The Four Agreements

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The Four Agreements

• Don Miguel Ruiz

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Welcome

• Who are you?
• Why this session?
• What outcome do you want to achieve from this
  session?

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Agreement

• Agreement
• Websters definition
• Harmony of opinion, action, or character
• Already existing agreements vs. created
  agreements

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The Four Agreements

• Be impeccable with your word
• Dont take anything personally
• Dont make assumptions
• Always do your best

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Be Impeccable With Your Word

• Speak with integrity
• say only what you mean
• Avoid using the work to speak against yourself or
  to gossip about others
• Use the power of your word in the direction of
  truth and love

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EXERCISE
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Dont Take Anything Personally

• Nothing others do is because of you
• What others say and do is a projection of their
  own reality, their own dream
• When you are immune to the opinions and actions
  of others, you wont be the victim of needless
  suffering

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Dont Make Assumptions

• Find the courage to ask questions and to express
  what you really want.
• Communicate with others as clearly as you can
  avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama.
• With just this one agreement, you can completely
  transform your life.

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Always Do Your Best

• Your best is going to change from moment to
  moment it will be different when you are healthy
  as opposed to sick
• Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and
  you will avoid self judgment, self abuse, and
  regret

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Group Scenarios
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Group Scenarios

• The Gossip
• Longevity
• Weak Link
• Suggestions
• Perceptions

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The Gossip

• Mike works in Human Resources department. Today
  the Chief Accountant, John was in Human
  Resources walked right by Mikes desk and never
  said hello to Mike. Mike even made a gesture to
  him to get his attention and he did not respond.
  This is not the first time this has happened with
  John. That night John was at the gym working
  out with one of his co-workers, Bob, and said,
  you know that guy from accounting is a real jerk.
  All those accountants are so arrogant. They
  thing since they deal with the money they dont
  have to be nice to us. The next day at work Bob
  was working and the Chief Accountants name came
  up, immediately Bob chimed in, I hear he is a
  real jerk as a matter of fact all of accounting
  are real jerks
• Little did Mike know that John had lost one of
  his lenses to his glasses last week, and he had
  not gotten them fixed yet.

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Longevity

• Suzy has been an accountant for 10 years at the
  City of Bluesky. There recently was a new
  position created in her department. This position
  is 3 grades higher than hers, and there are
  supervisory responsibilities. Suzy has applied
  for the job, and she is pretty clear that job is
  hers. Suzy has her interview. When she is in
  the interview, her years with the City is
  discussed at length. Suzy takes this to mean
  that she is a shoe in for the job. The next day,
  she is walking in the hall and she sees the Human
  Resources Director and he looks at her, and
  smiles. Suzy thinks, this is it, I got the job.
  The following Monday Suzy finds out that she did
  not get the job, it went to someone from the
  outside.

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Weak Link

• You work in the City Mangers Office. You have
  gotten a new project from your boss and you
  realize that it is going to take coordination
  from a number of different departments. You
  identify the people you think should be working
  on the project, and set up a meeting. At the
  meeting you begin to discuss the issues, at hand,
  and what is needed for the project. The
  Utilities representative gets very angry on the
  short notice and stating that it is impossible
  for them to get this done in the time frame that
  requested. You state that it does not matter,
  this is a priority and they need to make
  arrangements to handle what they need to. You
  leave the meeting thinking you have assigned all
  the tasks. Two weeks later you have another
  project meeting. As you are getting updates, the
  Utilities person states that they had told you in
  the last meeting they were not going to do the
  work. And they indignantly state, What part of
  that did you not understand? You are supposed
  to give the City Manager an update the next day
  on the progress of the project. You are going to
  have to say the project is not getting done on
  time.

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Suggestions

• You have worked in Finance for 3 years, and it
  seems that your suggestions are never taken
  seriously. Last year you had made a suggestion to
  the Finance Director regarding how to streamline
  the accounts payable process. She said the
  processed worked and nothing needed to be done.
  You have been upset about the fact that your
  ideas have not been implemented. You had even
  shared your ideas with some people in another
  department they agreed that it sounded like a
  great idea. Still nothing was done. This year,
  during the audit, the auditors stated that the
  Accounts Payable process seemed cumbersome and
  something needed to be done. The Finance Director
  promptly came into your office and met with you
  to tell you something needed to be done immediate
  with the Accounts Payable process. And, that we
  could not have it continue the way that it was.
  This just added to your frustration. And now you
  were convinced that what you said did not matter.

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Perception

• You are in responsible for customer service. The
  Customer Service Manager has just left.
  Temporarily, the lead worker, Mary, who is one of
  your best workers, has assumed the manager
  duties. Four months later, interviews have
  started and Mary is going to apply for the job.
  Mary approaches you to let you know that she
  really wants this job. You go through the
  interview process and find a external candidate
  that has more supervisory experience. You hire
  that person. You thought you had been clear with
  Mary all along, regarding the situation. Mary
  is enraged and files a complaint with Human
  Resources. She may now quit.

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• Nicole Gasparri 561-367-7040
• Ngasparri_at_ci.boca-raton.fl.us