Tag Archives: Barry Demp

As your consciousness expands

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“As your consciousness expands, your level of expectation will grow. Keep asking yourself, am I selling myself short? Most of us are.”

—John R. Spannuth, President/CEO of the USA Water Fitness Association

Image from www.mattcromwell.com

The coaching process usually helps people delve into new areas of perception, reconsidering their views of reality and what is possible. This expanded consciousness can either increase our courage to pursue new possibilities or generate fear which can make us stop, or even run in the opposite direction.

Exercise:

In what areas of your life are you selling yourself short due to fear?

How can you summon the courage of your expanded consciousness to foster and realize new possibilities in your professional and personal life?

“Live your truth. Express your love. Share your enthusiasm. Take action toward your dreams. Walk your talk. Dance and sing to your music. Embrace your blessings. Make today worth remembering.”

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“Live your truth. Express your love. Share your enthusiasm. Take action toward your dreams. Walk your talk. Dance and sing to your music. Embrace your blessings. Make today worth remembering.”

—Dr. Steve Maraboli, behavioral scientist and author

Image from Amazon

Today’s quote packs quite a punch. It is actually eight bite-sized pieces of coaching stuck together. Take a moment to separate each of these nuggets of wisdom and see how well you are doing in each area by rating yourself on a 1 – 10 scale.

Exercise:

Select at least one of these areas you wish to enhance today and in the coming weeks, and identify a specific action or two that will take you to the next level.

Feel free to choose a second, third, etc.

If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself

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“If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.”

– Albert Einstein, theoretical physicist

image of Einstein with children

Image from Encyclopedia Britannica

In the world of physics, perhaps no-one is more famous than Albert Einstein. He is best known for the formula E = mc2 where E =energy, m stands for mass and c represents the speed of light.

There is genius in simplicity, in that it brings ideas and insight into our lives. Compare programming your first VCR with the simplicity of many of our plug-and-play devices today.

Exercise:

Look up the term “Occam’s Razor” and explore how making things in your life simpler is a road toward unleashing your own genius and creating a more user-friendly, workable world.

“Habit is the daily battle-ground of character.”

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“Habit is the daily battleground of character.”

—Dan Coats, 20th Century American politician and diplomat

Image from Unsplash by Prophsee Journals

I agree with the quote above, and disagree with it at the same time.

Let’s start where I disagree. Many of us engage in a variety of not-so-wonderful habits that would be called “character flaws” by many. These habits include eating junk food, not exercising, and spending money we don’t have, leaving us in debt.

On the other hand, the good and noble habits that demonstrate character often occur initially as a battle-ground, due to the need to go outside our comfort zones.

Most people of high character would suggest that the rewards of these habits are well worth it – and over time they become far less of a struggle to maintain.

Exercise:

Choose one of your current undesirable habits and promise yourself (and those around you) that you will replace it with one that demonstrates your highest character.

If you would like additional help with this and other habits you may wish to develop, consider purchasing and implementing the strategies in the book The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg:  charlesduhigg.com/the-power-of-habit

one corner of the universe

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“There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.”

– Aldous Huxley, author

Photo by John Sting on Unsplash

Those of you who have been reading The Quotable Coach for some time may know that in my first career 30 years ago I was a science teacher. Two subjects I found most fascinating were astronomy and physics.

Entropy (“the degree of disorder and randomness of a system”) is constantly at work expanding the universe and bringing disorder to our world. Fortunately, as Huxley suggests, we can use our own energies to counter this disorder and design the world as we desire.

Exercise:

How will you use your energy today to improve your corner of the universe?

How can you combine your energies with others to make even larger improvements in your world?

“Don’t compromise yourself. You’re all you’ve got.”

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“Don’t compromise yourself. You’re all you’ve got.”

– Janis Joplin, singer-songwriter

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Earlier this month, my family celebrated the wedding of my daughter Rachel in Sanibel Island, Florida. It was simply the best event I’ve ever attended. The venue was a secluded beach, complete with close family and friends. We also got the bonus of a beautiful rainbow, an inspiring sunset, and even some dolphins swimming by.

Videographers, photographers, great food, a beautiful venue and dancing till midnight were just some of the things that made it special.

The credit for these memories goes to many people, especially my extraordinary wife Wendy and my beautiful daughter for never compromising their vision of a fairy-tale wedding come true.

Exercise:

What could you achieve by not compromising? How can you take a step closer to your highest vision today?

Break Our Own Records

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“Our business in life is not to get ahead of others but to get ahead of ourselves, to break our own records, to outstrip our yesterday by outperforming today.”

– Stewart B. Johnson, artist

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One of the key concepts I use in my work as a coach is “creative tension.” I came across this term in Robert Fritz’s book The Path of Least Resistance, published in 1989. It points to the power of a better future to literally pull us from our current realities, to act each day to make that future a reality.

We have the opportunity to become better than ourselves in any areas we wish.

Exercise:

Select one area in your personal or professional life where you wish to outperform your current self. Develop a project action plan with a coach, colleague, friend, mentor, or family member to help you break your own records and outstrip your yesterdays.

Consider replying to this message and let me know which area you select, for a bit more accountability.

“Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining.”

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“Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save. They just stand there, shining.”

– Anne Lamott, novelist and non-fiction writer

Image of a lighthouse battered by huge waves

St. Joseph, Michigan North Pier Lighthouse

As a coach, my business is a bit unusual in that I now hold most of my coaching sessions via video conference. Instead of running all over town to meet with each client, I created a secure harbor in a calm and confidential location, removed from the often hectic rushing around that comprises many people’s days.

Exercise:

Where are you currently running all over your personal and professional “island” looking for boats to save?

How could you let your own shining light act as a beacon to bring greater sanity, security and success into your world?

“A true friend never gets in your way…”

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“A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down.”

– Arnold H. Glasow, author

Image from blog.bcwinstitute.org

Image from blog.bcwinstitute.org

Do you know who your true friends are? Today’s quote presents a bit of a test to help you identify the good ones. These are the people who support us in living our best lives and stand for us being all we can be.

At the same time, they are also the people who are there during life’s challenging and difficult times to lend us a shoulder to lean on – or carry us completely when things are at their darkest.

Exercise:

Thank the friends around you for being there in both good and difficult times, and while doing so, look within yourself to see how you stack up as a friend to others.

A lesson taught with humor

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 “A lesson taught with humor is a lesson retained.”

– Ruth K. Westheimer, aka “Dr Ruth”, sex therapist

One of the primary reasons I chose to pursue the profession of coaching 20 years ago was because of the considerable shortcomings of other forms of training and development. We all have books, binders, tapes and seminar folders sitting on our shelves that are barely remembered, and collecting dust.

Coaching is all about stickiness and sustainability, where the lessons learned often – in an experiential way – stay with us and become habituated.

Humor, as Dr. Ruth suggests, is a great way to make an idea or experience memorable, sticky and sustainable.

Exercise:

Where can you add a bit – or a bunch – of humor and fun to lessons being shared in both your professional and personal worlds?

Google the phrase “the use of humor to support learning” and see what you learn.