Tag Archives: The Quotable Coach

Committed but Flexible

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“Stay committed to your decisions but stay flexible in your approach.”

– Tony Robbins, motivational speaker

528Image from Flickr by Shar Ka.

One of my primary goals as a coach is to support the organizations I work with in building coaching cultures. Very few people would disagree with this commitment to help each individual and the organization as a whole realize their fullest potential.

Critical to this journey are the skills of inspired leadership and empowered management. My experience over the years has shown that, with sufficient collaboration and cooperation, creating alignment toward these common objectives is very achievable – yet complete agreement with all the tactics necessary to realize their over-arching future rarely occurs. As today’s quote points out, staying flexible in your approach is essential.

Exercise:

Today, and in the days and weeks ahead, focus on your receptivity to “buying into” important group goals. Inform the people around you that you are absolutely open and willing to be flexible in your approaches to reach these new objectives.

“Stories can conquer fear, you know. They can make the heart bigger.”

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“Stories can conquer fear, you know. They can make the heart bigger.”

– Ben Okri, Nigerian poet

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Image from Flickr by woodleywonderworks

In the coming days, pay particular attention to the stories people tell in your professional and personal life. You can even examine the stories told in the books you read, the shows you watch, and the other forms of media you engage with.

Notice the stories that tug at your heart strings and move you deeply. The common theme is when someone summons the courage from some deeply held belief or commitment to overcome a barrier that seems improbable (or even impossible) to conquer.

Exercise:

Consider picking up a copy of one of the many Chicken Soup for the Soul books by Jack Canfield. The subtitle for the original book reads “101 stories to open the heart and rekindle the spirit.”

“The first great gift we can bestow on others is a good example.”

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“The first great gift we can bestow on others is a good example.”

—Thomas Morell, English librettist and scholar

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Image from Flicker by svenlohmeyer

Organizations often engage coaches to support the growth and development of their key people. They see these engagements as investments that can pay huge dividends as they create a culture of coaching.

Of paramount importance to these efforts is the fact that these key leaders and managers are setting an example for their teams, by demonstrating their own coachability and openness to change.

Exercise:

Who in your personal or professional life sets a great example for you to follow?

What can you do to set an even better example for others in your life?

What Weighs You Down

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“It is hard to fly when something is weighing you down.”

– Unknown

weighing

My health club is one of the largest in the region. It includes all the regular exercise facilities you might expect, plus some extras such as tennis courts, basketball courts, swimming pools, and even a climbing wall.

I’ve noticed some of the fittest and most competitive athletes adding extra weights to their ankles or waists, to weigh themselves down and make their normal athletic efforts even more difficult.

When they remove them and are no longer weighted down, they experience a lightness and an added strength that lets them fly a bit higher and further.

Exercise:

Identify the circumstances and issues that weigh you down.

How can you use these personal and professional challenges as a resource to build your capacity to fly once you remove them completely from your life?

hiding in the crowd

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“The world will never discover a person who is hiding in the crowd.”

– Dr. Mardy Grothe, psychologist

520Image from Flickr by Si1very.

When my children were young, we would often play a searching game with them called “Where’s Waldo?” The books in this series consisted of detailed double-spread illustrations depicting dozens or hundreds of people doing amusing things at a given location.

Readers were challenged to find Waldo, a slender, glasses-wearing, nerdy character sporting a red and white striped shirt, bobble hat, and blue trousers.

Unfortunately, most people don’t like taking the time to find the “Waldos” of opportunity in their world. They much prefer opportunities to stand out in the world shouting, “Here I am!”

Exercise:

What special efforts can you make or what goal can you accomplish today that will have you stand out from the crowd?

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

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“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?

“The will to win … the will to achieve … goes dry and arid without continual renewal.”

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“The will to win … the will to achieve … goes dry and arid without continual renewal.”

—Vince Lombardi, American football coach

Image from Flickr by Harry Thomas Photography

Every weekend I have my list of household chores and duties. Among these responsibilities is watering a wide variety of plants. Frequently I will find one or two in a somewhat wilted state.

Seemingly within minutes of giving these plants a drink, I notice that they are once again renewed, reaching out with their leaves to secure their full share of sunshine.

Exercise:

As water renews a plant, what strategies can you employ to maintain, or perhaps expand, your will to achieve and win?

Please consider replying to share your most effective ideas for personal renewal. Thank you.

we are challenged to change ourselves

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“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

– Victor Frankl, Austrian psychologist and Holocaust survivor

Image from likesuccess.com

Image from likesuccess.com

 This has been a particularly challenging week for a number of my clients, colleagues, friends and even family members. Unfortunately many of the situations they found themselves in were not within their control.

As Ari Weizweig, the CEO of Zingerman’s said, we’re not always living on “planet fair.” Feeling the upset and acknowledging it is a key first step to experiencing freedom from anger that could continue to poison our perceptions, attitudes and relationships.

Assuming the responsibility to change yourself in such situations means you are going to move forward and work toward a positive value-centered future as quickly as possible.

Exercise:

Acknowledge at least one upsetting event in your personal or professional life where you are not able to change the situation.

Determine how you will change your perception, attitude or behavior and regain the freedom to move confidently forward in your life.

making successful human beings

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“It is not what you do for your children but what you have taught them to do for themselves that will make them successful human beings.”

– Ann Landers, famous advice columnist

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Image from Flickr by EWULibraries

Consider for a moment that effective parenting is like coaching. Instead of simply pouring ourselves into our children or our clients, we take an inside-out approach to help them discover the wisdom within – and thus help them discover who they truly are. Lessons learned in this manner seem to have a far greater influence and impact.

Just five minutes ago, I received a call from my daughter Rachel, who was finishing her workday serving her clients at 9.30 p.m. on a Friday night. Listening to her go the extra mile to serve others was a very satisfying moment for me as a proud dad.

Exercise:

How can you use your coaching skills to bring out the best in your children, colleagues, friends and even clients?

“Words empty as the wind are best left unsaid.”

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“Words empty as the wind are best left unsaid.”

– Homer, Greek poet

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Image from Flickr by goldberg

To say that we live in an over-communicated world is an understatement. Homer, who lived around the eighth century BC, suggests through this quote that some words are full of value while others are empty and worthless.

If you had to pay the people you met and spoke with today for the value of what they shared, what would that value be? Take a moment to review some of these interactions to assess their worth. Which were of least or even negative value, and would have been better left unsaid?

Exercise:

Consider your communication with others in your world. How often are you sharing pearls of wisdom and value? How often should your inner thoughts be left unsaid? Imagine the impact on the world if everyone did this.