Inner Quest - Unlocking High Performance

4 Weeks

·

Cohort-based Course

Unlock your potential by discovering your best self and shifting your mindset to catalyze change, boost performance, and accelerate growth.

Course overview

The first step to transformation is looking inward and finding your best self.

Are you ready to unlock your true potential? Introducing a transformative four-week self-discovery course to catalyze change, boost career growth and fulfillment.


Here is the simple truth: your current mindset and identity limit your performance and potential. Upskilling just your competencies will not deliver higher performance until you combine it with deeper awareness to evolve into a new identity and creative mindset.

 

Well-respected books and research studies have concluded that approaching a career and work from an “inside-out” perspective delivers higher performance and fulfillment. Inside-out is characterized by a creative orientation with a clear sense of self, living your values, pursuing a compelling vision, purpose, and a new identity. In short, it’s playing offense instead of defense and accepting what the world gives you. Adopting an inside-out strategy requires looking inward to discover your best self and a mindset shift that will boost performance.

 

The path to self-discovery can feel daunting, and you may experience anxiety and fear about delving into your inner self. Given the pace of life, it's also easy to put it off later. As a result, you never truly explore your full potential, perpetuating the status quo and leaving your best self undiscovered.

 

As an expert coach, I have spent years writing about, teaching, and coaching individuals on how to look inward and build the mindset for reaching a new level. I have witnessed the remarkable shifts when individuals embrace their true selves, leading to professional growth, career redirection, improved relationships, and overall fulfillment.

 

In this course, I will guide you through a proven self-discovery framework to synthesize the ingredients of your best self. Each module will provide essential pre-reading materials, equipping you with the knowledge and tools to align your mindset. Through live sessions, you will engage in targeted exercises to create the building blocks, such as your values, vision, identity, and purpose.

 

As your supportive coach, I will be there every step of the way, offering guidance, support, and inspiration. I will empower you to reimagine who you are and who you aspire to be. To ensure an intimate and enriching experience, each cohort will be limited to a maximum of seven members, guaranteeing safe, confidential, and high-quality interactions.

Who is this course for

01

Ambitious professionals who are frustrated feeling stuck in a career path or job that limits their true potential.

02

You are tired of playing defense in your work and career, reacting to the beck and call of others instead of pursuing your vision.

03

You feel anxiety and stress from not having a clear, inspirational career direction that is guiding your choices.

After taking this course you'll ...

Go from wandering to a clear and compelling personal vision

You may travel and arrive at an unwanted destination without a guiding light and compass. You will learn how to craft a compelling vision for what you want and why, and a purpose statement so that you have clear and motivating direction.

Accelerate career growth and performance

Your mindset controls your performance. You will examine and reframe the self-limiting beliefs that are holding you back, and invent a new identity so that you increase the likelihood you will deliver on your goals.

Strengthen self-discipline to become your envisioned identity

Every day you make 100s of decisions consciously and unconsciously that move you one step further down a path. You will compose values, principles, rituals, and boundaries so that you can simplify, expedite, and improve the quality of your decisions.

Increase productivity and progress toward important goals

Time is your most precious resource, and where and how you allocate it produces results. You will learn how to design and integrate daily behaviors and rituals into your day that are rooted in your why? so that you do the work to produce the most important desired outcomes.

Experience more career autonomy

Create your destiny through a purpose and identity that gives you the power to create value by doing the work you want. You will identify the skills you have and will need to build to deliver on your vision.

Deepen the love for yourself and others

When you know who you are, and let go of things that no longer serve you, it deepens your self-love and compassion. Using your deeper awareness, you will free yourself to pursue your vision with confidence and conviction.

What people are saying

        I worked with James on my career roadmap more than 10 years ago. Taking that first step to slow down and be introspective about who I am and where I wanted to go was hard. James helped me to take stock of who I am and what I value at work starting from the inside out. This was a huge breakthrough in determining where I wanted to go in my career. 
Ryan Reed

Ryan Reed

Head of IT
        I met James at a pivotal time in my life. My startup fell apart, and I suddenly found myself needing a new source of income. James helped me learn to see my career as a product while giving me the feedback and encouragement I needed to transition and land my dream job.
Josh Winters

Josh Winters

Lead Software Engineer

Meet your instructor

James Gray

James Gray

Data & AI Exec | Coach | Instructor

Hi, this is James. I'm a leadership and performance coach at CoachJamesGray.com, a data & AI executive, and a podcaster. I have coached 100s of professionals to accelerate their growth and boost performance.


I am also a learning facilitator at the Berkeley Haas School of Business and a coach at the Gies College of Business, University of Illinois.


Over the past 30+ years, I have held CIO, CPO, data science, and product management roles at leading organizations like Microsoft. I have a long track record for developing talent in organizations and coaching leaders and professionals in the tech sector.


Why I started this course

My purpose is to help you deepen your self-awareness in a safe and confidential space to discover your best self and chart a direction emanating from your vision.


You can follow my ideas in the Graymatter newsletter and connect on LinkedIn, where I post on both channels to help you gain a deeper consciousness to shape your career strategy and unlock your true potential.

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Inner Quest Journey

Inner Quest Journey

Course Topics

01

Discover Your Values


Values are the flashlight and compass that guide your life.

You will live your best life when you are guided by the principles that you hold most important. You will discover 3-5 values and the underlying behaviors that demonstrate how you walk the talk so you can live authentically and make choices intentionally.

02

Reframe Your Beliefs


Beliefs are what you see as true and control habits and potential.

Self-affirming beliefs create energy, while self-limiting beliefs have negative consequences that constrain what is possible. You will examine your self-limiting beliefs and their impact, then how to reframe and crush these beliefs so that you can unlock personal growth.

03

Invent a Purpose Statement


Purpose is what you are driven to achieve and is the guiding star that shapes your direction.

That's why tapping into your inner voice and uniqueness is foundational to directing how you spend your time and energy. You will learn how to invent a purpose statement so that you pursue a unique path and value proposition that is fulfilling.

04

Decide Your Goals


Compelling goals provide focus, direction, and energy.

Without clear goals, you will wander, waste time, and never quite reach your true potential. You will decide on a set of goals so that you are clear about what you want and why.

05

Build a New Identity


Identity defines who you are and generates patterns of results consistent with how your identity is structured.

That's why evolving your identity is key to realizing different outcomes in your life. You will learn how to build a whole-person identity so that you can create a vision of who you want to become.

06

Distill Principles


Principles are the "rules" for behavior that gets you what you want out of life.

Over time we discover what decisions and actions work and those that fail to deliver on what we seek. You will create a list of rules derived from your values to make better decisions faster and easier.

07

Critique Behaviors & Design Rituals


Behaviors and rituals directly produce the outcomes in your life influenced by unconscious self-limiting beliefs, repeated experiences, and assumptions.

That's why it's key to inspect how your behaviors serve you. You will learn to critique your behaviors and design rituals that emanate from your identity to deliver the outcomes you seek.

08

Examine Your Emotions


Emotions are what you feel and influence everything you do in life.

Positive emotions accelerate the path to your true potential, while negative emotions hold you back. That's why gaining an understanding and meaning of emotions is essential. You will name and measure your emotions and learn to derive deeper consciousness of their influence.

09

Construct Boundaries


Boundaries define what is yours and not yours.

You are responsible for your life - that's why it's critical to be clear about your property line. You will learn how to construct and communicate boundaries so that you take ownership of your life, reduce conflicts, and protect yourself from the unforgiving realities of human nature.

10

Letting Go of Baggage


Over time you collect experiences, relationships, and possessions that shape your identity.

That's why it's important to identify baggage that slows you down from becoming the next best version of yourself. You will explore and decide what to leave behind so that you can make space and lighten the load for the new life you envision.

11

Discover Your Parts


Parts is the concept that we each contain an “internal family” of distinct parts.

Treating these parts with curiosity, respect, and empathy vastly expands our capacity to heal and become self-led. You will learn the basics of how to discover your parts, and begin a process of strengthening and liberating your true self.

12

Synthesize Skills


Skills are the abilities or proficiencies acquired through training or experience.

Skills enable a person to perform a particular job or task effectively. You will synthesize a list of skills to help identify your strengths and the skills you want to develop to pursue your vision and identity.

13

Activate & Celebrate!


Crafting a vision, discipline mindset, and autonomy provides the clarity you need to activate change.


You will have an opportunity to share how you plan to activate your best self and mindset shift after this course.

Course schedule

2-4 hours per week
  • Session 1: Vision - Values & Beliefs

    Sep. 12, 2023: 6:00-7:30 PM CST

    In our live sessions, you'll learn, apply the concepts, and practice developing your unique content. I will allocate the last 15 minutes for questions and host time after class if needed.

  • Session 2: Vision - Purpose & Goals

    Sep. 14, 2023: 6:00-7:30 PM CST

  • Session 3: Discipline - Identity & Principles

    Sep. 19, 2023: 6:00-7:30 PM CST

  • Session 4: Discipline - Behaviors & Emotions

    Sep. 21, 2023: 6:00-7:30 PM CST

  • Session 5: Autonomy - Boundaries & Letting Go

    Sep. 26, 2023: 6:00-7:30 PM CST

  • Session 6: Autonomy - Parts & Skills

    Sep. 28, 2023: 6:00-7:30 PM CST

  • Session 7: Presentations & Graduation

    Oct. 3, 2023: 6:00-7:30 PM CST

  • Inner Quest Document

    2-4 hrs of self-work

    During this course, you will develop content during each session and will likely want to refine it in between sessions.

  • Curated Readings (optional)

    30 - 60 mins per week

    Curated readings, videos, and podcasts on the syllabus are designed to help you get the most out of the live sessions. This is also an opportunity to go deep on topics that interest you most.

Free resource

How Does Looking Inward Change Your Life?

The most important conversation you have is with yourself. When there is an internal misalignment, your lack of deep self-awareness can influence your life in various ways:

  • remaining stuck in a job that no longer serves you
  • confusion
  • anxiety and fear
  • minimal growth
  • weak relationships

Your mindset becomes a superpower when it's aligned and integrated. Read how my life changed by adopting these 10 building blocks that activated my transformation.

Get this free resource now

Learning is way better with cohorts, with personalized guidance from an expert coach

Learning is way better with cohorts, with personalized guidance from an expert coach

A private, intimate experience

This course is limited to just 7 people so that my instruction and our discussions are personal, private, and memorable.

Active hands-on learning, not passive watching

This course builds on live workshops and hands-on projects to create an environment that produces deliverables and reflection. I'll teach a concept, show you an example, give you an exercise, and then you'll do it. You'll learn by doing, not watching. The intent is to create drafts of your content that you can then refine outside the live session as needed.


I will spend 7+ hours with you during live sessions and an optional 6 hours for office hours.

Learn with a cohort of peers

Connect and engage with like-minded people who want to learn and grow alongside you. Collaborating and helping each other through exercise will answer common questions and ensure each person makes progress.

Personalized guidance and feedback

The deliverables you create and internalize are key to enabling your transformation. I will hold a one-hour office hour weekly to provide personalized feedback and answer questions. My role as a coach is to pose questions that help you gain deeper awareness and not offer advice as you know yourself best.

Cohort collaboration

We'll have a private Slack channel for our cohort to post questions and answers, small wins, and provide the support that helps us build consciousness and energy.

Welcome from James Gray!

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if I can’t make a live session?
I work full-time, what is the expected time commitment?
Will I get 1-on-1 coaching from James as part of this course?
Can't I learn all this material online or in books for free?
How can I continue my learning after the course is over?
How do I get my questions answered?
Do you guarantee I will you will transform into who I want to become and achieve my goals?
Will you issue a completion certificate?
What’s the refund policy?

Not ready yet? Stay in the loop

Change happens when you do. So don't procrastinate - tomorrow is not guaranteed. But if you'd like, you can sign up to receive updates.

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