The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.

We asked the question: “What do you do?” and “If you did specialize in a target group, what might that be?” Here we look at the issue in much more depth.

It’s important to get clear on what it is you’re out to make happen for people. You’ll start with the intellectual stuff: “er… I help people set and achieve goals, which inspire…”. Balderdash! You want to get right down to it, in clear English that everyone can understand.

Here are some examples:

“I help people do whatever it is they need to do so they have zero regrets at the age of 80.”

“I ask people ‘What do you want?’ and ‘What are you doing about it?’”

“I help people get off the fence, and start living their life.”

“I help people get clear on what’s really important to them, and then keep them in action!”

“I insist people live the life they were born for.”

“I have my clients stop waiting.”

“I work with women who are not ecstatic in their relationship, to help them get exactly what they want and deserve from the relationship.”

Does that help? You want to get clear on WHY you are a coach and what you want for people.

The following is an excerpt from the CoachStart Manual.

Here are ten great reasons to become a coach:

1. Continual personal growth

2. Your personal development is tax deductible!

3. Contribute to people/the world and see concrete results

4. Work from home (no travel!)

5. Flexible hours (you choose them)

6. Earn a good income – good coaches get paid well

7. VERY low overhead

8. Options to expand into many fields including speaking, seminars, and book writing

9. Excitement of running your own business: choosing your own niches and marketing channels (e.g. radio interviews), creating your own web site etc.

10. Can work while overseas, on the ski slopes, or at the beach (seriously, I’ve done it).

I’ve just struggled through a pretty intense book, and pulled out some interesting gems which I’ll quote here.

At the end I’ll ask:

What are your thoughts? Do you resonate with any of this in your life? How have you learned to overcome it?

“(Most people spend) the bulk of their journey suffering the loss of relationship with their own best selves.”

“Who among us (can be) capable of agape or “disinterested love” i.e. love wholly invested in the well being of the other, without the shadow of self-interest cruising beneath the surface like a surly shark?”

“Consider the courage of those truly willing to look within and own what they find.”

“It is the nature of our condition that we long for the Other. As life began with the primal separation from the Other, so we seek, for ever, to return. In our age we may even be said to have a culture of longing. We long for the Gods who went underground. We long for connections, the fixes. We are all addicted, seeking connection through chemical substances, money and power, and most of all through the Magical Other. We long for nurturance, for safe harbor, for completion.”

“…has left us stranded on an isle of narcissism, alone, afraid, self-absorbed, and longing for some Other to save us.”

“More people look for salvation through relationship than in houses of worship.”

“…At least one partner must be extremely and overtly needy, with the other needing to be needed – thus
co-dependence, a state in which both are emotionally constricted and developmentally stuck, fused in the
psychologically naïve fantasy that the Other can truly take care of them. Welcome to ‘happy neurosis island.’”

“…and yet he refused commitment, for therein lay the profound abyss of his childhood fear of being abandonded.”

“Rarely is this progression (in the later stages of relationship, when projections dissolve) welcomed as a
chance for personal growth, or as an opportunity to know who the Other really is, if not the one we thought we’d hooked up with.”

“…where he can move into uncharted territories to seek and find the anguish and terror of total realization and discover that he can survive.”

“But when we can comfort our frightened child, stand watch on the ramparts of our own soul, then we may experience transformation.”

“We may even come to bless those who have most hurt us, for they have most contributed to our transformation. We may even love them, allowing them to be who they are, even as we struggle to be ourselves on the journey toward our own destined end.”

* * *

I’d like to hear your thinking on this:

What are your thoughts? Do you resonate with any of this in your life? How have you learned to overcome it?

Taken from “The Eden Project: In Search of the Magical Other” by James Hollis

I’ll be in Calgary July 10-15 inclusive, and would like to connect with you, and others in the SolutionBox, coaching, or motivational and spiritual communities.

I have an impulse around creating an evening where anyone can come and ask questions about sharing your gift with the world and gettingpaid for it, building a professional practice,or internet marketing.

I could speak to an existing gathering/meeting, or we could create our own – which would requirea space, someone to set it up etc. I don’t think we’d charge for it, unless it was a nominal $20 which went to charity, or to cover the cost ofthe space.

An alternative (or as well as) to a talk/speech could be drinks at a fun, quiet, bar. I’d really enjoy that too.

1) Does a speech/teaching type event call to you?
2) Does a social event call to you?
3) What if anything, do you propose?

Please post your comments using the comments link below.

David

FUN INVITATION
I just watched the movie ‘August Rush’, and loved it.

Further, I had a very deep insight afterwards that affects and supports my coaching, my marketing, and my purpose. I encourage and challenge you to watch the movie in the next 7 days, and post any insights you have about your purpose – what you’re up to in the world – at this link:

http://tinyurl.com/3k4xto (or click ‘add comment’ below)

(If you’ve seen it recently – then feel free to post now!)

ONLY ONCE YOU’VE WATCHED IT…
Once you’ve watched (or re-watched the movie), then listen to MY insight here:

August Rush – 3 minute audio

And I hope you’ll post your own insights. I found the movie very moving, and hope you do to.

David

I just quit my job.

Which might sound strange since I work for myself.

I’m burned out – been working too hard, to the point where every waking and sleeping moment was about work. Everything blurred to the point that I forget what a day off looks like.

The results got too important – I got attached to the outcome, and started to feel a lot of pressure to make things happen. (Which is ridiculous!)

So I quit. At least for the next four days I’m only going to do what I want to do. As my good friend Nicole Daedone said: “It just has to feel good”.

If I don’t want to speak to groups – I won’t speak. If it feels like too much pressure to put the pitch and sales stuff together, I won’t worry whether I sell anything at the end of the speech. I’m done going for book endorsements unless they feel natural and fun. And I’ve chilled out about selling it to a publisher. (In my mind it’s already sold and published, and it will do how it’s going to do).

I don’t have to earn any money in the next 12 months. I don’t have to sell one product. I don’t have to travel anywhere I don’t want to, or for longer than I want. I don’t have to hang out with anyone I don’t want to – regardless of the business opportunity they might bring. I don’t ~need~ to write a book, and if I do, I don’t need anyone to buy it.

Being hyperfocused can be a gift. I get enormous things done in a short period of time. And…there’s balance.

Will this last past Dec 27? I don’t know. But it’s feeling good right now, and I’m enjoying LOST and reading up on the environment.

So I quit.

I quit my own job.

David