You Know When You've Got No Options?

In my experience there are always new options but our believes and fears prevent us seeing them. Most commonly, we want change, but we don't want to change anything - and this bends "there are no options I really like" into "there are no options".

>> This is how to flush out the options you can't currently see

What Can Coaching Do For My Business?

Here's what I told and enquirer:

Hi Richard, You say you're not making progress, you're stressed, your work/life balance is bent, and you want a change. The driving issue is your strategic direction.

You don't rate yourself as being busy, but you want more time for yourself, so, if we worked together I'd clarify that with you. You say you want to change your job, but you need to continue to service financial commitments - very normal. I'm not sure if you want to fix your strategic direction with your business - of if you want to ditch the whole thing. Perhaps you're not sure either - maybe you have no faith in the former and are afraid of the latter.

This is the kind of mess we often find ourselves in, and, by asking simple questions, coaches can really help clients sort out what's in their own heads. WORRY is a poor background to thinking clearly, so I often work on that with the client too, freeing up energy and creativity to apply it to the problem at hand.

New Managers - Baptism by Fire

Sometimes smart people make silly assumptions. If you can DO a thing really well, for example, it doesn’t mean to can teach it really well (my Maths lecturer at Uni springs to mind - brilliant, arrogant, and a monstrous teacher - a real destroyer of young souls). Similarly, if you can do a thing really well, it doesn't mean you can manage others who are doing it, really well.

If you're a fantastic phone support person, and you are suddenly made manager, you may well be in for a nasty shock. Management is a totally job, with totally different expectations and it requires a shift in attitude, the suppression of old behaviours, the emergence of new behaviours and the development of new skills.

This is where "Laura" found herself. I did an initial consultation for Laura yesterday. These 20-minute phone sessions are a way for people to try phone coaching cheaply. They can sound me out, see how it feels, and get some real help for £10.

Laura is a fantastic customer support agent but when she called me she was very tearful. Having been in her new managerial post for just a short time, she was already sinking in a sea of stuff that needed doing. She was not managing her 20 staff well; compliance with mandatory procedures was slipping, and there had been a complaint. She was working 12+ hour days, had no family life, and was massively stressed and miserable.

It's Done!

The final version is now published. It's massive - 19,500 words, 65 pages of tell-it-like-it-is gold dust on the reality of being a life coach and how to make it happen.

I told you about it last time, so I won't repeat it here, but you can buy yours via Google Checkout or Pay Pal now for rapid download.

Snap Up Your Personal Copy Here!

A dear friend sent me a link to this YouTube video. It's a touching combination of solid simple wisdom for life, illustrated touchingly by Monica Sheehan, animated and set to music.

>> Feel the Hugs

SPAM PROBLEM: In future, your newsletters will be sent to you from the new email address of news@chriswesley.org. Please add this email address to your address book and authorize it with your SPAM filter to continue to receive your newsletters.

Why? Newsletters are currently sent to you from cw7777@ntlworld.com, but we're beginning to see evidence that this email address is being spoofed - i.e. spammers are sending out their junk and making it look as though it came from me. This means SPAM filters around the world are beginning to block emails from cw7777@ntlworld.com. So - I'm moving to the new email address.