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In the Personalized Learning Academy we pull in key content from across all areas of your membership and build them into personalized learning paths.
These custom learning paths are specific to each of your Critical Contexts (those aspects of your life you care about the most), and help you optimize for those specific journeys.
Note: The Personalized Learning Academy focuses only on key content, giving you the most condensed, focused way forward for the specific journeys in your life.
For even more content, browse the Academy categories above, or explore the Principle Knowledge Base and Articles.
Choose your critical context
If you came here directly from your Engagement Assessment, the Personalized Learning Path for that assessment will be already loaded for you below.
Otherwise, below are the Critical Contexts you’ve created with at least one Engagement Assessment.
Select a Critical Context below to see its corresponding Personal Learning path.
Click here to set up or edit your Critical Contexts
Click here to take the Engagement Assessment
core curriculum
These are a few foundational courses, taken from our “Foundations Academy,” that are fundamental to understanding the role of Energy in your life, the foundational science of the 16 Elements, and the Orbits of Engagement.
They are common to all journeys, and will give you the foundation you need to begin solving for the specific journeys that you are on. For more Foundations courses, click here.
The Energy Iceberg (Part 1)
Understanding the role of energy in personal progress
When it comes to achievement, there are only three variables... time, talent and energy. We focus on time and talent... but energy matters most. Learn about the interplay of these three, and how optimizing for energy will be the main driver of your success.
Foundations
The Energy Iceberg (Part 2)
How optimizing energy will give you the most thrust
As you move forward on your Journey to Purpose, you must continually draw on the three main levers of personal progress… time, talent, and energy. In this course we'll talk about the limits of time and talent and how to leverage energy to maximize momentum.
Foundations
The Orbits Model
An overview
In this course you’ll learn about the gravitational systems that exist in our lives and how they shape our behavior. With this understanding, you’ll learn how to create gravitational systems that pull you forward and escape those that hold you back.
Foundations
The 16 Elements - An Overview
The fundamental components of energy
These are the fundamental ingredients for activating the energy inside of you to achieve excellence and success in life. Distilled from over 20 years of research, these elements form the foundation of the Life Engineering move-forward methodology.
Foundations
choose your focus
Every journey you’re on in every Critical Context is unique, and only you will really know where you should start.
As you were reading through the results of your Engagement Assessment, you likely found yourself nodding at a few of them and recognized, perhaps with new clarity or granularity, just how bad those elements may be.
If you have a clear idea already of which elements you should work on, follow that intuition and either jump right to that element below, or click here to go directly to the 16 Elements Academy and begin taking the courses you feel would be best.
But if you’re unsure where to start, there are two options. The first is to focus on your Neutral Elements, because those can often be the easiest to solve for and can create quick Momentum.
The other option is to jump into the hard work of solving for your Disengagement Drivers. This can be beneficial when one or more of them are so severe, they are about to drive you out of that context entirely.
If you’re still unsure, we recommend starting with your Engagement Neutral Elements below.
Elements that are
engagement neutral
In this Critical Context, these are the elements that are not currently impacting you negatively, but they’re also not acting as a positive driver for your engagement.
Because they’re so close to becoming Engagement Drivers, they make good candidates to focus on first, for a few reasons.
Mostly this is for “Momentum,” one of the 16 Elements, which is a fundamental driver of motivation. The energy of movement fuels more movement. So when you’re looking to increase engagement, it’s often best to look for “quick wins.” In game mechanics, game designers use quick wins as a way of immediately engaging us, because when we feel like we have momentum, we’re more likely to keep moving.
Looking for “quick wins” is all about looking for things you can do quickly, without a lot of effort, that will result in a meaningful impact.
If that impact is also measurable (the Element of Score), then the energy impact is even higher. And if you can do it with minimum work (the Investment element), then you get a trifecta of impact.
Not only do you start to sense (and can even measure) an energy improvement by increased engagement, but that energy improvement usually fuels increased outputs (or rewards, the Value element in the Achievement Pillar). Those increased outcomes add to the overall energy and engagement you have for this context.
Below are the Elements that registered as Neutral for this Critical Context in your last Engagement Assessment.
Choose one of those elements that you’re most interested in to begin learning. You can return here at any time by going to the Academy from your membership Command Center.
Answers: Am I moving forward? This is about feeling a sense of progress, finding energy in that progress, and using small means to generate that progress in order to build and maintain momentum. Learn more about this Element. Momentum is the feeling of being in motion, of moving forward and making progress. Momentum is built up over time. It begins by starting small—by finding small and simple things and doing them. There’s an energy created when you just get started. There’s an energy to movement that fuels more movement. The key to turning this Element into an Engagement driver is to find some small things you can do immediately and just start doing them. It’s amazing how fast that can build an inner sense of energy. Some things you do and achieve will have a larger energy impact on others. Take note of these things. Bake them into a daily routine. Make sure the Plans you have to move forward on this Journey are granular. They need to be a steady sequence of small, achievable wins that build within you a sense of progress. Along with that progress will come an energy to continue making progress.
your rating: Not Engaged (Neutral)
Answers: What do I get for my effort? This is about making sure you’re receiving rewards and recognition for your work that create extrinsic motivation to keep moving forward. Learn more about this Element. Value is this sense that we’re getting enough reward—intrinsic and extrinsic—for the work we do and the Investment we make into this Journey. It’s composed of three primary independent aspects. One is that we find intrinsic Value from the time we spend in this Journey. That is an aspect of Alignment and Orient: that we’re in an orbit that we care about, that we have Objectives that we care about, and that we are doing work that we care about (Plan). When these are true, the intrinsic Value goes up. The second aspect of Value is extrinsic… it’s the tangible rewards you get from the Impact you make in this Journey. This could be monetary rewards, or it could be some other form of renumeration. The third aspect of Value is recognition. When we Invest and make an Impact, we expose our Identity, and if our contributions are not properly recognized, we tend to take insult from that. We feel like it’s a statement or judgment on our own personal worth.
your rating: Not Engaged (Neutral)
That's all!
You have no additional drivers in this section
YOUR PRIMARY
disengagement drivers
In this Critical Context, these are the elements that are actively missing and are working against you.
They pull you away from the state of Peak Engagement you need to be high-performing with your time and talent, preventing you from reaching the outcomes (the Achievement Elements) needed to keep you engaged long-term.
When an Element shows up as a Disengagement Driver, that usually means there’s some substantial work that has to take place to solve for it.
Be patient as you go to work activating this Element. Learn about the nuances of the Element and brainstorm how to activate it in this Critical Context.
This is a good opportunity to seek a Mentor (an Element in the Assemble Pillar) to ask for help or get feedback and advice.
Remember, it’s not that you have to solve for every Element. Sometimes, owing to the nature of the Critical Context, you may always have some Elements remain here.
They represent inertia—the energy that has to be overcome—to gain Momentum and move forward. The orbits that we’re in around our Critical Contexts are going to be imperfect. Don’t beat yourself up if you can’t solve for every Element.
Lastly, remember that you don’t have to move every Disengagement Driver all the way to an Engagement Driver.
Even simply moving it into a Neutral state will dramatically improve the overall engagement energy you have for this Critical Context.
The following Elements are your Disengagement Drivers for this Critical Context. Click on one of them to begin learning about it.
Answers: Where can I turn for help? This is about having a guide, a mentor, someone who believes in us, reminds us why we fight, sees the best in us, and helps us see and navigate the way forward. Learn more about this Element. You’re probably feeling like you’re on your Journey alone—like you don’t have someone to turn to when you get stuck, or when you face terrain on your Journey that you’ve never navigated before. Or perhaps there is someone who has the Perspective you need and the knowledge of the terrain for the Journey you’re on, but you are reluctant to go to them. Either way, that puts you in a difficult position. It feels lonely. Without a solid Mentor, you can feel extra vulnerable and hesitant. That can cause you to lean out and disengage, when otherwise you would lean in and engage. When you have someone you can turn to for help and someone who can hold you accountable, it creates an internal reservoir of motivation. You’ll find new confidence to move forward and new commitment to your Journey.
your rating: Disengaged
Answers: Am I making progress? This is about having a sense of winning and losing. It’s about knowing that you’re moving forward, or knowing when you’ve stalled, so you can adapt accordingly. Learn more about this Element. You may be feeling like you’re not really sure how to measure your short-term progress—like you don’t really know, day to day, if you’re winning or you’re losing, if you’re making progress or not. The lack of that clarity makes it really hard to achieve and sense Momentum, where the energy of movement fuels more movement. You may also be feeling like your ability to track long-term progress is unclear. When you don’t really know if you’re going the right direction, or if you’re getting there fast enough (Performance Velocity), then it’s really difficult to have energy to keep doing what you’re doing. To resolve this Element, work on getting clarity around measuring progress. Begin with measuring short-term progress, as that can be the easiest to resolve, but then work to identify and implement a process of measuring long-term progress as well. If you are looking for a way to do this, see our Performance Velocity tool. If you’re unsure how to do this, it could be a good opportunity to seek advice from a mentor. Find someone who has done what you’re doing, or close to it, and see what they did or have seen done. Once you have even a rudimentary scorekeeping process in place, give other people optics on how you keep Score. That visibility creates an inner drive to improve your Score, keeps you accountable, and will accelerate your progress.
your rating: Disengaged
That's all!
You have no additional drivers in this section
YOUR PRIMARY
engagement drivers
In every Critical Context you have and in every journey that you’re on, there will be times of high engagement and low engagement. Engagement is cyclical.
Understanding the elements that drive your engagement at any given time (and over time) can tell you a lot about how you feel toward the context you’re measuring and what’s going well.
Your Primary Engagement Drivers are all the Elements that keep you actively engaged in this Critical Context. They tell you what’s working.
These are what you want to hold on to, because they keep you moving forward.
While these drivers can be specific to the context you’re measuring, they can also be highly influenced by your own Personal Energy Index, which identifies the elements most likely to activate the energy inside of you.
To maximize engagement, you want as many Elements falling into this category as possible. The more Elements active here, the more Engagement Mass they create, working together to generate a gravitational pull that keeps you in the orbit of this Critical Context. If there are too few elements here, there simply isn’t enough gravitational pull to keep you in the orbit of this Critical Context.
The Elements below represent your Primary Engagement Drivers in this Critical Context.
Answers: What lens do I choose to look through? This Element is about the lens we choose to look through as we process the past, look forward into the future, interpret the circumstances of the present, and decide what story they tell when we put them all together. Learn more about this Element. You generally have a clear perspective on where you’ve been, on why that matters, and how that can benefit the Journey you are on. You can see the larger purpose in your Journey and are motivated by it. You’ve developed the ability to interpret the situations—both good and bad—that arise in this Journey in a constructive way that has a positive impact on your ability to stay motivated to move forward. The Perspective you have in this Journey allows you to create an ongoing internal (and maybe even external) narrative that gives you energy and motivation to succeed. The longer you spend focusing on this Journey, the stronger that story becomes. And because the story we tell ourselves most often is the story most likely to come true, the positive running narrative you’ve created is likely to become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
your rating: Engaged
Answers: Does this align to who I am? This is about knowing who you are, what you’re capable of, and believing in yourself. It’s about knowing how to bring that best self to the Context that you’re in, and finding those contexts and their activities relevant to that sense of self. Learn more about this Element. You can see the value of this Journey in your larger journey through life, and that relevance allows you to identify with it in a way that creates energy to move forward and to keep investing. You have a strong sense of who you are and can see why that is valuable in your ability to be successful in this Journey. You have strengths and skills that you feel like make a difference, give you a “leg up” and increase your chance of success. The alignment of “who you are” and “why this matters” drives you forward.
your rating: Engaged
Answers: Do I know where I’m going, and do I care about that destination? This is about seeing your destination clearly, of knowing where you’re going and the general journey you need to take to get there, and finding that you care about and find purpose in both. Learn more about this Element. You have a pretty clear vision and understanding of where you’re ultimately going in this Journey, what you’re trying to achieve, and the role you need to play in getting there. That understanding and clarity of the destination makes it easier for you to stay engaged, because you can envision what it’s going to be like to get there. You also have a good idea of the major milestones that you’ll need to achieve in order to reach that destination. This allows you keep your focus forward, when others tend to get bogged down in the minutia of the present or the events of the past. What’s more important, you’ve found a certain sense of meaning, Value, and purpose in the Objectives you’re pursuing, and that purpose holds a motivational power that can propel you when others seem to stall. Your vision of the destination will make you a strong leader, and others on this Journey will likely come to rely on you to help remind them of what you’re really doing and why.
your rating: Engaged
Answers: How am I going to get there? This is about knowing what you need to do next, having a clear set of milestones that you are confident will get you to your destination, and being excited about and finding purpose in the work you have to do to get there. Learn more about this Element. When the way forward is clear, we tend to be more motivated to move forward and make that journey. In this Journey, you have that next-step clarity. Even if it isn’t super granular yet, you have a good understanding of what needs to be done and how to get it done. This clarity creates a conceptual way forward, making it easier to do the actual work to make that progress. On top of the next-step-clarity of how to move forward, you’re probably feeling even a little excited about taking those next steps. They tap into who you are (your Identity) and what you’re good at. The work itself inspires you. Because of both of these, you can both see the major milestones you need to achieve and have confidence in your ability to navigate the terrain to reach them. The clarity and enthusiasm you have for the way forward will make you a powerful influencer in this Journey, and you should leverage that capability to help others see the terrain as clearly as you do.
your rating: Engaged
Answers: Who’s in this with me? This is about having connection and camaraderie. It’s about doing the things we care about with people we care about. It’s about being committed to, supported by, and motivated by them. Learn more about this Element. You’re more motivated when you’re doing things you care about with people you care about. The care you have for the people involved in this Journey is a powerful motivator for you. You can sense this, and it keeps you moving and keeps you leaning in when at other times you’d be tempted to withdraw. When the things you do are not just for yourself but for others, there’s a profound internal sense of fulfillment and obligation that become energy activators. In addition to helping others, you feel you have others who can help you. That provides you with a sense of confidence to move forward, knowing you won’t be moving forward alone. You probably feel a connection to the people around you, and feel like they’ve got your back or are there to help when the going gets rough. This causes you to take bigger steps and make bolder moves, both of which tend to accelerate your velocity of achievement. And it’s not all about actually providing assistance to your Journey. Just knowing that people are cheering for you or are there to encourage you provides the internal motivation to keep moving. When the work we do is visible by others and we can sense their appreciation for what we’re doing and the Journey we’re on, we feel a strong sense of drive to keep going.
your rating: Engaged
Answers: What do I need to get there? This is about identifying and obtaining the things you need to move forward. This could be tools, time, talents, permission, money, or any other resource for your journey. Learn more about this Element. Space is the Element that captures the things we need to move forward. It could be permission, autonomy, trust, tools, resources, money, physical space, or anything else that is needed for your Journey. In this area of your life, you have a solid sense of what you need for the Journey you’re on. You also have relative confidence that of those resources, you either have what you need to move forward, or you know where to go get it. When we have all the tools we know we’ll need for the work we need to do, it’s a lot easier to feel energized to do that work. To preserve this Element as an Engagement Driver, always be looking forward and anticipating the Space that will be needed to execute your plan, move toward your objective, and achieve the results you desire. Whenever we feel like we don’t have the space (permission, autonomy, trust, or resources) to move forward, it can quickly tax our emotional energy, causing us to draw back and wait for it to all fall into place.
your rating: Engaged
Answers: Do I have a place to do what I’m trying to do? This is about having physical surroundings that support and enable your effort. This includes immediate access to the things you need and the physical space you need in order to accomplish what you’re trying to accomplish. Learn more about this Element. We are greatly impacted by the environments we spend time in. While “Environment” is a physical thing, the impact it has on us is deeply emotional. You feel like the Environment you spend the most time in within this Journey is one that generally supports the work you have to do in it, the objectives you’re pursuing and the overall journey that you’re on. This is hugely advantageous for you, because your Environment helps pull you forward, instead of holding you back. You also likely feel that the Environment you’re in within this Journey is one that aligns to your Identity—to who you are or who you want to be. When our Environment and Identity align, we can be energized by it. It’s like a refuge, and you may feel that. Lastly, you probably feel like you have adequate influence over your Environment—that you have the ability to personalize it, to make it your own, and to adapt it in ways that further fuels and motivates you.
your rating: Engaged
Answers: What do I have to lose? This is about feeling a sense of commitment, about investing what is needed, putting something on the line, feeling a sense of ownership, and deliberately creating a cost to losing, which prevents us from just giving up and keeps us investing and moving forward. Learn more about this Element. You’re feeling a sense of emotional commitment to this Journey. It could be to the Journey itself, the Objectives you’re pursuing, or to the Relationships you have with the people in it. Either way, your sense of commitment is a propellant for you. It creates emotional thrust to push through, to persevere, to figure it out, and to succeed. You also recognize that you have something to lose if you don’t. You feel “invested,” like you’ve put something on the line. That something could be intrinsic, something as simple as your reputation (your Identity), or it could be extrinsic, something like money or time. Whichever it is, the feeling like you have something to lose will keep you moving forward, it will keep you investing. Having something to lose is a powerful way to stay motivated (it’s called loss aversion). You probably also feel like you’re giving a lot to this Journey. That creates that sense of putting something on the line, and now you feel like you need to make sure it works out.
your rating: Engaged
Answers: Am I going the right way and doing the right things? This is about making sure the path you’re on is the right path, knowing when you’re off path, and knowing how to get back on that path when you get off track. Learn more about this Element. You’re feeling like you’re on the right path in this Journey. It doesn’t mean the path you’re on is perfect or easy, but overall you feel like you’re moving in the right direction and that the general direction you’re going will get you where you need to be. You also have a reasonable and reliable way to know when you get off track, and how to get back on when that happens. More importantly, you feel like this Journey still aligns to who you are and where you want to go. That feeling of alignment, of feeling like you’re going the right way, creates in you a confidence to move forward. There’s an energy that comes from that confidence that can be infectious. When we begin to doubt our way forward, when we become unsure of the path we’re on and lose confidence in the steps we take, we begin to hold back. You may sense this in others who are around you. If so, you’re probably an “alignment person”… someone for whom Alignment is a primary motivator.
your rating: Engaged
Answers: Am I making a difference? This is about feeling like you’re making a difference. It’s identifying the impact of your efforts, and finding meaning in the impact you make so you have intrinsic motivation to keep going. Learn more about this Element. You feel like you’re making a difference in this Journey. When you feel like you’re making a difference, like you’re having an impact, that feeling propels you. What’s more, it adds to your Identity and bolsters your sense of self, of who you are and what you’re capable of. The impact you make causes you to feel motivated to Invest even more, because you see that it’s meaningful. When you feel like you matter, and you recognize the Impact of the things you do and the investments you make, you are more likely to take bigger, bolder steps, to lengthen your stride. It fills you with a sense of Momentum, which further increases your motivation to keep going. Even more importantly, you care about the difference you’re making. It’s one thing to make a difference, and it’s entirely something else to care about the difference you’re making. When both of those are in place, it’s a powerful chemical combination of the Elements. The result is a burning sense of energy that will fuel progress on your journey.
your rating: Engaged
Answers: What does this help me become? This is about feeling like you’re getting better—like you’re developing and progressing, building competency and capabilities, and being motivated by that progress. It’s about recognizing that the things you do turn you into someone new, and being happy about the person you’re becoming. Learn more about this Element. You feel like your time and effort in this Journey is causing you to grow, and you care about the growth you’re experiencing. The recognition that you’re getting better, that you’re improving either personally or professionally, is a powerful motivator. It can mitigate a lot of other Elements that might be missing. You likely find a lot of personal meaning in the Growth you’re experiencing. You also have a reasonable idea of what Growth is yet needed. The ability to identify growth opportunities and to see those opportunities through the right Perspective propels you to keep Investing, because all Growth you incur builds on your Identity—your sense of self and your Perspective of your own potential. When you feel like you’re growing, you will be motivated to keep moving forward, to climb the hard hills and fight the hard battles. You’ll be more prone to take on big challenges, the types of challenges that lead to big wins, and create a sense of real Impact and Momentum.
your rating: Engaged
Answers: How do I do it all? This is about finding restoration and renewal to prevent failures or disengagement that come from burn-out, exhaustion and fatigue. It’s about not jeopardizing other important things as we pursue our goals. Learn more about this Element. The Renewal Element captures the idea that we can’t stay in a stage of Peak Engagement forever, and that each of us has multiple Journeys in our lives that we’re trying to balance. It’s about both finding Renewal and finding balance across our lives. You are feeling like there’s something inherently renewing about this Journey. Time spent here doesn’t tax you as much as other Investments, and you actually find that you come out of time spent here feeling better and more energized. You’ve also been able to find ways to stayed Renewed while actively Investing in this Journey. Sometimes we need to create separation from a Journey to get Renewal (in the Orbits model, this is the healthy Emotional Distancing stage, allowing us to re-enter the Optimal Orbit of Peak Engagement with renewed vigor). But sometimes we don’t have the luxury of leaving an orbit to get Renewal, and need to find ways to Renew while still Investing. You’ve achieved a decent balance at this, and that gives you an ability to run the long runs, climb the big hills, and will cause you to experience success that others don’t. You’ve also found a way to maintain a sense of balance. It might not be perfect, but finding balance between all of our Journeys rarely is. Balance is more about recognizing the needs of one Journey, and being able to shift our Investment into that Journey for a controlled amount of time to bring that orbit into a healthy state.
your rating: Engaged
That's all!
You have no additional drivers in this section
that's not all
keep learning
The courses listed above were curated for you based on the results of your last Engagement Assessment for this Critical Context.
Once you have taken those courses and/or worked on that Critical Context, we recommend taking the Engagement Assessment again. We recommend taking the assessment for each Critical Context at least once every three months, preferably once every month.
Our research shows that a lot can happen with your engagement dynamics within the course of a month, and often without really recognizing it (something called Change Blindness).
Now, either retake the Engagement Assessment for this Critical Context to get fresh results (and a fresh Personalized Learning Path), or load the Personalized Learning Path for one of your other Critical Contexts.
There is also a substantial amount of additional core knowledge found in the remainder of the Academy, Principle Knowledge Base, and Articles.
They key is… keep learning. Don’t lose momentum.