Courses

The Empowering Difference, Inc.
Make a Difference Workshops

Dear Workshop Participant:

Are you ready to make a bold move?  We hope so and bid you a warm welcome!

It is our sincere hope that this series of workshops will help move you closer to your professional and personal goals and increase your well-being and happiness. This workbook has been created to help guide participants through the process.  It’s based (with permission) on material developed by “Positive Psychology Products” subtitled “A Structural Approach For Increasing Well-Being.”

Positive Psychology is a fairly new branch of psychology which seeks to identify and expand personal and professional strengths that you already possess, thereby empowering you to reach your goals and deal with challenges that may arise on your journey. This differs from traditional approaches which focus solely on identifying and mitigating weaknesses

John Maxwell, author and leadership coach, noted that most people want personal growth and happiness in their lives, but few have a plan for doing so. “Most people,” it’s been said, “spend more time planning a one-week vacation than they spend planning their life.”  And when people do plan, it’s usually one day at a time.  At the end of these series of workshops, you should have solid plans and strategies in place for achieving your personal and professional goals and increasing your well-being.  We fully expect that the growth you achieve will be in direct proportion to the amount of effort that you put into attending and fully participating in all the workshops and in completing the homework assignments.

The Story of Ebenezer Scrooge

The well-known English author, Charles Dickens, brilliantly illustrates the objectives of these “make a difference” workshops. In 1843, he published a wonderful classic story about the miraculous transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge. Scrooge was a “squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!” He was cold-hearted, selfish, and in love with his money. His employee, Bob Cratchit, was just a tool to be abused. If anyone desperately needed an intervention, Scrooge did.

Oh, Scrooge hadn’t always been that way. Even though he grew up poor, he had noble aspirations in his youth.  As a young man, he was employed by Mr. Fezziwig who was an exemplary boss.  Scrooge was full of gratitude and praise for Fezziwig, who as an employer seeking the happiness of his employees. Those were happy days for Scrooge.

Later, in the prime of life, Scrooge was engaged to be married to Belle, his longtime sweetheart.  But something had happened to him.  His noble aspirations had fallen away and replaced with fear and the “master-passion” of gain and pursuit of wealth.  He began to measure all things by the yardstick of profit. As a consequence, Belle broke off the engagement leaving Scrooge a bitter man.

Fortunately for Scrooge, an intervention was orchestrated on his behalf which consisted of a long, painful night of self-discovery.  His old, greedy, dead partner, Jacob Marley, first appeared showing Scrooge the chains of hell that awaited if he continued in his ways.  Next, the ghost of Christmas Past helped Scrooge to see clearly the truth of his descent into a life of greed and misery. That was a painful self-discovery for Scrooge.  The ghost of Christmas Present then took Scrooge to the home of Bob Cratchit, where Scrooge got to know the Cratchit family as real people with real problems. Scrooge was also shown the suffering of many people throughout the world.

Finally, he was visited by the ghost of Christmas Future who showed Scrooge his death.  It wasn’t pleasant.  No one was sorry to see him dead, and in fact, people seemed rather happy.  However, Scrooge was assured that he had the power to change the future. He finally awoke the next morning a changed man.  Not only did he behave differently, but his heart and even his very nature had also changed. He became a great boss. He became a second father to Tiny Tim, the sick son of his employee.  He became known for being as good a man as the town had ever known.  It was a miracle.

Truths Learned

The story of Scrooge is significant and serves as a model for much of the content of these workshops. The length of time required to reclaim Scrooge is difficult to ascertain because his clocks went haywire and actually turned backward during the night.  It could have been quick or could have taken years as it did with Phil Connors in the movie Groundhog Day.  However, one thing is certain. Scrooge's only hope was to learn the truth, no matter how painful.

What are some of the lessons learned from the story of Scrooge?

• Scrooge experienced a journey of self-discovery before such journeys were in vogue.  He took to heart the pain and emotion of learning the truth about himself which brought about a big change of heart.
  • Why do you think learning and embracing truth is so vital?
  • How can embracing more truth help you in your life?
• Scrooge discovered his true purpose in life. He learned life wasn’t about him at all, it was indeed all about other people; something he knew in his youth but had since forgotten.  A deep longing in his heart to make a difference in the world had indeed been rekindled.  He also began to understand and use his unique inborn strengths in the service of others.
  • Why is knowing the purpose of your life so vital?
  • Why is life’s true purpose always outward focused?
  • How can you gain a better sense of your purpose?
  • Why is it so important to understand and utilize your inborn strengths when serving?
• Scrooge’s values changed dramatically.  He went from a scarcity mentality to one of abundance.  His previously held value of darkness turned into light.  His disdain for Christmas turned into a day to be celebrated.
  • Why are identifying your values so important?
  • How can knowing your values lead to greater happiness?
  • How can your values become actionable and a real force in your life?
• Scrooge’s behavior changed dramatically.  He didn’t just become a good person.  He actually became good for something.  What he did each and every day began to reflect his purpose and his values. His daily habits changed drastically, and it appears he maintained his new behavior and new habits for the rest of his life.
  • Why is the congruence between beliefs and behavior so important?
  • Why are establishing healthy daily habits so vital to your growth?
  • What do you do each day to make your values manifest?
• Scrooge became a model employer and businessman.  He went from knowing almost nothing about his employee to becoming a second father to Tiny Tim.  Profits were no longer the sole focus of business - rather doing good and making a difference in the world became the new reason for being in business.
  • Why is the new focus of Scrooge’s business so powerful and so vital?
  • Why is treating employees as real people rather than objects so very important?
  • Why is it important to focus your business on something larger than yourself?

This workshop will address these important questions and hopefully many more.

We hope you gain as much from participating in these workshops as we did in developing them.

Sincerely,

Larry Chatterley

David Hess