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Intra-Corporate Seminar of Self-Study & Self-Help (ICSSS) 

A proposal to companies and organizations of all kinds

To the attention of the following Departments:
Marketing, Public Relations, Human Resources, Corporate Social Responsibility, Education and Training,
as well as to the Managing Director, the Managing Council and whomever this message may also concern

Dear Sirs or Madams,

With this letter I have the intention to sensitize you regarding an issue that is very important for the smooth operation and develpment of every corporation or organization. This issue is seldomly taken into consideration, because the required awareness of its importance is usually missing, as well as the knowledge of how to handle it.

Personal problems reduce the performance of working people.

It happens very often that some working persons have reduced performance or make serious mistakes, because a personal or family problem distresses them intensely and constantly distracts the concentration of their mind. Most of the times, this problem is not that serious, yet it has taken huge dimensions in their minds, because they have been systematically avoiding to face it directly since a long time ago.

The same applies for the problematic relationships between colleagues.

Another very common cause for reduced performance is the competitive mood, the disputes and the dislikes between the members of the staff of a corporation. Problems appear in the relationships between foremen and subordinates, but also between colleagues who are at the same level of the hierarchy. Too much energy is indeed wasted in needless egotistic thoughts, quarrels, gossiping etc. Thus, in working places is created an atmosphere of tention, complete and utter confusion and unexpected misunderstandings for insignificant reasons, that can easily lead to fear of responsibility, lack of initiative and, finally, infifference of the employees for the progress of the enterprise they work for.

The method of imposition and supervision and its disadvantages.

Scolding, strictness and externally imposed discipline are not able to really solve any problems. They only suppress them temporarily and make them be less apparent. However, displeasure is still there and goes on. In such cases, the performance of the employees is the lowest required in order to make their salary seem to be well-paid, so that they are not fired. As a result, they do not feel creative and satisfied, and also the company cannot progress as much as it could. Many companies have closed, only because within the years a negative atmosphere had been created, as well as a mentality of avoiding work.

My personal experience as an employer.

As an employer in our family enterprise, I have experienced this situation for three years, and I have to confess that then I was not able to find a solution, because I had neither the knowledge nor the elementary patience nor the degree of understanding required.

The deepest cause for all problems is ignorance.

However, I was as lucky – and persevering – as to follow for several years some very reliable and effective Groups of Self-Study, where I soon discovered the cause for all our problems, either personal or interpersonal. The true cause is always inside ourselves and not in others or in various external circumstances, where we ususally tend to look for the causes of our problems. The psychological causes vary, but all of them are ultimately related, in its special way each of them, to one and only cause: the ignorance and the fear caused by this ignorance.

The method of constant self-observation and its recording.

Ignorance is reduced by the systematic observation of the various expressions of our selves, that is to say our thoughts, emotions, posture and movements of our body, as well as some annoyances sensed on the body, espedially whenever we are in a state of small or big tension due to a pleasant or unpleasant occurrence. It is very important that these observations are written down, daily if possible, in a special notebook, for two reasons; firstly, in order to let them be impressed in our mind and, secondly, in order for us to cultivate the feeling of love and care for our selves, as well as the awareness that the work we are doing together with our selves is a very important issue that will positively affect us for the rest of our life, and therefore during working on it there is no place for a perfunctory and hasty mentality.

The difficulties of self-observation and its beneficial action.

Objective self-observation, being a purely mental and not in the least emotional function, that is to say being totally different from the way we have been used to acting in our life, can initially seem to be difficult, and therefore it requires training and patience. When it is practiced devoid of criticism or any intervening and restraining disposition (which is extremely important, yet difficult to be learned), it is on its own sufficient and adequate to remove the tension from the problems and simplify them in our mind, thus allowing us to feel more free and “breathe” internally. The change in our behavior, then, ensues automatically. It only delays to manifest for as long as necessary, until it dominates over the old habit that we had been building for many years, by serving a – in most cases emotional – need of ours.

Developing self-confidence and self-esteem.

By repeating this procedure whenever facing a personal or relationship problem, a person can gradually develop a handy inner “tool” that simplifies all adversities of life, thanks to which he obtains power and self-confidence. While at the same time also his self-esteem grows, he no longer tolerates the wanton and reckless degradation of the quality of his life; hence, he refuses to squander his time and energy to trivialities, hostilities that lead nowhere, sorrow and stress for insignificant, or even for significant reasons. In other words, he becomes a thinking and optimistic person, who loves life and accepts others in the way they are, without demanding from them to change so as to adapt themselves to his own preferences and peculiarities. After some time, he likes the procedure of self-awareness so much, that he learns to not fume and stress out whenever he faces a new problem, even if it is really severe, and instead welcomes the problem as one more chance to get trained and reap valuable knowledge from it.

Self-awareness relieves us from prejudices and harmful habits.

Since several years ago, I have myself become the leader of a Self-Study Group, which consist of persons of various ages and educational or vocational level. By watching the inner course of all members of my group from close distance, I have found out every day again and again that the teaching of self-awareness that I have received can free from many damaging prejudices and habits whomever is as patient as to make the required self-observation methodically, navigated, of course, by a more experienced person.

In a closed heart and a harassed mind there is no space for visualisation.

The vocational success and the high performance of a working person are inextricably connected to his capability to harbor equally high visualisations for himself and for the others and, by extension, for the company he works for. However, it is a fact that, regardless how intensely we may struggle to instill visualisation in a person with some fundamental psychological problems unresolved, we will struggle in vain, because his heart is obsessed by a diffuse feeling of deprivation and is not open to espouse a new idea. Moreover, at the same time, his mind is stuffed with negative thoughts about himself and others, and he is not at all interested for “other people’s affairs”, as he considers them. He refuses to deal much with “how somebody else will become richer”, because he does not have the wideness of thinking required to understand the notions of collaboration and mutual interest, and he prefers instead to pass his hours and days with indifference and grumble and without any excitement for his work.

My proposal to your company or organization.

For the aforementioned reasons, and being now sure thanks to my long tenure as a leader of a Self-Study Group and the teaching I have received that I am up to help people to undertake the responsibility of themselves totally and review their attitude towards life, I propose that we organize together, for all your employees who are interested, an Intra-Corporate Seminar of Self-Study & Self-Help (ICSSS).

The expected benefits.

I am certain that this will be beneficial, in fact very soon, for your enterprise, as both the individual performance and the collaboration between the persons that are going to participate in the seminar, as well as their team performance, will improve significantly. Besides, they shall be grateful to the management of their company for the valuable present that was offered to themselves and, indirectly, also to their families. This gratitude will tighten the relationship with their employers even more and will further increase their zeal for creative work in their company.

Issues to discuss and clarify.

In case that you are fundamentally interested in my proposal, we can plan a meeting, in order to discuss and clarify several issues, such as:

  • the time, the frequency, the total duration and the place where the seminar will take place
  • the written texts and the methodology that will be used as a stimulus for self-observation, which, depending on the degree of the group, can be very rich and refer to all forms of human expression and communication (written and verbal speech, both prose and poetic, daily body motion, theater sketches, dancing, singing, breathing and phonetic exercises, drawing, painting etc.)
  • the most advisable way to invite the employes to participate in the seminar, so as to achieve the highest possible percentage of positive response and not let some established opposite convictions prevail in them, such as “I do not have time for this”, “I have no idea about such things”, “I have other more important things to do”, “I do not want to reveal myself in front of others” and so on. Such reactions are usual and normal and not at all to blame΄it is possible to anticipate them, if the proper handling is made from the very beginning.
  • the possibility that is offered to whomever from the participants is interested, to continue his apprenticeship in the art of living after the end of the seminar, by integrating himself to a Self-Study Group outside the frame of your company.
  • additional knowledge that I can convey (always with reference to the procedure of self-observation), which has been acquired from my long-standing experience in our family enterprise, regarding various issues, such as personal organization, methodical increase of customers’ and suppliers’ base, improvements on the organization of the sales department, recurring contacts to customers etc.
  • how much the seminar will cost you
  • the wider visualization that we are all called upon to develop regarding relationships between colleagues and generally among people (there is a detailed presentation of this issue in my “Book of Dreams“)
  • other proposals for collaborations with companies and organisations, among which is printing a number of books as corporate present, since a good book is the best present. It makes firmer the bondages between the one who gives and the one who receives the present, to a much greater extent than any other kind of corporate present can. For further details regarding this issue, you may click here and here.

Request for justification of a possible negative answer.

In case that my proposal is not of interest for you, it will be very important for me, if it is not too difficult for you, to dedicate a few minutes from your time in order to inform me, preferably in writing, the reason of your refusal. This infromation will be in various ways very useful to me for the continuation of my work.

Respectfully yours,

Themistocles Lykiardopoulos
writer and publisher
Contact Details

 

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