by Tom Morgan | Mar 10, 2021 | Self Awareness
The holidays are an interesting time. It can be a time of joy, excitement, and anticipation. It can also be stressful. Holiday get-togethers can be loud and crowded.
Add to that the fact that you still resent what Uncle Bill did last Christmas, and the possibility that your cousin might have Covid-19, and the holidays just got even more stressful.
Holidays can also be expensive! The cost of gifts, travel, and extra food can really add up in a hurry.
Keep these tips in mind to help reduce holiday stress:
1. Take breaks as needed. Sometimes, a little family can go a long way. Family get-togethers can be wonderful, but they can also wear you out in a hurry.
● There’s no shame in taking a break and going for a walk, heading to the store, or finding a quiet place in the house to recharge your batteries.
2. Get some sun. The days are shorter in the northern hemisphere during the winter months. Many people are sensitive to not getting enough sunlight. Sit by a window with good sun exposure and get all the sunlight you can for an hour each day. You’ll feel less stressed. Use the time to read a book or make phone calls.
3. Eat well. With all the cookies, pies, candy, and other unhealthy foods so prevalent this time of year, it’s even more important to focus on your diet than usual. Eating a lot of junk food leads to a stressed body. Be kind to yourself and keep your food intake as healthy as possible.
4. Make the choice to be as happy as possible. Decide to enjoy the holidays as much as you can. Choose to be optimistic. Your attitude colors your perception.
● Expect good things to happen and you’ll be more likely to enjoy yourself.
5. Expect some chaos, too. The holidays bring chaos. Bad weather, more traffic, travel, crowds, and more people than you’re used to dealing with in your home.
● Expect that nothing will go as planned and decide to enjoy the holidays anyway. Chances are, things will turn out better than you thought they would.
6. Avoid scheduling too much. Trying to do too much can create stress regardless of the time of year.
● Plan to see the people that are most important to you and skip the rest.
● Give yourself days off.
● Only attend the parties that are most important to you. Strive for quality over quantity.
7. Be grateful. It’s easier to relax and enjoy yourself when you feel grateful. You worry less about the mishaps, inconveniences, and perceived slights when gratitude is in your heart. Remember, you have a lot to be grateful for!
8. Stay within your budget. The holidays are stressful enough without creating more stress by overspending. Avoid the trap of believing that you have to spend a lot of money to make someone happy. Gifts are soon forgotten, but the bills can last a long, long time.
9. Plan a day of rest. Plan days off during the holidays. Use this time however you please. You can do whatever you want with your day off. Consider giving yourself a day off before and after big get-togethers. You might need it!
Enjoy the holidays but do what you can to minimize the amount of stress involved. With careful planning and a little optimism, you can have a great holiday season that you’ll remember fondly for years to come. Make this holiday season the least stressful you’ve ever had.
by Tom Morgan | Mar 10, 2021 | Self Awareness
How does coaching really work? If you asked 100 different Coaches that question, you would get 100 different answers!
Why is the question so subjective? Because it’s all about YOU – your perception, abilities, skills, life experience, and your application of the basic principles of Coaching.
Then, of course, you must also factor in the Client – their circumstances, abilities, focus, life experiences, plans, and their willingness and ability to adapt and change.
…and that’s without even getting to the “niche” stuff!
Let’s look at a working definition of coaching:
Coaching is a straightforward but often complex (see above!) methodology for support and/or guidance for either an individual or group that can be applied to virtually any topic, business, or philosophy.
It’s a cooperative, collaborative, interactive partnership that employs targeted questions and reflective listening to enable and inspire clients to resolve their outstanding issues.
Coaching is About Communication
In short, Coaching is all about advanced communication. It’s a practical application of skills, wisdom, and life philosophy that you learn exclusively by doing.
It’s about a cooperative, collaborative partnership with someone where your sole intention is to help them get the very best out of themselves.
It can only be effective if you as the Coach have absolutely no attachment at all to the outcomes they create for themselves. After all, from the client’s perspective, this is their life to live, and all the decisions they make and all the actions they take are entirely their own responsibility, right?
They must own their own life, and everything that happens in it. Personal responsibility is important to us all.
Your job as a Coach is simply to challenge their thinking with the use of meaningful questions in a way that helps them make effective decisions and then take effective actions.
You must also keep them focused on the task at hand as long as it’s necessary to get the job done.
Who Hires a Coach?
Mainly, two kinds of people hire a Coach:
● Those who are at the top of their game and want to get better
● Those who aspire to be at the top of their game and want to get there as quickly and efficiently as possible
Consider this:
● Every major sports star has a coach.
● Every major entertainer has a coach.
● Every major entrepreneur has a coach.
Why? Because it makes perfect sense to do so! It saves time and money, the two most important issues for the most successful people in any field of endeavor. It also relieves clients of the burden of a lot of trial and error too.
Coaching clients will always be strong people: people with character, a strong sense of purpose, and a desire to get things done …and the quicker the better.
That’s why Coaches find the profession so exciting! The variety also adds so much color to everything they experience.
How Can You Become a Great Coach?
Without reservation, the answer is: Your Clients will teach you everything you need to know!
You Learn by DOING!
Consider the story of Usain Bolt. How did he become the fastest man on the planet?
By going to a seminar? Reading a book? Watching a DVD? Going to a class? Reading a Manual? Of course not. He RAN! Maybe not so fast at first, but he ran.
Then he learned about the importance of a great start and a great finish. So, he practiced getting really good at his starts and finishes. Then he tried to cut as much space out of the bit in between as possible.
He practiced, adjusted, modified, adapted and changed …all during the time he was running. He had to learn BY doing, WHILE doing.
That’s how all the greats do it, and so will you. Coaching is no different. There is no other way.
But it’s easier, more fun, and much more fulfilling than you think. It’s a very vibrant, in the moment, way of connecting and communicating with clients to create beneficial outcomes about anything and everything that they have on their mind NOW.
Even the Client Learns by DOING
There can be no benefit from Coaching without making decisions and taking action. Just knowing about something doesn’t count for much. It’s the application of that knowledge in the form of decision making and taking inspired action that creates the results.
Being decisive and taking action on important issues has the ability to change your world. Resistance to change drops like a stone when you have tangible results that matter. That’s how we find the courage to step out and change things.
Coaching is Both Evolutionary and Revolutionary
Coaching is evolutionary because the more clients you work with the more skilful and refined you become in your abilities to help them.
It’s revolutionary because it has the ability to create massive and positive change for both the client and the Coach at the same time.
And yet there is no magic to it. There are no secrets to learn either.
It’s simply a form of advanced communication that the Coach, through practice, and the client, through cooperation and collaboration, benefit from over time.
There is no better methodology for creating lasting, permanent change.
Imagine how many people you can help, entrepreneurs you can enable to make their dreams come true, and valuable relationships you’ll forge!
So, go out there and change the world!
by Tom Morgan | Mar 10, 2021 | Daily Affirmation
The older I get the more I realize that love is the most powerful thing in the Universe. I am grateful that I still have time to create a legacy of love. It is never too late to change.
Love is all that really matters.
When I look around me now, all I see is love and a call for love. From my expanded perspective, I now see where I can be of service to love.
Now that I have learned to fill my own cup up first with all the love I need, I need not look outside myself for love. I am complete within myself. I no longer need others to fulfill me. I am full. I am complete.
I am Love.
From this expanded experience of love, I can give from a place of selfless service and unconditional love. I have infinite love.
As I tap into this greater love, I know where I am needed. I know who could use my assistance. I am guided as to where to serve.
I recognize when I need to pull back and replenish myself.
Today, from this new balanced state of being, I experience balanced reciprocity. I think globally and act locally. I live a sustainable life. I contribute to the whole. I live a legacy of love.
Self-Reflection Questions:
1. What can I do to create a legacy of love?
2. Who would most benefit from my love?
3. How can I stay in balanced reciprocity with myself and others?
by Tom Morgan | Mar 9, 2021 | Self Awareness
You will never know just how energized working with a Coach can make you, how sharp and productive you can be, and how much fun you can have in the process, until you have experienced it.
Think about it, has there ever been anything in your life you have made a sensible assessment of while standing on the outside, poking it with a stick?
It’s not possible to make a rational assessment of anything unless you engage with it, explore it, or try it on for size.
Even so, if you haven’t ever worked with a Coach, you may have some important questions about the process.
Here are some of the more common questions:
1. How do I know Coaching will work for me? You don’t. No two coaches are the same, no two clients are the same, and no two issues that can be resolved with Coaching expertise will be the same.
● Even if your 10 best friends rave about Coaching, you will never know for sure if it will work for you until you try it.
2. Can I afford a Coach? In order to answer this question, it’s important to look at the difference a Coach can make in your life or your business.
● For example, if your Coach was instrumental in boosting your income by $1000, $2000, or $3000 a month, would cost be an issue? What if your Coach was able to help you add $10,000 a month to your income?
● This example is not a rarity in Coaching. It happens every day all over the world. It happens to people in all walks of life, in all kinds of different circumstances. It can happen to you too, but you have to make a decision and take action to make it happen.
3. How can I find the right Coach for me? Exactly the same way you found the right house, the right car, and even the right spouse! You went looking! Nobody knocked on your door with the perfect car, house or wife, did they? Nobody is going to come knocking with the perfect Coach either.
● To get started, determine your criteria for a Coach. Use your contacts to find some referrals.
● You’ll know the right Coach by how you feel about them AFTER you’ve had some interaction with them, not before.
4. Will a Coach be able to help me? To help you answer this question, find a Coach and talk with them. Find out what the Coach is like, ask them how they like to work, find out if they are familiar with people in your kind of circumstances, and ask them what they could do to help you.
● Maybe the first Coach you talk to would be ideal for you. Maybe it’s Coach number 5.
● One thing you can be absolutely sure of, is that there are Coaches who can help you and there are Coaches who have dealt with similar circumstances to yours many times. You just need to find them!
The Bottom Line
Those who hire Coaches are strong-minded characters. They’re going places and getting things done. They might not always know exactly where they are going or exactly what it is they plan to do, but they have a sense of purpose and a commitment to themselves that can be amplified considerably by working with a Coach.
That is why they hire a Coach, to get more out of themselves than they ever thought possible by working on their own.
Ask anyone who has had a great Coach for any length of time if they could have done it on their own, without the help of a personal Coach, and watch their face light up as they tell you it was the very best decision they ever made. Do your research and you can find one like this too!
by Tom Morgan | Mar 9, 2021 | Self Awareness
If you’re struggling to be as successful as you’d like to be, there’s a great chance that a discrepancy exists between your goals and your values. If our goals are antithetical to our values, success is all but impossible. We don’t like to behave in ways that are counter to our values. If a mismatch exists, something has to give.
If you’re forever coming up short when it comes to achieving your dreams, your values might be at odds with your goals.
Use these techniques to set goals that support your values:
1. List your current values. Have you ever taken the time to examine your values? Most people have never given their values a second thought. This is a shame, because a person’s values guide their thinking, decisions, and actions.
● Take 30 minutes and list your values. Put them in order of their priority to you.
● Ask yourself if your behavior is aligned with your values. If there’s a mismatch, what set of values would actually represent your behavior?
● Most of us have an idealized impression of our intentions, values, and qualities.
2. What are you trying to accomplish? What are your goals in life? What do you want to accomplish? Do you want to be wealthy? Get a six-pack? Write a screenplay? Save the whales? Build a real estate empire? The first step to any great success is to identify your objectives.
3. How do your current values impact your goals? If your values and goals don’t match, the odds of success are dismal without something changing.
● For example, if you believe that wealthy people are fundamentally bad, you’ll never accumulate a significant amount of wealth.
● If comfort is a high priority for you, that six-pack will never materialize.
● Do you value having a lot of leisure time? A goal that requires a lot of work isn’t going to happen.
● Look at your goals and look at your values. Do your goals support those values? Do your values support your goals?
4. What would be the perfect set of values to support your goals? Imagine you could build a person from scratch that would be perfect for accomplishing your goals. What values and qualities would they possess? How would you be different if you had these values?
● Think about the people you know that have accomplished what you want to accomplish. How would you describe them?
5. How close can you come to matching those values? How well can you rearrange your values to match that ideal set of values? The closer you’re able to come, the greater the odds of your success.
6. Reinforce the values that matter. Imagine that your goal is to save $20,000 for a down payment on a home. Let’s suppose that you’ve determined that you need to be someone that values saving money over spending. How can you build this value in yourself and make it a part of you?
● Prove to yourself that you’re that type of person: For example, pick up pennies you find on the ground and save them. Cut coupons. Find new ways of dealing with stress other than shopping. Save part of your income as soon as your paycheck hits your bank account.
● When you keep proving to yourself over and over again that you possess a value, those actions will build and reinforce that value.
Are your goals and values a good match? It’s important that they are. When a mismatch exists, it’s important to either alter your values or your goals. There’s only so much resistance a person can overcome. Success is much easier when your values and your intentions are highly compatible.
