Category Archives: Results

He Who Trims Himself

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“He who trims himself to suit everyone will soon whittle himself away.”

—Raymond Hull, Canadian Playwright and Lecturer

Image of a person whittling on a piece of wood

Image from Unsplash by Nathan Lemon

In the best selling book, Give and Take by University of Pennsylvania professor, Adam Grant, we learn the pros and cons of being a “giver.”

Grant divides givers into two groups:

The first group have high other-interest and low self-interest. This can work against their giving nature; they burn out, or as put in today’s quote, whittle themselves away.

Conversely, the group Grant calls “other-ish,” maintain high self-interest along with high other-interest. This keeps them on an even keel and provides optimal results for themselves and others.

EXERCISE:

How can you more fully maintain your own self-interest and well-being while generously contributing to others in your professional and personal worlds?

The Last Page

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“Read the last page first.”

-Nora Ephron, American Journalist and Screenwriter

image from novelideareviews.com

image from novelideareviews.com

I never could understand why someone would ruin the story by reading the end of a book first. For me it was like being given the punch line to a joke without the story that led to it.

From a coach’s perspective, however, “reading the last page” can be highly useful.

Consider the process of envisioning a new and better personal and professional future. In this process, you would likely be asked to generate written visions, missions, and goals that represent the happy-ever-after future you desire. At that point, you can reverse engineer the measurable results and action steps that will lead you there.

EXERCISE:

How can reading the last page first on your most important professional and personal life stories act as a catalyst to make more of your dreams come true?

“Don’t try to teach a whole course in one lesson.”

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“Don’t try to teach a whole course in one lesson.”

—Kathryn Murray, Ballroom Dancer

Photo from Flickr by Shaver Ross

Photo from Flickr by Shaver Ross

Two months into the new year and already I see a large number of people frustrated, slowed down, or completely stopped in the pursuit of their personal and/or professional goals.

One of the most common reasons for setbacks is the desire and attempt to do too much too quickly, which results in being overwhelmed, losing focus, and of course, a lack of the anticipated results.

It is appropriate, in such situations, to regroup and establish a new course of action with far fewer steps and far more finite and reasonable expectations.

EXERCISE:

Select one – and only one – important professional or personal project that is not going as you desire where you have tried to do too much too quickly.

Break this project into smaller, more digestible nuggets and spread them out over a longer time frame, to achieve the results you wanted the first time.

“All you can do is all you can do.”

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“All you can do is all you can do.”

-Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle

All you can do-01

Tech entrepreneur and self-made billionaire Larry Ellison is one of the wealthiest men in America. He created Oracle, the second-highest selling software in the world.
Clearly he has been, and is, a pretty driven individual, to have reached this level of accomplishment.

What percent of his full mental, physical, emotional, and perhaps spiritual capabilities do you think he summons on a daily basis?

Now it is your turn. Examine your own levels of personal and professional accomplishments and check in with yourself. What percent of your fullest capacities have you accessed?

EXERCISE:

If you left it all on the field today by doing all you can do, what could you possibly get done? What results would you see in your life if you made this a daily practice?

“At the end of each day, you should play back the tapes of your performance. The results should either applaud you or prod you.”

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“At the end of each day, you should play back the tapes of your performance. The results should either applaud you or prod you.”

– Jim Rohn, entrepreneur, author, and motivational speaker

The gift of feedback from others, and the insights gained through self-reflection, are critical to coaching success. Without them, as Rohn notes, we are not sure if we are to celebrate our efforts or double-down to try something new on our next attempt.

Exercise:

Ask yourself the following questions at the end of your day, regarding your efforts in your personal and professional life:

1. What worked well that pleased you, and how can you build on that success tomorrow?
2. What did not work out today as you expected, and what new and different actions can you take tomorrow that would bring you the results you desire?

Consider asking these questions for a week and see if the habit of a daily playback improves your performance.

“Well done is better than well said.”

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“Well done is better than well said.”

– Ben Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers

Do you walk your talk? Based on this quote, Ben Franklin must have spent some time in Missouri, the “show-me” state.

We have all heard the phrase that “talk is cheap” and we all know that thoughts only become things when acted upon.

Exercise:

Get out three or four brightly colored Post-it notes and write the following on each of them: What is the most important thing to do now?

Place these Post-it notes in strategic places in your world, to increase your propensity for action.