One of my favorite possessions is my late Grandfather’s watch. As the story goes, when I was about seven years old, I asked my Grandfather if I could have his watch after he died. Now let’s be clear, I DID NOT want my Grandfather to die. He was and will always be one of my favorite humans, a role model, a mentor, a wonderful Father, Grandfather and Husband and an Icon in my mind. Surprisingly, at the time, he said yes, and for a while the topic was not mentioned. About five years ago my Grandfather passed away and I did become the owner of his watch. A watch that one day I hope to give to someone in my family (my child if I ever have one). To this day, that watch is my favorite possession, up there with all my writing. To me that watch represents family, connection, love, success, integrity and a bond from one young boy to his Grandfather, something not everyone is lucky to have experienced.
I share this story, because recently the watch stopped ticking. It’s not broken, but the battery died. And in thinking about the watch I started thinking about people and how often we like the watch are brilliant, perfect, luxurious, and operating just as we should but get stuck or stopped by something. While the watch simply got stopped by a battery, we as people get stuck or stopped by various things. Like the watch there isn’t actually anything wrong with us, we aren’t broken, we aren’t damaged and we don’t even need fixing. What we need is new energy, inspiration, a shift in perspective, accountability, directed focus or even to just be held to a higher standard. And this is what I love about being a Coach.
I recently told a friend who inquired about what I do, “It’s not my job to make people better, it’s my job to create the space for people to choose to be their best.” Coaching is a conversation, a partnership and a tool or structure to support people in getting from where they are to where they want to be. Can people do this on their own? Of course they can. But are they? You tell me. Look around you, I believe you know people who are brilliant, creative, driven, motivated, some successful some not so much, yet how many of them are actually living their dreams, and living life to its full potential? My guess, not as many as possible. I believe there are many people living aspects of the lives we want to be living. But how many of us can honestly say right now, we have the career we deeply and truly want? How many of us have the relationships we want with our partners, parents, parents-in-law, bosses and friends? How many of us have positive, healthy relationships with ourselves, mentally, spiritually and physically? How many of us are saying we want to do things and aren’t doing them, from vacations and travel, to starting a business, inventing something, or creating something like a book or documentary? How many of us are saying we’ll start it tomorrow, or we’ll do it later or that there isn’t enough time? How many of us just wish we got more support, more sleep, had just a little more money or just less stress?
No matter how successful you are or how much money you have, there’s a good chance that something I’ve mentioned applies to you. If you don’t believe that or won’t admit it, that’s fine. But consider nobody is truly suffering or missing out but you. And frankly, the world needs your greatness, your brilliance, your talent, your creativity and your love! Like the watch that just needs a new battery, coaching isn’t about fixing something that’s broken, it’s about supporting a human to function and operate at the level they were originally intended. You learned to settle, to be controlled by fear or the feelings of what’s possible or not. You learned to think there isn’t enough or you aren’t good enough. But these thoughts aren’t facts, they are myths or stories we’ve come to believe. The truth is, you were intended to be miraculous and capable of anything you set your mind to. You were not intended to be living a life that is fine, good or great in some areas but not all areas. And if you don’t believe me look at your children, you don’t tell them they are fine or decent or just capable of living middle of the road lives, you tell them to pursue their dreams, that they are capable of anything and you encourage them to go for it.
You were that kid once also…you have just forgotten how powerful you truly are…
The other day I heard a colleague say, “You only live once? False, you LIVE every day, you only die once.” From that it made me think, we don’t have a whole life to live, we have every day to make choices to live and if we aren’t creating what we want every single day regardless if it’s family, a creative project, more money, better relationships or just a healthier life, it truly is only ourselves we have to blame. Your life can be great. Your life can be filled with more love, abundance, prosperity, joy, and success and it might all just be possible by being open to the idea that you need a new battery, creating a support structure with a coach, to get the big and small hands working as they were always intended.
I Coach Leaders, Creators and Innovators: those brave enough to build dreams.
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