Posts tagged goal achievement
The Birth of an Executive Coach
Feb 9th
“None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Birth of an Executive Coach
Last time I finished talking about my decision to self-publish my first book even though I had traditional publishing offers on the table. This time I’m going to talk about some of the actual content of my upcoming book – a book about goals and achievement.
I was born as an Executive Coach in May 1989, although I did not know that this was my destiny at the time. Like most newborns, I did not have a clue what was going on and it would take me a number of years to make sense of the world around me.
In May of 89, I left my well-paid job in Retail Mega-Box management, well-paid but otherwise boring and totally unsatisfying, and went into Executive Search (headhunting) and the temporary employment business. I had only trivial experience in either of these businesses. I had been called by headhunters a few times, looking to move me from one Mega-Box to another. These headhunters didn’t seem too bright and they seemed to make a great deal of money. (Interesting combination. I certainly wanted to make a great deal of money and at times I was a veritable idiot. I filed this information away for further analysis.)
In the world of temporary employment, I had worked extensively at numerous temporary agencies in Southern California after I graduated from college. Eventually I found my first career position and stopped working temporary assignments. While working, I had gained some great information though – there was a great deal of money to be made in the temporary business and they, the owners that I had met, didn’t seem all that bright either.
What does this have to do with my first book on goals? I’m getting there, I promise!
Death as a Counselor
In December of 1985 my father died of leukemia. He was relatively young, 61 years old, when he died. Vibrant and healthy for most of his life, in 18 months he was stripped of virtually everything – his physical vitality, his freedom of movement, his privacy and eventually his life – in 18 short months he lost all of these.
I visited him almost every other day for most of this time. My blood was helping to keep him alive and we saw more of each other in this short time than we really had in years. He talked often of the things that he was going to do if he got out of the hospital. He was going to travel again. He was going to go see the pyramids. He had a long list of things that he wanted to do and experience. He died without having done any of these – he died with most of his dreams unlived.
His death affected me deeply. I was 26 years old when he died and I swore that I was going to do my best to retire before I was 40 years old and I was going to live my dreams – for both of us.
Goals were the Starting Place
I did manage to retire before I was 40. This early retirement only lasted about 10 years, no one had told me how much money could be spent if you had full time to devote to the process of spending, but my next early retirement is coming up fast. And this time, well, I have a much higher number in mind for my retirement! Come back next time and learn more about how goals were the starting place for me then and the drivers for me now.
Till next time faithful reader…Jack
“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” ~ Sir Edmund Hillary
Goals Part 4
Oct 12th
“Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest.” ~Larry Lorenzoni
I recently had a birthday and I found myself in a very self-reflective mood that day. I believe that I have significant control over my emotional states and reactions and I could have changed this one, since it showed up unplanned, but I decided to go with self-reflection and see what it offered me.
It offered me this: What could I do – achieve, by my next birthday, that would be a wonderful gift to myself? I found this exciting to think about. I have an entire year to work. Now, what can I do in that time, for me, that will make my next birthday a real treat? This was fun! I spent the next hour or so walking around and doing a mini-goal setting session.
What could I achieve related to:
My body – my physical health?
My finances – my savings and investments?
My business – my coaching and writing and speaking?
My family?
My skills and talents – my toolbox of things that I know how to do?
It isn’t that I haven’t looked at all of these things many times in the past. I have. I am a dedicated and habitual goal setter. The difference was that I was looking at the achieving of the goals as a gift – a gift to myself! This change in perspective was powerful for me! Instead of looking at my goals as something that I needed to do, now I had added the feeling that achieving these things was something I got to do and it was a gift. I felt different and more empowered.
So, let me ask you this: What would you like to achieve, before your next birthday, that would be a gift to yourself? What would you like to do that once done, would make you feel great, or proud, or free, or satisfied or whatever way you would like to feel? Try this. If you only have a few days until your birthday, then choose something small – perhaps something you have been procrastinating – and do it and get it done and then on your birthday – celebrate!
If you have more time, then you can go thru an entire goals setting process as I am laying it out here and add the perspective of a gift to yourself. I believe it will make a difference for both you and I.
Till next time…Jack
“Inside every older person is a younger person wondering what happened.” ~Jennifer Yane
Goals Part 1
Sep 3rd
“There is nothing like a dream to create the future.” ~Victor Hugo (1802 – 1885) a French poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and perhaps the most influential exponent of the Romantic movement in France; perhaps best known for Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Do you like to dream? Have you been known as a dreamer? Have you ever been told to “stop daydreaming and get your head out of the clouds”? Wonderful! Great! Good for you! Those skills will serve you well and the process of goal creation is going to be easy for you.
If you are highly practical, if you like to always stay “down to earth”, if big dreams seem wrong or grandiose or ridiculous to you, then you might find the process of goal creation, as I teach it, a bit of a stretch. Go ahead – stretch with me. You can always be practical tomorrow.
All, and I mean all, of my coaching around goal creation and goal achievement starts with dreaming. I start with dreaming because it works – when my clients and seminar attendees begin with dreaming, they achieve more, faster, and with more pleasure along the way. I also use dreaming as a critical beginning element of the process of goal setting because my teachers and mentors also believe in the power of dreams. Anthony Robbins, Jim Rohn, Lee Pulos, Brian Tracy – all of these great teachers and many more incorporate dreaming into their work.
I am not sure how long this series of articles will be yet. I have been doing some very ambitious goal setting of my own lately and this process has been much on my mind. I also just ordered 5 new books related to goals, books written since my last indepth study of the topic, and there may be some new ideas to discuss. So, this series will last as long as it needs to. I promise you this though, follow along and you will get to your dreams faster and have more fun along the way.
Till next time…Jack
“Dreams are illustrations… from the book your soul is writing about you.” ~Marsha Norman
(born 1947]) is an American playwright, screenwriter, television writer and novelist.
Getting Leverage on Yourself to Achieve
Jun 3rd
“How am I going to live today in order to create the tomorrow I’m committed to?” ~Anthony Robbins
Yesterday, I made a public commitment that I would have my first book for sale, in at least 2 formats, by 5pm Central Time on Wednesday September 17th, 2008. Why did I make that commitment here on this blog? I did it to get leverage on myself.
For me, and for most people that I know, it is easy to break promises that are made just to ourselves. When the promise is made to someone else however, someone that I like and respect, I feel terrible if I don’t fulfill that promise. Since I know this, if I am having an issue getting something done, then it is time to make a public commitment. This is exactly what I did on this blog yesterday and I can feel the power of this working already.
This is negative motivation and it is very powerful. I do most of my work, with myself and with others, from a place of positive motivation. There are times however, and this is one of them for me, when I also need the away from “push” of a strong negative motivator. I don’t want to feel the bad feelings that would be there for me should I not achieve my public goal; so I know I will take the actions that I have been putting off.
This power of the commitment to someone else, someone that you like and respect, is one of the reasons that coaching can be so effective. A good coach will be asking you to make well-planned and achievable commitments each and every time you work with them. What is well-planned and achievable? That is another conversation.
Till next time…Jack
“Nothing interferes with my concentration. You could put on an orgy in my office and I wouldn’t look up. Well, maybe once.” ~Isaac Asimov