Tag Archives: reflection

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.”

Posted on by

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.”

– Edith Wharton, Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist

518Image from Flickr by Avijeet_Sachdev.

This quote immediately appealed to me as a great metaphor for the role of a coach. Much of the time, a coach’s focus is to help their clients discover, expand, and give off their light in the form of their vision, values, gifts, and talents.

At the same time, coaches often act as mirrors, reflecting back to each individual this same light to support and synergize with them in order to enhance their power, focus, and effectiveness.

Exercise:

How can you play the role of candle and mirror today as you support others and pursue your own excellence journey?

observation and reflection

Posted on by

“It’s on the strength of observation and reflection that one finds a way.”

– Claude Monet, French impressionist painter

Image of Monet Water Lillies painting

Image from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

This past summer, I had the opportunity to visit the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and saw some of Monet’s work. It is said that he rejected traditional approaches to landscape painting and instead of copying old masters, began learning from nature itself. He particularly took note of variations of color and light caused by daily or seasonal changes.

Exercise:

How can you find your own way to live your life and pursue your goals on your own strength of observation and reflection?

Consider checking out Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind, published in 2005, to exercise your right brain in what’s still a pretty left-brained world.

“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”

Posted on by

“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”

– Peter Drucker, management consultant and author

One of the most important elements of a coaching relationship is the gift of feedback. Many (if not most) of life’s greatest lessons occur following experiential learning, rather than head or book lessons. Drucker, who is considered by many as one of the great pioneers of modern leadership and management, knew this well over the course of his distinguished career.

Exercise:

Practice the following three-step self-coaching exercise to gain greater insight into your efforts and increase your effectiveness:

Step 1: Ask yourself what is working or not working regarding your current efforts.
Step 2: Reflect on what your desired goal or outcome is beyond the current status.
Step 3: Brainstorm alone or perhaps with a friend or colleague some new or different actions that will likely get you to your goal.

Feel free to repeat this process as often as needed.