John Wayne Mullins What do you want, John? This is a question I’ve been asked several times and one I haven’t always had an answer to it. I think that’s why I believe in the power of coaching so much. It’s because when I allow a coach to coach me, I allow him/her into that sacred place of vulnerability where I can describe what it is I want to achieve looks like. Coaching allows me to uncover the answers that are only within me. That’s the difference between having a mentor and having a coach.
My mentor and leadership expert and author John C. Maxwell says,
“A clear picture of what I wanted to accomplish gave me the will to persist and the creative spirit to overcome barriers and make up for deficiencies”.
These barriers and deficiencies are false beliefs you allow yourself to believe. As a believer is Jesus Christ, I believe in Jeremiah 29:11. Here the Lord is telling Jeremiah, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. However, it’s in the pursuit of following God, I 
believe as you grow closer to Him, you’re going to be tried, test, and challenged, especially by the enemy who wants to keep you from God. It’s also in this pursuit, where you begin to transform, especially in your mind. A strong mind has the capacity to overcome challenges. What you believe, the body will follow. Leadership author Michael Hyatt states, “When a person is strong-minded, they have the energy and stamina to face a challenge without being robbed of inner strength”. If you allow barriers to form in your mind, you’ll keep yourself from believing you’re capable of achieving that dream.
Once you identify what you want to achieve, a few things need to occur.
1. Write it down. If you don’t know it, describe it.
A lot of times, we are unsure of what we want, but we have an idea of what it looks like. By describing it, you begin gaining clarity on what “it” really is and what steps you need to take to achieve it.
2. What is your purpose in it? What’s your role?
3. Identify your starting point. Where are you currently at? How healthy is your mindset? What roadblocks, false beliefs, or bs (bogus stories) are you believing about yourself?
4. What’s your strategy? How are you going to achieve it?
5. Find the creative tension. Imagine a rubber band – at one end is your current reality, on the other is your vision. In between the two places is a gap. It’s within this gap, creative tension can be found. Without a vision, nothing happens just as without awareness of your current reality, nothing happens; it’s the same day to day process. You need creative tension because it will pull you towards your vision.
6. Write out your plan and get to work. Just like your daily workouts, write out your daily, weekly, monthly activities.
7. Hire a Coach. A coach can help you identify the gap between your vision and your current reality by raising your awareness, forming a path, uncover false beliefs and move to closer, faster to where you want to be. I’m a big believer in a quote by John C. Maxwell, he said, “Teamwork makes the dream work”. Partnering with a coach is a great way to make your dream work.
8. Trust the process. As you put these principles into place, what you want to achieve will begin to come closer to you, this is true as an individual goal or as an organizational goal. As you stretch your thinking, the energy will pull you closer to it and then you need to keep doing this to keep the business or organization and its people growing.
