The day I put my 'Cards on the Table'

I’ve undertaken a lot of personal development in my life for both personal and professional reasons. Some of this has been highly memorable and stayed with me and most has been less than memorable and been quickly forgotten (or remembered for negative reasons).

The highly memorable has been the more unique, where I’ve been active as a learner and where I’ve been able to create my own meaning for whatever content has been covered.

The other has been where I’ve been passive as a learner, expected to listen for long periods to an ‘expert’ talking, drawing model after model on a flipchart, death by PowerPoint and where I’ve quickly dismissed any lengthy, boring theory as irrelevant.

So as you can imagine, I’m only on the lookout now for personal development that meets the ‘highly memorable’ criteria above and is different and unique. That’s why I booked onto ‘Cards on the Table’ in Taunton in February and wow, I wasn’t disappointed.

• As I arrived there was a noticeable buzz of anticipation, curiosity and excitement in the room.
• It’s not often you get welcomed onto a workshop with a hug! It’s normally a handshake if you’re lucky (PS, you only get a hug if you really want one!)
• We were active quickly – being challenged to think about ourselves to set up our own journey for the day.
• I won’t give too much away as I’d like people to get the full experience for themselves, but the way this day is set up allows for so much freedom of choice on where you go with it.
• Your experience of the day is what you want it to be. No one is telling you what you should learn. No one is setting your agenda. No one is ‘hosing’ you with information and hoping some of it sticks. The content comes from you.
• You use your own personal experiences and stories to explore what is the thing behind the thing that stops you from getting what you really want. I defy anyone to say that there is nothing holding them back in some way.
• It’s so different from anything I’ve been on before. It was all about me. My choice. My agenda. My decisions. My actions.
• You really don’t know where this is going to take you when you first arrive. It will be revealing. It may be a bumpy ride but it will be totally worth it.
• The support you get from others in the room is amazing. Everyone has your back and supports, encourages and provides insight into how you can move towards what you really want but haven’t got yet.

An incredible personal experience

To put it simply, Cards on the Table was an incredible personal experience. I walked away from that day with clarity in areas of my life and business that I’d never had before. Since that date, the cards that I took away are my inspiration, my direction and always immediately anchor me back in the room with the same excitement I had whilst I was there.

It’s like a mindset shuffle

It’s such a simple concept, yet so powerful in dislodging long held outdated beliefs about yourself and others that have held you back. Once you’ve dislodged these, you start to experience things in different and more useful ways. As I saw written from a participant, ‘It’s like a mindset shuffle’.

I liken it to the old vinyl records that used to (and still do) exist. They contained grooves that played the same song each time you played it. One day, one of the records would get scratched and it would never play the same way again. This is what Cards on the Table does for you. You walk in experiencing things in one way, you deliberately scratch your record (in a good way) and you only experience those things in different, more useful ways from that point on.

I cannot recommend Cards on the Table highly enough. You can spend hundreds of pounds on personal development and management development courses that trot out the same old theories and models and try to present them in a new way. Loads of PowerPoint and the ‘sage on the stage’ at the front of the room imparting knowledge onto you.

Or you can spend ￡150 on a workshop that truly recognises you, the human. Your stories, your experiences, what’s important to you, what holds you back, what you really want and what you really need to do. No other workshop that I’ve ever been on has been so personal to me, so relevant to me and so valuable to me.

It doesn’t matter what context you bring to Cards on the Table, personal, business or career. This will help you get what you really want. All you need is a desire to change, an openness to acknowledge that you’re not perfect and you can improve, an honesty with yourself and others and a determination to make things better than they currently are. Once you’re at the workshop, everything else is your choice.

This is for anyone

This is for anyone, people who want change in an aspect of their life, business owners who want to get out of their own way, leaders who want clarity, managers who want to be better managers, employees who want more from their careers. The list is endless.

You really don’t want to miss this this day. Its incredible!

Cards on the Table is running in central Bristol at the The Waterfront Meeting Rooms on 8th May (9.30am to 3.00pm). For more details and to book, go to www.cardsonthetable.biz

Steve Dent is a Cards on the Table host, Mental Toughness Coach and Trainer, Master Practitioner of NLP, Licenced Mental Toughness Practitioner and founder of Pro Mind Coaching & Training – www.pro-mind.co.uk