15 Personal Development lessons from "The Queen of Katwe"

Personal development has increasingly become paramount to the individuals seeking to become better in any facet of their life. Personal development covers activities that improve awareness and identity, develop talents and potential, build human capital and facilitate employability, enhance the quality of life and contribute to the realization of dreams and aspirations. After watching the Queen of Katwe i was deeply inspired by the personal development lessons i drew from it below.

1.    Set yourself apart

In one scene after Phiona had lost her chess match in Russia she realized that instead of feeling sorry for herself and crying in a corner she needed to study more and know everything she could about chess and she made the decision to leave home and stay with her Coach and his family for some time. She was determined to leave no stone unturned for the knowledge of Chess. She set herself apart for the realization of her dreams and aspirations. What would setting yourself apart mean to you? Changing friends? Changing the places you spend time at? Committing more resources to your personal development?

2.    Become Obsessed

The only ever constant thing in life is change in every facet whether its at work, at home and at play. Personal development empowers you to evolve with change. Become obsessed with being a better person than you were yesterday by constantly chasing the future you that you envision. Phiona envisioned to be a chess Grand Master and because of that image she envisioned she was able to set herself apart and push her own boundaries to be better and embrace change at every stage.

 3.    Grab a mentor

When Phiona first arrived at the chess club, she was clueless about the game of chess. She’d never heard of it before. This is when Coach Katende encouraged Phiona to be mentored by another young girl, Gloria Nansubuga. Gloria wasn’t great at chess. However, she was better than Phiona. This meant she could mentor Phiona with her current skills until Phiona reached that level. Always find someone that knows more than you about what you want to achieve and where you want to go so that they Mentor you

4.    You belong where you believe you belong

One of the greatest pillars of personal development is self-awareness. Self-awareness is is the capacity for introspection and the ability to recognize oneself as an individual separate from the environment and other individuals. Coach Katende told all his chess players that they belong where they believed they belonged. It did not matter that they came from poor homes despite playing against older students at an affluent school but it mattered what they believed about themselves through self-awareness. They had to be aware that they had the skill, they were training and they were equally good players meaning they belonged at the chess table. They just needed to prove that to their opponents looking down at them

5.    Always find time to reflect

Phiona was always taking her time to reflect and think of how she could have done things better. In life always find time to reflect in order to deliberate and structure thinking about your choices. It is an integral step to improving your personal development

6.     Don't listen to the naysayers

There's a moment towards the beginning of the film when Phiona starts dreaming about "big things." She asks her mother, "Can you do big things from such a small place?" Her mother replies, "Don't think about such things, you'll be disappointed." Nevertheless, Phiona goes ahead and fulfills her big dreams. There will always be people telling you what you cant do, why you cant make it and the funny thing is most of these people are very close to us. So don’t listen to the nay sayers. It will only get you so far with your personal development

7.     The importance of problem-solving and planning

When Coach Katende tries to explain chess to his students in simple terms, he speaks about how it relates to solving the problems of their daily life, such as getting water or selling their products in the market. Personal development is all about developing, growing and becoming a better version of yourself through solving problems, by making plans, following them rigorously and making changes when required. Planning is an integral part of problem solving and personal development.

8.     Failure is feed back

When Phiona loses an important championship match, she starts feeling inadequate and wonders if she can win against stronger opponents. Coach Katende assures her, "Losing doesn't mean you're a failure. Losses happen all the time." Personal development empowers you that winning and losing are part of life and while it's easy to get swayed by failures, it's important not to lose sight of the big picture and keep pressing ahead. Failure is just feedback and you need to use that feed back to your advantage.

9.     Don’t give up

Coach Katende in one scene says, "What matters is when you reset the pieces and play again." When you focus on your personal development and you keep experiencing setbacks over and over again it doesn't mean that you should surrender. You regroup, align your plan to the new realities and work towards a new goal.

10. Vision + Determination + Purpose = SUCCESS

 The morning of the chess tournament with the other kids in the affluent school, all of the players under Coach Katende started crying and wanted to go back home before they even played the match. In that scene, Coach Katende tells a story about a dog chasing a cat. The dog loses, and he says: “I was only running for a meal I can get somewhere else. The cat? The cat said “I had no option but to out run the dog because i was running for my life!” In conclusion, Coach Katende says: “You are all running for your lives.” This shows us that with a driving personal development purpose and determination, we can do anything.

11. Take on risks

Sometimes you are disappointed when pursuing your dreams like Phiona when she took the risk to play chess in Russia with players who were above her league. She was willing to take that risk and get out of her comfort zone. Part of growing in personal development is just not failing but taking risks too for the realization of dreams and aspirations

12. Stay focused on your goals

It’s so easy to give up when there is turbulence and setbacks along the personal development journey especially when something we’ve dreamed for looks as though it’s slipped from our hands. Focusing on the setbacks, can never get you to the destination. You don’t have to worry about how you’ll get there, just that you will get there if you stay as focused as Phiona did.

13. You don’t have to fit in to win

More often than not in our personal capacities, we pay attention to what everyone else is doing. We look at successful people and think: How could I ever become that? Queen of Katwe proves that winning is not about fitting in. its about the basics of your personal development. The basics are all about showing up authentically, consistently, persistently and doing what you do best.

14. You don’t have to compromise your integrity in order to thrive

Integrity is everything. Being a person beyond reproach. What you do when no one is watching is more important than what you do when everyone is paying attention as is impressed upon an individual through building character and image in personal development. Staying true to your values and your morals is what will take you far in life, and open up doors no one can close.

15. The Slight edge

The Slight Edge Principle propounds that success is a compilation of small daily decisions that work positively or negatively. In the Queen of Katwe the slight edge is revealed by the small decisions Phiona makes to better herself at chess. She practices at school, comes home and reads in the night, adapts a cardboard and stones to keep practicing chess at home. These decisions were small and easy not to make but Phiona chose to make them and that contributed to her success of her personal development through chess.

Pushing Boundaries…

To read more of Prudence’s articles please visit her website www.prudencem.com

?All content and images herein are owned or licensed by Prudence Madzadzavara or her affiliates. Unauthorized use is prohibited