Maratib & James when they first met
In the beginning of 2013 I was blessed to receive an invitation email from James Mills, an Associate of Lighthouse International. I never knew that this would impact my life from a personal, social and intellectual point of view. As soon as I accepted this invitation I became part of The Lighthouse Mastery Book Study Group. This was the starting point of transforming my personal life towards what I am working on now. Basically this book study group was based on my favourite author and mentor; Dr. Stephen R. Covey and his world-renowned and best-selling book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. So through this study group I was reminded of many forgotten lessons and concepts as well as many new dimensions I was missing in my personal, family and social life.
After each session I started to practice these lessons through the week before moving on to the next session. By following and learning the principles presented through audio and weekly worksheets, I started to organise the integration of universal principles taught in the book such as the principles of Personal Vision, Personal Leadership, Personal Management, Interpersonal leadership, Empathic Communication, Creative Cooperation and Balanced Self-Renewal. I started to increase my circle of influence and impact not only my family but also many other families and individuals.
More importantly, regular calls and emails really helped me get in touch with my potential and I see this journey is ongoing. James is an amazing and sincere individual who pushed me through my journey with Lighthouse even in the dark times of my life when I was unemployed. He became a source of light when I was struggling to get employment; he helped and advised me as a true mentor. James motivated and helped me to apply for and find the right employment opportunity which helped me and my family greatly in managing not only our finances but also gave me the motivation to go forward in life to achieve my most significant personal and relationship goals.
My regular meetings with my mentor and friend James, in different locations across London have been like classroom learning. I have learnt from him to help me to be an effective and great individual who can be effective both at home and in the office.
Nowadays I am in the process of identifying and filling gaps in my life through the Lighthouse Wants and Needs Gap Assessment and Analysis. James is a source of inspiration and a teacher helping me to do it. I am sure that through discovering my gaps I would be more effective and achieve greatness so I could be able to inspire others to find and follow their voice.
Finally I see my journey with Lighthouse as one that is ongoing and continues to progress. James and his team have backed and empowered me enough to support my family and others living close to us; with an increasing circle of influence. I see the Lighthouse International community as an immense resource where I can learn, practice and contribute in my personal, family and societal life.
And last, but not least, I cannot forget the wonderful evening in Amersham earlier this year when I met the whole and humble team of Lighthouse.
Love and respect to James, Paul, Louise, Asif, Jairaj, Kris, Sukhraj, Tom, Jatinder, Adam, Anthony, Osman, Chris and others.
Thank you greatly 🙂
Maratib
Defining Maratib’s Breakthrough Lessons –
– By James Mills, Associate Partner, Mentor & Coach, Lighthouse International
So what can we take from Maratib sharing the experience of his journey with Lighthouse so far?
1. There Needs to be a Reason for Us Wanting to Grow – One of the biggest things that stands out from Maratib’s experience is 
the impact that working on his growth and development is having on those around him. Learning how to be a better person is also helping him to be a better father, husband, family member, neighbour and employee. This is contrary to how many of us are brought up; we see learning as predominantly focused on academic achievement mostly for our own sole benefit – i.e. receiving praise from parents and teachers, getting into a good school / college / university in order to get a well-paid job. Whilst it is great to excel academically (and also professionally), isn’t it more meaningful to be growing in a way that enables us to build better relationships with those people most important to us?
Maratib, James & Jatinder Singh from the Lighthouse team at a Lighthouse curry night in Amersham, early 2014
2. Our Growth is Limited When We Try to do it by Ourselves – The most successful people are those who have mentors, coaches as well as an established network of people who see things in a similar way. When we try to do things by ourselves we limit our growth because we miss out on the opportunity to learn from the experiences and lessons of others. When we do things by ourselves, the danger is that our growth and development can become very intellectual. Reading books, listening to audios and watching videos can give us access to wonderful information, but we may struggle to apply this knowledge in a practical way enabling us to become better at handling those situations that really test us. Examples of this may be resolving a disagreement with a colleague, clarifying a misunderstanding with a loved one or communicating with someone who seems to refuse to listen and so on. The upside is when we get better at handling these situations for ourselves, our ability to help others naturally increases…
If you would like to speak to one of our Lighthouse Mentors or someone going through the Lighthouse Gap Assessment & Analysis, just register on this page.
Journal image courtesy of Joel Montes de Oca @ Flikr
