Insights about yourself or the situation at hand lead to actions and behavior changes. Positive behavior changes create an impact, which in turn generates new insights and awareness, perpetuating the cycle. When coaching one has to park our ego and let our coachees' achievements shine, amplifying their successes. I think it’s important to find the right balance between helping others and helping yourself.
““A rising tide lifts all boats.””
It’s important to find and face the truth, meaning to see the gap between where you are and where you want to be. A capitalistic society requires all of us to have a sense of incompleteness for it to survive, and that’s what keeps the wheels turning. Without this sense of incompleteness, we wouldn't be buying as many products or consuming as much. When we start looking at the environment or climate issues, addressing them requires us to live more sustainably. This, in turn, requires us to look at ourselves and ask: Why do we have the desire to possess so much? What do we really want to do, and why do we want it?
What does success mean to you?
S - See you goal
U - Understand the obstacles
C - Create a positive mental picture
C - Clear your mind of self-doubt
E - Embrace the challenge
S - Stay on track
S - Show the world you can do it
Before you start speaking THINK
T – Is it true?
H – Is it helpful?
I – Is it inspiring?
N – Is it necessary?
K – Is it kind?
Our tailor-made coaching for performance solutions aim to foster a culture of respect and inclusivity, which effectively enhances teamwork, communication, and productivity. Research has shown that creating a positive work environment boosts productivity, promotes teamwork, reduces turnover rates, and improves employee satisfaction. By investing in coaching for performance, you can help your employees develop the skills they need to perform at their best and contribute to the overall success of your company. Contact me via email for a free 30-minute discovery call.
““Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation. You cannot control what happens to you in life, but you can always control what you will feel and do about what happens to you.” ”
I think faith and doubt are both beliefs. Most people think faith is belief and doubt are the absence of belief. Faith is the belief of the outcome I desire, and doubt is the belief of the outcome I don’t desire. When I have more belief in the outcome, I don’t desire than in the outcome I do desire, I have doubt, and I don’t have faith. And both of them are a belief.
You will control your life when you learn how to control energy, and you will not control energy unless you control yourself and your emotions. I think the first steps to spiritual advancement and increasing your strength involve self-control.
Everything has a positive and a negative side. It’s impossible for anything to exist with only one side. For example, have you ever seen a one-sided coin, a one-sided piece of paper, or a one-sided piece of bread? If something exists and has a negative aspect, there must be something positive about it at the same time, and vice versa.
““When we are no longer able to change the situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. Hope and positive energy can turn challenges into triumphs.””
Have you looked at your end-to-end customer journey and figured out how to win?
To effectively win in today's market, it is crucial to examine your end-to-end customer journey. When consumers hear about a product, their first reaction is often to search online. This initiates a journey of discovery about the product, service, issue, or opportunity. In this context, you're not just competing with other companies but also keeping pace with advancing technology and the evolving expectations of your consumers. There are two key players in this scenario: the end-user, who conducts the research, and the sales/marketing team, which must be strategically present and prepared to engage with the end-user at the critical moment of their search. I think success hinges on being able to build a relationship with the customer exactly when they are looking for you.
Drawing from my own life experiences, I believe we can benefit greatly from the diversity around us. I think about diversity as both the social categories people bring, such as religion, race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and age, and also the characteristics we use within organisations to identify similarities and differences among individuals. These characteristics might include job functions like marketing or finance, or aspects of seniority, such as when someone joined the organisation or under which CEO. We often use these differences to make predictions about people. Are we taking advantage of the diversity that we have?
When you are born and raised within a culture where people look alike on the surface, in a homogeneous environment, how do you react when you meet people who don’t look like you? Is there really a causal relationship between having some surface level differences in a group and the ability of the group to actually benefit from the different perspectives and ideas that they have? Not everybody in the group knows the same information or have had the same experiences, values or background as yourself. It's been proven over and over again that diverse groups outperform homogeneous groups. Diverse groups are more likely to share their unique information and perspectives that they have in their heads when they see that there’s some surface level differences amongst them.
We use social characteristics to determine who is similar to us and who’s different from us. What are their values? What are their perspectives? What are their experiences? What is it they bring to the table? There are surface level differences and deeper differences, and due to our biases, we use what we see on the surface to make predictions about people. To make predictions about what they think and how they feel. Diversity is also about what people actually think.
Paradigms can be thought of as mental programs that largely dictate our habitual behaviour, as most of our actions are driven by habits. Our brains constantly seek validation for our beliefs, a phenomenon known as confirmation bias. For instance, if you believe "nothing ever goes my way," your brain will highlight everything that confirms that belief. On the other hand, if you tell yourself, "I know things can get better," your brain will begin to find evidence to support this idea. Your mind is simply performing its function by actively searching for proof to reinforce the reality you've constructed in your thoughts. Therefore, I think it's crucial to remember that you have the power to influence the world around you through your mindset.
Consumers benefit from recognisable brand names because they can choose to buy more of a product they like and less of one they don't. Brands serve as the units of selection in the evolutionary marketplace of consumer capitalism. A brand name allows consumers, both individually and collectively, to reward a positive experience with repeat business and penalise a negative experience with a boycott. Therefore, businesses interested in their longevity strive to uphold their promises when these promises are tied to a brand. In contrast, without a brand, there's no investment in maintaining such promises. I think brands contribute to better products, and the absence of brands can damage markets by making it difficult for consumers to confidently choose products or services.
What game are you playing?
There is a distinction between seeking to have the right answer and building the capacity to generate the right answer, one is a short-term win and the other has a much longer shelf life. I think passing down wisdom, especially through oral history, is vital for preserving culture, maintaining and transmitting identity, values, and traditions. It allows us to learn from the past, offering lessons from previous generations' experiences while using historical insights to address modern challenges innovatively. Wisdom sharing also strengthens community bonds by fostering common narratives and understanding.
Introvert is not lonely.
Humility is not self-doubt.
Silence is not ignorance.
Authority is not influence.
Kindness is not weakness.
Generosity is not loyalty.
Wealth is not health.
Privilege is not entitlement.
Calmness is not acceptance.
Appearance is not happiness.
I think each pair of statements contrasts two concepts that are often misunderstood or conflated with each other. This structure effectively highlights the distinctions between them, emphasising that having one quality does not necessarily imply the presence of the other. What do you think?
““You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.””
Why do we need data, facts and proof before we trust our intuition?
We have been educated to not trust our internal judgement and to seek external validation via data, facts and proof. I think this preference stems from a fear of responsibility for decisions, a desire for social validation, and an aversion to the perceived risks and biases associated with intuition. I hope that in the future we will move awaty from the command and control scenario towards trust and inspiration culture where diverse thought is celebrated in the decision-making process.
““To learn and not to do is really not to learn. To know and not to do is really not to know.””
I think entrepreneurship lies within everyone, though not all possess the discipline it requires. While anyone can become an entrepreneur, not everyone aspires to be one; some prefer to rely on others, thinking it means less effort. I believe true entrepreneurship demands leadership, and a genuine leader never delegates tasks they wouldn't undertake themselves. Contact me via email for short discovery meeting when you are ready to take the next step on your journey.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, an entrepreneur is defined as "a person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit."
““The caterpillar does all the work but the butterfly gets all the publicity.””
Three questions that will determine 99% of the happiness in your life:
What am I working on and why?
Who am I spending time with and why?
How well am I treating my body and why?
I think everything else is noise.
Accept both compliments and criticism, as it takes both sun and rain for a flower to grow.
““Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.””
Illustration: Liz Fossilien ©
If you have an emotional reaction to everything that is said to you, you will continue to struggle. True power lies in sitting back and observing things with logic and restraint. If words control you, it means everyone else can control you. I think you should just breathe and let things pass.
““If you start a conversation with the assumption that you are right or that you must win, obviously it is difficult to talk.””
