Monthly Archive for April, 2011

Wow! What a sensational few days we’ve had. It’s great to see a spring in the step of everyone as we return to our beautiful world here at The Coaching Institute. Sharing experiences of what we did over our days off and stepping into this short week with energy and passion always at the ready. So…..how did your days turn out? Did you focus on what was important to you? Did you take the time out to share a special celebration with your family and friends? Did you stop and appreciate what is within your world right now, and how your journey as a coach in our one of our many fantastic programs is going to change your world forever, if you choose this? Did you celebrate what you have achieved already, and get really clear on the results that you want to achieve so you can develop your own level of mastery, and make that difference for others? How sensational is a world where we can share our achievements, seek assistance and guidance on challenges and truly celebrate what is important to us while at the same time contributing to this ever growing coaching community! If you haven’t done so already, go back to your goals and check them out. Are they still relevant? What has changed and what do you need to do to take new action? Get back to basics, revisit your goals, make sure you are on track. Make sure your goals are not just S.M.A.R.T – make sure they also include what you intend to DO, BE and HAVE to live life on YOUR terms…….

Scattered thoughts result in a scattered action and energy. Focussed thoughts result in focussed action and retention of your energy, as you know clearly what your priorities are. When you are experiencing overwhelm, ‘brain dump’ all thoughts out of your head, then critically look at what is urgent and important as opposed to what is important but not urgent. Focus on the urgent and important tasks first then the important but not urgent tasks next. Remember that 80% of your results come from 20% of our actions (also known as Pareto’s Principle Rule). By visualising your goals, chunking down into actions as appropriate and prioritising your time you will be focussed. Do you know someone who is scattered? Do they run around being ‘busy’ with not enough time to do everything they want to do? Is that you? At The Coaching Institute we teach our students how to prioritise their time. Have a productivity journal, make sure you plan well, say no when you mean no, take some time at the end of each day to start your next day’s list then review it before you start it the next day. Avoid being side tracked by keeping your journal by your side. And if you find that you keep putting a task off then ask yourself is it truly a priority or is it serving you in some way to put it off? Share your goals with those that you know will support you. Keep learning and keep growing and prioritise your time. And take up with a study buddy who shares your commitment to learning, growth and achievement! Enjoy the journey! And stop occasionally to smell the roses……

At The Coaching Institute this week our group of (soon to be) NLP Master Practitioners, are carrying around something that arouses curiosity. We won’t reveal what they are carrying around however it did get us thinking about how symbolic this item is, and the process involved in releasing old beliefs, fears and limitations that we put on ourselves and deciding in a moment new beliefs that will result in successful outcomes. 
This item serves as an anchor for these students, constantly reminding them of the transformation they are about to experience.  And then it got us thinking about how beneficial anchoring can be. Anchoring to new beliefs that set you up for success is of great benefit. An effective way of embedding these new beliefs into your unconscious mind is by turning up the kinesthetic, visual, auditory and auditory digital modalities so that you link them to this new belief. Anchoring to positive, success focussed beliefs is a sensational way to introduce these beliefs into your unconscious mind. Think about it. We use anchoring every day in so many ways. Who doesn’t have a favourite song that just gets you in a great mood? Who doesn’t have a favourite shirt or jumper, when you put it on, you experience an immediate uplift in mood. And the opposite occurs with anchoring that produces negative results. What about when there’s a traffic jam? Does it raise negative emotions in you? Do you immediately become frustrated, angry or even worse, a driver who puts their own life and others at risk purely because you have anchored these negative responses to this type of event. If so, do you realise that this is because you’ve anchored those feelings which will appear for you each time you step into that situation? So….what’s the purpose of sharing this with you? Well, what a fantastic opportunity it is to realise that you can change any response that you have to one of a positive mindset. What a fantastic opportunity it is to make sure that all your anchors benefit you rather than limit you or affect you in some negative way? The Easter break is coming up, and this is an ideal time to look around your own environment and identify your anchors and decide whether these serve you or not. Reflect on how you go about your day and identify the anchors that you use, and again decide whether these serve you or not. Reflect on how you greet your family in the morning when the household is awake, or the way you greet the first person you see when you start your day. Break through the negative anchors and release them so you can become the person you desire to be, and replace the negative anchorse with anchors that serve you well and set you up for success in any area of your life, and for those that you love. There is a lot of information out there on anchoring. At The Coaching Institute we share this technique with students in many ways, including all our NLP training programs. So go ahead, and start replacing your old anchors that no longer serve you with anchors that will serve you now and into your future. And…..our NLP Master Practitioner students? The experience they have in releasing old beliefs that no longer serve them is an incredible empowering experience that brings transformation on a level that only participants of this program can truly know.

It’s not often that we truly examine how well balanced our lives are, and then knowing what we need to do and be to achieve a better balance. As coaches it is important for us to understand how well balanced our own lives are and what actions we can take to improve, which then enables us to coach others on their life balance, because we then represent the aspirational goal our clients are seeking to be. One way to work through this is to draw yourself a wheel and divide this into specific categories: Business/Career, Money, Health, Family, Relationships, Personal Growth, Fun Time and Physical Environment. Divide it up as you would a pie, into equal pieces. Imagine that each line of the wheel was a spoke in the wheel, and the centre of the wheel represents 0% satisfaction and fulfilment in that specific category /area of your life, and the outside of the spoke in the wheel represents 100% satisfaction. Draw a line in each area of your life on where you currently are. After you have done that, imagine that this wheel was part of a car you were driving. What kind of ride would you have? Would it be a slow old ride because your satisfaction was low or would it be a smooth fast ride because of the level of satisfaction in your life? And if it is a slow old ride, what action can you start today to improve your ride? What matters most to you in life? Are you putting the focus and energy into areas of your life that matter the most? Exploring ways to balance off your ride will allow you to live life on your terms.