Thought comes before performance. Identity comes before that. How we see ourselves is foundational to the things we do and the outcomes or results we produce. Tapping into this wealth of knowledge can be an extremely powerful ally in our life’s pursuits.
IMBAR: The Pathway of Transformation is the product of years of working with organizations and leaders at all levels, experience, and success. IMBAR is a simple acronym for Identity, Mindset, Behavior, Action, and Results, and we have discovered that how we define and connect with our identity is instrumental in driving how we think and feel about our life and the individual roles we live within. This identity ultimately drives our behaviors and the actions of those around us and finally delivers our results.
Whether an executive or a front-line contributor, this works the same. In our personal lives, this works the same. In countless situations we find ourselves in, this works the same. We must understand this fundamental truth and believe we can change things through this pathway. IMBAR is this pathway of real transformation that has a lasting impact on our personal or professional lives.
So often, we see people attempting to change their lives simply through resolutions, false promises, fad diets, etc., but we only see long-term lifestyle change when they dramatically shift how they see themselves. Deep, honest, defining awareness of who they are today and where they want to go is required for these types of transformations. It is only through this type of clarity, do we change.
With this type of clarity, we can have a powerful impact on our own lives, of course, but the added bonus is that we can also have a similar impact on the lives of those around us. As executives and leaders of teams, this is certainly true, but even if we are not a formal leader, we have the ability to improve and touch others in profound ways.
Our IMBAR affects everyone we interact with daily. Look at the people you work with, play alongside, and live with to see how many times you can make their moments come alive in a single day. We truly have a tremendous downstream impact that many don’t even realize. Positive or negative, we have this impact.
Define Yourself. Start today by considering whom you see yourself as. Give yourself a title of some sort. Providing a definition of who you are today is the first step. Once you do that, you can look at whom you want to become, your “transformed state.” From there, you can begin to build the action plan to get there. We will continue to discuss this pathway in much more detail in the coming weeks, but begin now. The future starts today.
*Listen to our full Gapology Radio podcast conversation on this topic here: https://www.gapology.org/podcast/episode/1ee4b616/the-pathway-of-transformation-imbar-mapping-series