Once a month I will record a short 3-5 min video with a practical Tip, Tool, or Strategy. Today is the first edition, and is one of the most important (and simple) STRATEGIES that I teach all my private Coaching clients. It will improve your decision-making “RESULTS” by about 200%!
Enjoy.
This article is inspired by a Coaching session I had the other day.
Which has come up with a number of my clients.
There is a great message I want to share.
Not just in relation to Loyalty (which we will go deeper into), but all virtues in general.
Hands up if you think Loyalty is a great virtue?
Chances are most people would raise their hand.
Unless, you are now getting a bit suspicious about a trick question I may be asking you.
In that case, you might be gingerly raising your hand, slowly, so you can pull it down again, if you figure out where I am taking things.
Me personally (based on what I know and have experienced); I am not such a big fan of Loyalty if it comes in the 2-dimensional version, and not the 3-dimensional version; and even then, I reckon there are better virtues to hang your hat on.
Let me explain.
56 years on planet Earth. 18+ years Coaching. 1000’s of conversations. 500+ personal development and growth books. 14 years as an Officer in the army. 5 years as a senior security consultant to mega events. Business co-owner of a successful yoga centre in Bali for 4-years. Published 6 books. Insatiable curiosity and thirst for greater knowledge, truth, wisdom and my own evolution. And a love to share. So, here is what I think are pretty useful and practical insights.
Once a month I will record a short 3-5 min video with a practical Tip, Tool, or Strategy. Today is the first edition, and is one of the most important (and simple) STRATEGIES that I teach all my private Coaching clients. It will improve your decision-making “RESULTS” by about 200%!
Enjoy.
I have coached lots of different people over the past 18 years.
Plus, I have been “coaching” myself for the last 26 years.
And something that has come up frequently in those conversations, when people reach out to me ready to do the “deeper inner work“, is their thoughts about “Who am I?”
Maybe you can relate to this.
In fact, if you ask yourself that question right now, do you receive a very coherent and clear response?
It’s actually a great question to play with.
But what I have consistently witnessed over time is that the idea of “trying to find yourself” is not the most effective Strategy.
And perhaps causes people to look in all the wrong directions.
Additionally, it doesn’t seem to tap into the most powerful parts of self.
The human being-ness of us.
One of the most powerful things we have access to is an UNIMITED potential to CREATE.
Which is our discussion point today.
I recently got off a Podcast interview (Sandcast), with a client of mine who is transitioning out of a professional Beach Volleyball career.
The conversation was extremely insightful.
(I will share it with you once he posts it)
We talked about him transitioning out of elite sport into “what’s next?“.
However, when it comes to “transitioning” (and doing it well), it applies to us all.
Some transitions are more monumental.
And some transitions are at the very basic daily level.
For instance, I have worked with a lot of clients over the years who have been REALLY BAD at switching off from work when they get home.
Essentially transitioning from “work mode” to “family mode“.
Often it just doesn’t happen at all.
Actually, you need to actively and consciously do something (let’s call it a mindful transition), to adapt most effectively to a new environment.
How are you at “switching off” after work?
The more monumental transitions might be – using a personal example – transitioning from being an Olympic Games bomb management expert and security consultant (working for the man, literally ;-)); to being a Life Coach in Bali, working for myself, and not really having much of an idea how to go about it.
Regardless of the size or complexity of the transition, the way you do it matters.
Even in yoga, there is conscious attention given to how you transition from one pose to another, because the yogis realised its importance.
Which takes me to the key point of this conversation.
This strategy is both simple, yet powerful.
It is also quite timely for the start of a New Year.
Plus, I think it tops most “new year’s resolutions“, which many people might be working on (and already bombed on ;-)).
The reason is – again – that it is SIMPLE.
It is based on creating a singular point of focus, which encapsulates multiple different areas of your life.
Which means, we are getting back to basics.
You know I love to focus on BELIEFS, and this might be drilling even deeper.
It is focusing on VIRTUES, which might already be stored – as potential information – in the water of every one of your 50 trillion cells.
So, unlocking that information, from that many players (50 trillion), can have a pretty potent effect.
And as I already said, the strategy to turn on the switch is pretty simple.
It’s question time.
Who reading this likes reading “business” books?
There might be a few hands up, but chances are most people would lean towards some good quality fiction before they buried their nose, and used up their precious time, on a business book.
However, recently I read a (business) book, which I even prioritized over the very well-written and suspenseful fantasy fiction book I was reading.
It turns out that the business book was REALLY well written.
Focused on a theme I am infinitely fascinated with.
It also challenged some of my current beliefs and teachings – which is always a great thing.
Learning and growing (evolution) is one of the main games after all.
The thing I also realised with the theme, was it could as equally apply to “PEOPLE”, as it did business.
It caused me to take a good hard look at a few things I had been trifling with of late.
The book in question is called “The Science of Scaling” by Dr Benjamin Hardy and Blake Erikson.
(If you are a business owner or in senior management, I STRONGLY encourage you to read this book before you start the New Year).
These dudes were about scaling businesses.
Where I am about “scaling” people.
Taking them from Version 1.0 to Version 2.0 (which is not a linear transition but an exponential transition).
Do you want to know what my biggest take-aways were?
This “strategy” is pretty simple.
And sort of easy to do.
I say “sort of” as there may be times when is harder to do, and I want to be honest with you.
And as old-matey Jim Rohn used to say: “What is easy to do, is also easy not to do“.
So, although this is not so hard, most of time, it actually needs to be undertaken, in order to have the feel-good experience.
This strategy is also free.
It doesn’t require props.
And it creates a ripple effect.
As in, in can make other people feel good too.
That’s pretty cool.
As I suspect you know – I believe that it is the quality of our decisions that shape our destiny (which I even wrote a book on).
The yogi’s – 100’s of years ago – also knew this.
When considering the elements of the “mind” then understood that there was an Higher mind and a Lower mind.
Somewhat similar to our conscious mind and unconscious mind, but not exactly.
The yogi’s actually identified 4-parts of the mind.
Which is similar to modern psychologists with their Triune Brain model.
Although, I think the yogi’s had cooler sounding names.
The one I really like is the “Buddhi” part of mind.
The higher mind.
The one more closely connected to our individual (Purusha) and collective consciousness.
I doubly love the idea of having a “sharpened” Buddhi.
In modern language that would equate to a well-developed prefrontal cortex.
But the thing that most stands out for me (and was of primary interest to these yogi’s), was the power of DISCERNMENT.
Seeing the big picture.