Accomplishment Coaching

During a conversation earlier today, a client shared with me her frustration with how a project is going - or actually not going.  Between her teammates not completing a milestone on time, her boss inquiring for the third time on the status of her board presentation, and painful discomfort in her lower back (origin not currently known), she’s overwhelmed and confronted.  Adding to the situation was a phone call from her 10-year old asking if she’d actually be home for dinner any evening this week.

And so it goes climbing the ladder of accomplishment, praise and recognition.  For most of us, we’ve all logged in the 100’s of hours, the late nights, the back-to-back meetings and the neglect of our larger life.

It’s not surprising that our conversation turned quickly to her back.  “Herniated disk.  Did it playing volleyball.  Can’t seem to get rid of it.  Physical therapy is helping though.”  Her speaking painted the same picture.

Familiar story?  Lack of time & money, frustration, anxiety, overwhelm and the neglect of our well-being are expert “ease-vacuums.”

Plus, the aches, pains, illness and sickness we experience fall into the category of disease… think about it “dis” - “ease.”  Or in Webster’s word origin definition, “Without ease.”

I’m sure my client’s physical therapist is doing great work to alleviate the pain in my client’s back.  And I wonder how much faster she’d heal if she created more “ease”, let alone if she would have ever herniated her disk in the first place.

What are you doing to promote your “dis-ease?”  What are you doing to promote “more-ease?”

Imagine a world where we learned to say “no” to the urgent and unimportant, let what our boss said roll off our backs just a bit more, and invested more time in playing. 

You might just end up creating a world without disease.

Think about it,

-Coach Preston

Preston True Career Development, Leadership Development, Marketing, Spirituality Business Development, Career Development, Coaching, Entrepreneur, Leadership, Sales and Marketing

I’ve not counted the number of books in my bookshelf recently.  However, I can assure you there are just a few that really stand out.

Seth Godin’s, Linchpin, is nothing short of a masterpiece.

If you’re content with the status quo, this book will annoy the heck out of you.

If you’re ready to become who you truly are, this book will be magical.  Read it today.

-Coach Preston

Preston True Career Development, Leadership Development, Marketing, Spirituality Coaching, Entrepreneur, Leadership

Leadership is often thought of as a mysterious title or set of skills, available only to a priviledged few.  That is not the case.

Listen in to my interview with architect and carpenter, Roger Wade.  Roger shares an inspirational story of leading by example in family and career.

Listen in by clicking here.

Happy Listening,

-Coach Preston

Preston True Career Development, Leadership Development, Marketing, Spirituality Career Development, Leadership, Personal Development, Sales and Marketing

One of the guys in my Thursday morning men’s group asked the following question today:

“What will be different for you in 2010?”

I immediately became present to the difference this group has made for me - what a gift it has truly been.  For the past 18 months, I’ve been showing up every Thursday morning to explore my relationships, my faith and myself.  Our weekly conversations always invite me to make a difference rather than just accomplish something.

The New Year is a common time of reflection and promise for accomplishment.  Did you reach your goal(s) for 2009?  What do you want to accomplish for 2010?  As customary this process is, perhaps what’s more familiar is realizing the majority of us don’t reach many of our goals.

So what if following this habitual process strategizing accomplishment was actually the thing holding you back?  What if focusing on what you want to accomplish is actually the Achilles Heel you’re fervently seeking to overcome?

What if this year, rather than asking “what do I want to accomplish”, you ask “what difference will I make?”

What difference will you make if you:

• Took more risk?
• Embrace dangerous authenticity?
• Refuse to stop when confronted with obstacles?
• Create a deliberate and intimate relationship with God / Spirit?
• Forgive those who have caused you pain?
• Give up your insistence in looking good and got messy?
• Give up being separate, right and alone in exchange for creating relationships that make a difference?
• Replace 50% of your busy-ness with reading, walking, laughing, or just sitting still?

Consider taking some of these on.  2010 will be a new year of possibility, relationship and connection.  It will be a year of you making a difference.

Are you willing to accept you actually can and do make a difference?

What a gift that will be to us all.

Happy New Year,

- Coach Preston

Preston True Leadership Development, Marketing, Spirituality Faith and Business, Leadership, Personal Development, Spirituality

Notice is guaranteed

Expert marketer (and dare I say philosopher), Seth Godin, offered one of the most powerful ideas I’ve heard in years:

“The reason they want you to join them is, that once you do, then they can ignore you.”

How frequently do we want to fit in?  Isn’t that the lifeblood of most all communities?  So what could Seth Godin mean?

Perhaps leadership is what he’s inviting us to consider.

Leadership means:

• Being different when all others want you to be just like them
• Being outrageous when all others want to be safe
• Being loud when all others want to be quiet
• Being creative when all others choose to react
• Being responsible when all others prefer the familiarity of victimization
• Being on the margin when all others race for the middle

Communities, businesses, families and organizations require us to join them so they can thrive.  But joining them doesn’t have to mean subscribing to “sheepdom”.  Be willing to bring your crazy ideas, your over-the-top energy, your unrelenting pursuit of integrity, and your quest for excellence.

Leadership Practices:

1. Notice where you complain and don’t act in your business, family or community
2. Make a list of 20 things you’d like to change in your business or life
3. Starting today, make one of those changes - then make one change per day for the next 20 days
4. Practice asking “For what?” about and in all meetings and conversations - (Is the meeting and conversation truly in service to what you’re trying to create?)
5. Practice embracing and having compassion for criticism, upset and funny looks - avoiding those means you’ve moved to the middle
6. Make a list of your three favorite leaders and ask “What status quo are they unwilling to join?”

A bumper sticker on a neighbor’s car reads, “Women who behave will never make history.”

I love it.

Happy Attention-getting,

- Coach Preston

Preston True Leadership Development, Marketing, Spirituality Coaching, Entrepreneur, Faith and Business, Leadership, Personal Development, Professional Development