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How Coaching can raise your awareness.

Responding to awareness is usually dependent on your maturity as a leader. From a biblical perspective, I believe God always wants to connect with us and wants to lead us to be a better example of him, so we can be a better example to others. But ultimately, I believe he wants us to living out our purpose.

Having purpose and knowing it can be a powerful thing, but it’s something I’ve learned that some people don’t think a lot about. Some people don’t even know how to respond to the question when asked what their purpose is.

Why is awareness so important?

Awareness is important because it brings clarity. Clarity is an important ingredient for growth. Gaining awareness is one of the things I love about coaching leaders. Leaders are called to inspire and influence others because leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. However, if you lack clarity about your purpose or if you’re stretched too thin as leader or even as a company because you’re saying “yes” too much, it can create an unclear path and ultimately result in being pulled in multiple directions that doesn’t lead to living out your purpose. It may be fun, it may even be in your sweet spot, but it may also be leading your further away from your vision.

Being coached gives permission for you to be asked the right questions in the right way that can lead to incredible breakthroughs. Coaching is not mentoring. In order to grow deeper, whether it’s in your faith, in your leadership abilities or in your life, awareness has to take place. Gaining awareness isn’t always pleasant. Sometimes it takes something painful for you to have that moment or that thought. It’s not until you take the time to reflect on those moments where you can be asked those important questions. If you’re honest with yourself, you can move in the direction that’s ultimately closer to living out your purpose.

In a world that’s filled with chaos, it’s easy to allow yourself to become consumed with the things of this world that honestly don’t matter or add any value towards your growth. It’s easy to become unfocused and unclear and lose sight of your vision and become stuck and being stuck stinks!

Last year, I found myself there, saying yes to too many things and putting myself in a position where I became stretched so too thin, I was preventing myself from being fully engaged or able to really give my best to every project, opportunity or commitment.

After reflecting and writing down all of the projects and commitments I was working on, I had to asked myself – are these really apart of my purpose? Are they really helping me come closer to my purpose and vision that I want to have. Are they bringing me closer to where I want to be in life? And after sitting down with my coach, it became clear that I wasn’t clear and my focus was off.

So what do you do? Have you ever found yourself in this position? What did you do?

Sometimes it can be a lot easier to lead others before you lead yourself. But it’s such a crucial step to lead yourself first especially when others are watching your example. Earlier this year, I wrote about leading yourself and shared 4 tips to leading yourself better. But in it, I wrote about how to get out of your own way and become a better leader.

Wanting to go deeper and become more effective requires you to get out of your own way and get intentional about getting clear. Write down your for the next 90 days. Then write down all of your competing projects and commitments and ask yourself – what’s important? The key is to identify where you are and where you want to be. Then make the path to where you want to be.

If you would like to learn more about coaching and how it can help you become clearer and gain more awareness in your personal or professional life, contact me today. I’m currently accepting new clients and will coach you how to become clear and start gaining more traction in your life. For the month of February, I’m offering a complementary coaching session for the month of February.

If you like what you’re reading and would like to receive weekly emails to your inbox, be sure to sign up here.

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5 Steps to making a BIG decision

How do you make a BIG Decision?

Have you ever thought about what your saying “yes” to really means and what it could keep you from achieving?

I made a BIG decision last week that could have been one of those turning points in my life…I said no to a “dream job” or what appeared to a shiny dream job. This decision and the process of making it inspired this post because I learned so much about myself and the importance of having the right people in your life who are willing to ask you the tough questions. Such questions like: If you accept this position, where will it take you? Does it line up with your goals and plan? By accepting it, will it bring you closer to your vision or further from it? What do you need for it to be a “hell yes” or a “hell no”? What are you giving up by accepting it? Is it worth it? All of these questions were asked by my coach, which I’m incredibly thankful for. Having a coach in my life has been one of the greatest investments I have made in my professional and personal life. He keeps me focused on where it is I’m going and ensures my yes’ are taking me in the direction I want to be going in. Especially when those shiny objects show up. This job offer I said “no” to made me think a lot about the shiny objects that often show up in our lives and how do you determine if they are the real deal or if they are simply distractions that would keep you from fulfilling your dreams. I think these shiny objects can be tests too, to see how dedicated you are to your goals and dreams you set out to achieve. I don’t think enough people talk about their dreams. But I know my dream and I know what it is I want. This was a shiny object that certainly looked attractive, but if I would have said yes to it, my dream would have had to have taken a back seat for a while because I wouldn’t have been able to give it the time and attention it needs to come to fruition. So here are my five steps I took to make my decision.

1) Pray about it – if you know anything about me, you know I’m a believer in the power of prayer and that God will always provide the peace and confidence you need to make a decision. I encourage you to recruit others to be in prayer for you as well. Don’t try and make these types of decisions alone.

 

 

 

2) Get all of the facts – God can’t confirm confusion. So what do you need to make a clear decision? What are the must haves? Make a list and get them answered.

 

 

 

3) Seek counsel with someone you trust and who knows you well. Someone who will ask you the tough questions. For me, this was my coach. For you, it may be a pastor, mentor, spouse, or close friend. It has to be someone you’ve given permission to ask you any question without any fear of holding back.

 

 

 

4) Don’t dwell on it –  Once you have all of the facts and have looked at all of the pros and cons and if you still don’t have peace on it, it’s not the right time. If you continue to dwell on it or even avoid making the decision, it could keep you from seeing what God has planned for you. It could keep you from seeing the next opportunity which is the right one to take.

5) Don’t let it be a distraction – Make the decision and be 100% focused on what’s before you. Keep growing and pursuing your dreams. You’re going to get distracted even by what appears to be a “dream job”. But by following these steps, they can help you make the right decision.

 

 

 

 

Hold your image!

If you’re in the middle of making a difficult decision and would like to increase your thinking and are interested in receive a coaching session or see how valuable coaching can be for you or your business, contact me to learn more. I have a few coaching slots open now.

If you would like to receive my weekly leadership insights in your inbox, be sure to sign up here.

Updated on BLOG

What is Professional Coaching?

In order to effectively apply coaching to transformation, it would be helpful to understand what coaching is and how valuable a coach can be for your growth and success.

What is Coaching?

When I think of coaching, I think of it as a conversation that helps people think things through, it helps you think bigger because of the powerful questions the Coach is asking in order to get you to begin thinking bigger. Coaching engages people to raise their awareness of the limiting beliefs which may be holding them captive or influencing them in some way. A coach can help people explore areas they may have never gone to before as well as help them develop a plan of action to get to where they would like to go.  

A coach can be a catalyst and an important element in the process of accelerating change. Coaching is very different from consulting or counseling because the focus isn’t about the coach’s experience like that of a consultant or focused on past hurts like that of a counselor.

A Coach is: 

  • A partner for a period of time to come alongside you to help you get to where you would like to go in your life, career or business
  • Is focused on your growth and success
  • Listens and believes in you, your value, and your potential in life
  • Helps you discover your potential and helps you move forward with it
  • Helps you see your vision in life and then helps you develop a plan to move toward them.

A Coach Is Not:

A person who focuses on addressing past issues or that gives you advice. Not like a: teacher, trainer, facilitator, counselor, therapist, consultant, advisor, mentor, or a good friend. Below is a table of descriptions I’ve used to show the differences between coaching and other forms of practice.

Would you or your organization like to experience the value of a coach or does your company need leadership training? If you know someone who does or who would benefit from coaching or leadership training, would you introduce me to them? Have them contact me.

I hope you found this helpful. If you would like to experience the value of coaching, contact me for a FREE coaching session. I would love to help you grow and experience how coaching can help you make your 2017 the best year yet.

Updated on BLOG

Asking yourself WHY.

Great sermon in Church today by my friend John Allen.

He spoke on a topic I love…transformational life coaching and learning to ask the why behind the what.

Do you ever take the time to ask yourself why? Why do I follow this? Why am I challenged by this? Why am I doing this? These are all questions that can lead to an understanding of why things are the way they are. As a leadership and life coach myself, I ask the kind of open-ended questions that gets others to come aware of the why behind their what. Do you take the time to reflect and be honest with yourself about why you’re chasing the things you are chasing? Often times, I meet with leaders who are so laser focused on their goals, yet they don’t know why they’re chasing them. It’s something the world chose for them or were told to by societies’ standards. So much so, they fail to take the time to reflect on why they are pursuing them and the cost it has taken on them. This is why it’s so important to take the time to reflect and ask yourself or have a coach ask you those powerful questions. For instance, we all have our challenges, but why are we challenged? What makes it challenging and how are you going to overcome it? Do you speak about, explore it and develop a plan to overcome it? What about when it is a personal challenge that you face in your own mind?

Being asked these types of curious questions forces you to explore beneath the surface of your sub-conscious. Only you have the answers, however, its’ in the exploring of that search that creating learning more about yourself. There is no wrong answer when you ask yourself these kinds of questions because they invoke further exploration.

Simon Sinek wrote a great book titled, Start with Why. In it, he states, sinek2

“Instead of asking, “WHAT should we do to compete?” the questions must be asked, “WHY did we start doing WHAT we’re doing in the first place, and WHAT can we do to bring our cause to life considering all the technologies and market opportunities available today?”

Your why should never change either. Sinek adds, “Regardless of WHAT we do in our lives, our WHY—our driving purpose, cause or belief—never changes”.

From a spiritual viewpoint and the most important one, you should be asking yourself, why am I doing this? Understanding your why, brings you closer to who God has called you to be. It forces you to be honest with yourself to ask am I going down this path for my own personal choice or am I following where God is leading me. When we lose sight of our why, we allow society or others to define it. Whereas, when you are strong and secure in who Christ has called you to be, you’re on a much firmer foundation and are able to see the bigger picture a little more clearer.