Workshop Notes: Reprogramming Yourself

A few weeks back I took a workshop titled Reprogramming Yourself: Stop Overthinking, Shrink Your Inner Imposter, and Lead from Clarity and Confidence, led by Edmond Lau and Elenna Mosoff. I had been interested in the workshops offered by Co Leadership for a little while, and this time the timing worked out well.

The workshop was a day dedicated to learning how to shift beliefs that we want to change. At the start of the day, we were encouraged to look through a set of common beliefs that hold us back, and pick one of them to work on for the day. (I picked “If I succeed, I won’t be able to sustain it.”) Throughout the day, we were guided through exercises in which we dove deeper into that particular issue. These exercises included things like visualization, journaling, discussion with partners from the group, and role playing.

All the experiences were designed to help you understand more deeply the programming that you’re trying to change, the different ways in which it shows up in your life, the ways small and big in which it might not serve you (if it ever did). The idea is that, by understanding the issue better, you’ll be more able to spot the undesired programming when it arises. Later in the day, Elenna and Edmond offered advice and tools to work on changing that programming — these included things like intentionally working to find evidence to support the new belief, or introducing small daily rituals to remind yourself that you are changing this belief.

All in all, I found the experience very helpful. My biggest takeaway was the idea that we get to shape our programming consciously. It is a reminder that it is my responsibility and privilege to intentionally shift my mindset, if there is something that I want to change. Nobody is going to do it for me, there are no adults, it’s all up to me. I also acquired a few new practical tools to help me get out of my own way. The tools they introduced fit well with my existing journaling and reflection practices.

In a sense, nothing that the workshop presented was an earth-shattering new insight. The main value, for me, was in experiencing the exercises and working through them with others, in community. The facilitators provided the space for us to explore a piece of our own programming, learn more about how it affects their lives, and think consciously and strategically about how we can introduce changes to shift our thinking in a direction that will serve us better.

The workshop was not cheap — $997 for one day — but it definitely felt worthwhile. If you can afford it and are interested in personal development, I recommend it.