We had a great turnout for the final session in our Wellbeing Programme, ‘The Six Success Essentials’, facilitated by Leadership Specialist Mark Tonks.  

Mark opened the session stating that “before you can lead others, first, you must lead yourself” – not just professionally, but personally too.  

Attendees filled out a personal leadership questionnaire which explored six areas of their lives, including personal responsibility, purpose and passions, to help them become more emotionally in tune with their lifestyles and consider what they can improve. 

Mark introduced the six success essentials, which are:  

• Take personal responsibility 

• Discover your purpose 

• Plan your path  

• Ignite your passion 

• Act with positive expectancy  

• Follow through with persistence 

 

He also explained how attendees can apply these to all areas of life: finances and career, mental and educational, social and cultural, physical and health, spiritual and ethical, and family and home.  

When considering the first success essential, which Mark said is the most important, he asked attendees to reflect on the quote “whatever you achieve in your life is all your fault, what would you be happy to take the blame for?”. Whatever other people say or do, we need to remember that we are always in control of our responsibility. If we can own that, “it’s the most empowering thing we’ll ever do”,” said Mark. 

Mark continued to explain each of the success essentials, asking attendees to consider a variety of questions including what is their purpose in life today and in the long-term. 

They were also asked to fill out a ‘discover your purpose’ questionnaire to determine how they measure success, and how in touch they are with their own purpose, asking them to consider what their purpose is away from work, and how they can link their business goals with their own goals. 

Mark shared tools that attendees can use in their day-to-day lives, including setting a specific and measurable goal that can be easily achieved to set themselves up for success.  

“We do things to either gain a benefit or avoid a loss”, said Mark. This is important for understanding why your goals are important to you.  

During this interactive session, attendees discussed how they can cultivate curiosity, shared book and podcast recommendations to boost their knowledge, and shared their answers to the questionnaires to explore how they can change their attitudes in life, put thoughts before actions and prioritise their physical and mental health.

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