess, we have a responsibility to ourselves and to the world to share these gifts. We basically have unlocked the door to true impact – the unique impact that we as individuals, and no one else, can contribute to the world. This was a truly powerful realization.
Within the first few weeks of thinking about my strengths and thinking about what excites me, I was able to come up with my personal mission statement: “to enable others to design and build simple, human-centered solutions to complex social problems.” I then began to reflect and interact with this mission statement during my daily reflection process and figured out how my strengths in relating to others and communicating complex ideas in simple ways can help me to achieve my mission.
Another component of the “I did it” program that has been so valuable to me is the daily “10-10-10” practice. I actually came to GHC armed with a list of my “self-care” habits and two of those habits were to meditate daily and journal daily. I even made a little calendar. But after 5 straight weeks of travel during my first few months, those self-care habits fell out the window. So being reintroduced to them through this program was a god-send. Those 30 minutes have become some of the most precious 30 minutes of my day. I’ve got a little mediation cushion I sit on, a candle that I light, and a journal that I set out every night before I go to bed to make the habit that much easier. This is not to say I didn’t struggle a first, but what’s great about doing a program like this within GHC, is that you have a community of people who are trying to do the exact same thing. We have bounced ideas off each other, shared really cool meditation apps with each other, and have provided each other with a sense of accountability.
In a sense, working with Eric and the other fellows in the “I did it” program has helped to illuminate a personal path forward. I’ve used what I’ve learned and practiced to make choices big and small that will have an impact on my life. It’s like I was handed a neat little package of inspiration and reflection that I can turn to when life gets confusing or overwhelming.
As I prepare to continue my 10-10-10 practice on a different continent, I would encourage all of us to think about our strengths and how can use them to achieve our personal mission. The clearer each of us within the GHC community can get about the unique gifts that we bring to the table and how exactly we want to utilize those gifts for positive social change, the closer we will get to our goal of achieving global health equity.