David: Well, I think you’re pretty much there. It’s just details now. So I would love it, when you get a moment tomorrow, to send me a quick email, just letting me know how it went. You know, however it goes, that’s how it’s going to go. Also, would you please email me with what you would say to your grandparents? You’ve just done some awesome communication here with me. So, similar vein: what is there; what can you be responsible for; what can you ask for? You know, just the truth for you. Get it out. Send it to me in a way that feels powerful to you and if I can add anything to it, I’ll get back to you on it.
Client: Okay. Sounds really good.
David: You’ve got two weeks to do some stuff, so it’s great that you said to me, ‘Look I’m feeling pretty empowered and I know what I’ve got to do.’ So, you’re going to work on the ‘clean sweep’. Keep getting it moving – keep cleaning up. I’m going to send you something called the ‘Who Am I’ questions and that’s for you to start looking at who you are as a coach. You’ll have some time to look at that. Do it early in the week, so that you can then think about it and readdress it over the next seven days. Then you can send it to me with your self-coaching form.
The following is an excerpt of an actual transaction between David and a client in Top Coaching Techniques.
David: Okay. So that’s a good example. You’re walking on the edge of the concept. You may have it. I just want to check. One great example of this is you decide to bake a cake for somebody. Halfway through baking it, a TV show is on and you start getting pissed off, because you’re baking a cake instead of watching TV.
Client: I do it all the time.
David: Right. That’s called being irresponsible
Client: Yes, that’s exactly what I am.
David: And that’s okay. It’s a human thing, but it’s like, ‘I decided this and now I wish I were doing something else. Maybe I made a wrong decision then.’ It’s a load of crap. It’s really just a way of making yourself wrong in life.
So, the making a cake is a great example. Now let’s look at a business. You choose a business like the cake – you choose it. Stuff might come up and you go, ‘Oh, I wish I was doing yoga right now.’ So, if you say, ‘I made the choice and this is what I am going to do. This is what I prefer – to have the business over the yoga.’
Client: Yeah. I choose and therefore I make a commitment.
The following is an excerpt of an actual transaction between David and a client in Top Coaching Techniques.
David: I’ve got an idea. Is it possible that at least one day out of the past 365 that you’ve set yourself targets that cannot actually be achieved in a day?
Client: [Laughing] Yes. A lot more than one, I would think.
David: Is it possible that could be a factor in your frustration?
Client: Yes, probably so.
David: Right.
Client: That’s why it is hard to not get frustrated if you have goals, and don’t achieve them. It’s a permanent state of frustration.
David: I can relate. I spent most of the last year in that space. At the end of each day I was constantly frustrated because I wouldn’t have achieved everything that I had said I wanted to. I have some quotes for you that will set the scene, and then I’ll get practical. So, ‘When you die, your inbox will not be empty.’ Right?
Client: Yeah.
David: Actually, I’m going to leave it at one quote. So that’s always going to happen. Now, I wonder what it would be like for you, I really do, to set targets for the next 7 days that you could actually hit – and hit them.
