Your Life, Your Movie | Life Lessons From The Movies

A Scene From The Movie ‘SAY ANYTHING’:

The consummate underachiever, Lloyd Dobler falls in love with the class valedictorian the summer before she goes off to college. He tries to convince her disapproving father he is a worthy suitor.

Lloyd: I am looking for a ‘dare to be great’ situation.

A Thought For Your Life:

It’s easy to think that a ‘dare to be great’ situation has to be big. But looking for the ‘big’ thing can cause us to wait. Then, when situations present themselves we get stumped, “Is this where I need to step up and be great?”

The truth is, every situation, no matter how mundane or insignificant seeming, has the potential to be a ‘dare to be great’ situation. We just need to decide if we want it to be so and if we’re willing to make the effort on a small scale, as well as the large scale.

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You can receive these short life lessons from the movies in your email once a week from www.ThoughtsByEmail.com. If you’re enjoying these lessons, we hope you’ll drop by and sign up.

What are your thoughts about this week’s movie?  We invite you to share your own life wisdom gleaned from movies you’ve seen.

A Course About People | 5 Little Things You Want To Know

Your 5 little snippets wisdom for this week, from the collection by Thomas Leonard, are listed below. As always, these statements can be obvious or profound, but either way, we hope you’ll stop and think…maybe even find an item that sticks out and is useful for when you’re interacting with people.

Here are your 5 snippets:

• People will do more to avoid the feeling of fear than attain the feeling of joy.
• People are living life at a consistently faster pace.
• People’s desire for discovery will take them to other worlds, other planets, and other stars.
• People all suffer conflict between their heart and their head.
• People all want what they haven’t got, and cease to want what they already have.

We also broadcast these weekly, no charge, just for the fun of it.  If you’d like to receive your personal copy of these in your email inbox…all you need to do is sign up at www.ThoughtsByEmail.com.

We’d love to hear your thoughts, and invite you to leave your comments below.

copyright 2002-2010, CoachVille, LLC all rights reserved.

What’s So Great About Coaching | This Week’s 5 Real-Life Comments

Here are your 5 real-life comments about coaching for this week:

“You’ve really got to have someone from the outside who says, ‘All right John, what are we out to achieve? Why are these good goals? Why is this a good strategy?’….  And then hold you accountable.”
- Tapei Times Online

“Coaching simply speeds up a process of change that would most likely occur anyway if an individual had enough time. Without a coaching program that forces a client to focus and make time, people sometimes miss the real issues they need to focus on.”
- The Ivy Business Journal

“The hottest thing in management is the executive coach – part boss, part consultant, part therapist.”
- Betsy Morris, “So You’re a Player. Do You Need a Coach?” Fortune

Bradford [at Met Life] says her year of coaching ‘was like a grenade in my life that’s still going off.’ It taught her, she says, that ‘people have to take more responsibility for their own growth and development. They can’t depend on human resources. Coaches can help people come to grips with huge changes in the way we do work, in getting through big transitions.”
- Betsy Morris, “So You’re a Player. Do You Need a Coach?” Fortune

“Executives and HR managers know coaching is the most potent tool for inducing positive personal change, ensuring better-than-average odds of success and making the change stick for the long term.”
— The Ivy Business Journal

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If you’d like to receive these 5 comments each week by real-life clients, media, and other coaches, visit us at www.ThoughtsByEmail.com and subscribe to ‘What’s So Great About Coaching’.

What do you think about this week’s comments?  We invite you to post your thoughts below.

copyright 2009-2010, CoachVille.com and Thought Partners International.
all rights reserved.

Best of Multiple Streams | Thought for the Week

Here is your excerpt this week from Multiple Streams of Coaching Income, the book that helps you think out of the box and consider more than coaching 1-on-1:

“Business Savvy is not Important to Coaching”

It’s true that to become a successful Multiple Streams coach, you must know how to run a business.  However, the fact is, many coaches drop out of coaching because they lose site of why they are coaching – not because they don’t understand business.  I hope you’ll take a moment to ask yourself: Why are you in the business of coaching?

If you’d like to receive more nuggets like this each week, visit www.ThoughtsByEmail.com. Or dive into the whole collection by purchasing the book itself here.

What do I do now?

Would it surprise you to hear the question-of-the-month in suddenly-more-intense (“I have more on the line”) business coaching sessions? It’s five small words:

What do I do now?

“Now” meaning “these times” “these chaotic times” “these economic times” or…you get the drill. As a coach yourself, if your clients aren’t asking YOU this, perhaps it’s something to ask them. 

“Okay, Andrea, what’s your answer then?” you say. When you’re at the tip of the spear for clients, sometimes the only thing between them, and them doing something hasty, it pays to have more than another coaching question to ask, valuable as that may be.

So here are my crib notes. Hint: the order is somewhat important.

(1) Maximize what’s working.

If there is a revenue stream in your business that’s doing well now, grab it with both hands and make that hay in the sun. You know when in football or hockey the player realizes they are a full stride out of reach of the other team? It’s called a breakaway for reason. 

Right now, healthy revenue streams can be said to be ‘breaking away’ from the rest of the pack. The rest of the pack may be losing momentum, so your forward motion is more significant than you think.

If you have a breakaway on your hands, channel that pent-up energy and go for it.

(2) Diversify income streams.

In my experience, a great deal of financial stress comes from putting all your eggs in one basket. That’s what people with jobs are dealing with, right? Yet having no choice is one of the top reasons a business owner can feel trapped too. So if you’re feeling heavy these days, release that pressure by (quickly, and with low-risk) creating or dusting off an income stream. 

For the same reasons, stay away from projects that have front-loaded expenditures. Because things are changing lots, there’s just no way of knowing if today’s great idea will be tomorrow’s ‘what were we thinking.’ Keep investments low. Make money first, spend money second.

(3) Raise the grain on your personal value.

If it’s true that in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king, what happens to that king if all of a sudden the land regains its sight?

When the landscape shifts, it’s natural and common for us (being human) to lose some confidence. The best confidence-building exercise is to clearly reaffirm our value, or even, bolster the value we identify ourselves with.

Accordingly, here are some of the most common ways we add value to our clients and the planet:

• Expertise, or what you know about a given subject, or subjects
• Synthesis, or how you think
• Productivity, or what you can get done
• Experience, or what you’ve been through
• Relationships, or who you know
• Communication, or how you make meaning
• Persuasion, or the influence you have on others
• Leadership, or what you see that others may not
• Skills, or the nuts and bolts of things you do
• Attention, or the time you spend focusing on something
• Pleasure, or the enjoyment you bring
• Accountability, or how things get done
• Status, or the credibility you lend

And, of course, in the case of coaches, the ability not just to provide this value directly to clients, but to elicit the ability in clients to do so themselves.

How, and where are you already adding value, and in what other ways? What new ways can you add to your toolbox? Comment below to add to this list, and I’ll have it produced in a worksheet for common use. Hint: there are a lot of ways coaches add value that may seem unconventional at first.

Having trouble with this idea? Think of some of the relationships in your work and ask “how would I describe the value this person adds to my life?”

Open House Call: Online Business Management OR Navigating The Quarter Million Dollar Speed Bump

Open House Call from Wednesday April 1, 2009
Led by Andrea J. Lee and Tina Forsyth

Take just a moment and imagine…the corporate world without managers. Jokes aside for a sec, now ask…where are the equivalent managers in the online business world?

As online businesses grow, especially to the now-famous Quarter Million Dollar Speed Bump, it quickly becomes mission critical to get a certain kind of help. Not the administrative kind but the strategic kind. The Virtual Assistant on steroids (not literally, okay?) is what Tina Forsyth and I have dubbed the Online Business Manager, and the demand for OBMs is nothing short of extraordinary. When the right OBM joins a business, the results are too.

Join this call to learn the 5 key reasons you may benefit from having an OBM, how to know when you’re ready to hire and the things you can expect an OBM will do. Even if you’re not quite ready to hire, and you anticipate filling the role for yourself for now, join the call to get much more strategic about it. 

Online Business Managers and aspiring OBMs are welcome too – there won’t be an OBM-related conversation that’s more client-centric than this. We’ll also give a brief intro to the Association of OBMs where clients and OBMs can meet, and the release of the world’s first OBM certification.

To listen to the recording from this live call just click the “Play” button below:

And, as mentioned on the call, here are some of the additional resources mentioned for your convenience:

• To browse a directory of OBM’s who are in various stages of certification, including highly experienced, to newbies, click here.
• To see the list of ‘What you can expect an OBM to be able to do’ go to the OBM certification page
• And last but not least, if you’re fairly new to this whole topic, you may be curious about the book Tina Forsyth wrote on the subject, called Becoming and Online Business Manager.

Open House Call: What Does Knowing How To Say Goodbye Have To Do With Being A Great Coach, Consultant Or Other Conscious Business Owner?

Open House Call on Wednesday April 15, 2009
Led by Andrea J. Lee

Have you ever fired a coach or been fired by a client? Were those goodbyes constructive coaching moments, as good as or better than the rest of the relationship?

Goodbyes, like little deaths, are one of those tough things in life, and as usual, I have high expectations of coaches to lead the way in tough things. Great goodbyes can be things of beauty, openings to unique moments of learning, and are a mark of personal mastery.

Join this call to learn what to do, and what to avoid when saying goodbye to a client, or a client is saying goodbye to you. Together, we’ll discuss the necessity for coaches to proactive anticipate and facilitate a positive goodbye, and how to begin doing that.

As our mastery of coaching grows, this topic needs addressing for the simple reason that the fear of saying goodbye prevents greater intimacy. When you can get courageous, committed, yet detached from any associated pain of goodbye, that’s the moment you can engage to the fullest as a coach. Got comments on this topic? Comment below.

Date: Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Time: 10am PT /11am MT /12pm CT /1pm ET

Cost: Nothing, except your own long-distance telephone charges

Just enter your name and e-mail address below to register for this teleseminar now:

Your Name:
Primary Email:

Open House Call: Me, My Brain, My Meatsack | What Your Body Wants To Say To You About Money, Meaning & Productivity

Open House Call on April 8, 2009
Led by Andrea J. Lee

Do you feel as though you’re too smart for your own good sometimes? The amount of time you spend at a computer, thinking things up, are you basically a brain-on-a-stick?

Why do you even have a physical body anyways? For all you move it around some days, it could just as well be a sack of meat hanging off your neck, right?

It’s the ‘Me, My Brain, My Meatsack’ syndrome – the elephant in the room few are talking about, and that’s just wrong! We live our lives tied so much to flat, square, illuminated screens, the physical world replaced by pixels, it’s no wonder we’re disoriented on weekends, trying to relate to flesh and blood people!

This will be an interactive, experiential call in which we’ll engage your eyes, your back, and okay, your buttocks. Parental guidance not required, no permission from doctors needed either. If you’re curious how my Feldenkrais(r) training has strengthened my business coaching chops, come to this call for useable coaching exercises that will set you apart.

To listen to the recording from this live call just click the “Play” button below:

Remember…

This call is one of a series of open ones we’re holding regularly at Thought Partners International. The goal is to stretch our minds into new areas, the better to keep limber and awake. I hope you’ll find time to join us for some yoga of the mind.

Your Life, Your Movie | Life Lessons From The Movies

A Scene From The Movie ‘NANNY MCPHEE’:

Nannny is a magical woman with special powers brought in to tame seven ill-behaved children who have previously scared off 17 nannies.

Nanny: There is something you should understand about the way I work. When you need me but do not want me, then I must stay. When you want me but no longer need me, then I have to go. It’s rather sad, really, but there it is.

[Nanny McPhee turns around to walk out of the room, but stops once she hears Simon.]

Simon: We will never want you!

Nanny: Then I will never go.

A Thought For Your Life:

Is there a person or people in your life with an ‘annoying’ message that, deep down, you know you need to hear (but are resisting and don’t want to hear?) What if it’s only when you ‘get’ their message that they (and others like them) will leave you be and let you move on to meet the next ‘annoying’ challenge in your life?

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If you’re enjoying these short life lessons from the movies, we hope you’ll visit us at  www.ThoughtsByEmail.com and sign up to receive these in your email each week.

And let us know your thoughts.  What Life Lessons have you gained from movies that you can share?

A Course About People | 5 Little Things You Want To Know

Here are your 5 little snippets wisdom from the collection by Thomas Leonard, compiled with the help of his R&D team. As always, these statements can be obvious or profound, but either way, we hope you’ll stop and think…maybe even find an item that sticks out and is useful for when you’re interacting with people.

Check out the 5 snippets for this week:

• People’s best is always so much more magnificent than they ever imagine.
• People’s love is at the bottom of every positive action.
• People don’t realize their own potential.
• People benefit from coaching even if they don’t believe in it!
• People usually do the best with the resources they have.

We also broadcast these weekly, no charge, just for the fun of it.  If you’d like to receive your personal copy of these in your email inbox…all you need do is sign up at www.ThoughtsByEmail.com.

Any thoughts about this week’s snippets?

copyright 2002-2010, CoachVille, LLC all rights reserved.

What’s So Great About Coaching | This Week’s 5 Real-Life Comments

We hope you’ll enjoy this week’s 5 real-life comments about coaching:

“Leaders view themselves more as a coach than the person in charge.”
-Frank Blount, former CEO of Telstra

“Most executives seek out a coach when they know they need to make improvements, but they don’t know how to do it. It’s like baseball, if we were swinging the bat perfectly we wouldn’t have coaches.”
- Barbara Brannen, former Vice President of Human Resources for Qwest Communications

“Coaches aren’t just for sports: They goad you, guide you on the road to success.”
- Cynthia Flash, Seattle Times

“Coaches provide inspiration, and consultants provide information.”
- Jeremy Robinson, President of Robinson Capital

“In the past, executive coaching was viewed as a perk; now companies realize it can help their bottom line.”
- Steven Hilferty, CEO of Silicon Valley Coaching

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Would you like to receive these 5 comments each week by real-life clients, media, and other coaches?  Visit us at www.ThoughtsByEmail.com and subscribe to ‘What’s So Great About Coaching’.

What are your thoughts about this week’s comments?

copyright 2009-2010, CoachVille.com and Thought Partners International.
all rights reserved.

Best of Multiple Streams | Thought for the Week

We hope you’ll enjoy this week’s excerpt from Multiple Streams of Coaching Income, the book that helps you think out of the box and consider more than coaching 1-on-1.  Here’s this week’s snippet:

“Teleseminars = An Out Of Body Experience”

There’s something mysterious about a teleseminar.  It’s the sound of intimacy in voices gathering together, deep conversation and advanced communicating.  It’s the sound of coaching.

To sign up to receive more nuggets like this each week, visit www.ThoughtsByEmail.com. Would you like to dive into the mother-ship of these thoughts?  You can also purchase the book itself here.

Your Life, Your Movie | Life Lessons From The Movies

A Scene From The Movie ‘A BEAUTIFUL MIND’:

John Nash, a brilliant mathematician who prefers spending time lost in his own thoughts rather than with people, struggles with his antisocial behaviour.

Alicia: It’s called “life”, John. Activities available; just add meaning.

A Thought For Your Life:

Too often we look for things, events, activities or people to do the heavy lifting by offering us their meaning in our lives. Finding the meaning in things is up to each of us. Whether it’s riding a bike, writing a book or cooking a meal – you get to decide if it’s a chore or chance, something to overcome or something to embrace.

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Are you enjoying these short life lessons from the movies?  If so, visit us at  www.ThoughtsByEmail.com and sign up to receive these in your email each week.

We’d also love to hear your thoughts.  What Life Lessons have you gained from the movies lately?

A Course About People | 5 Little Things You Want To Know

We hope you’ll enjoy these 5 snippets of wisdom for this week, from the collection by Thomas Leonard, and compiled with the help of his R&D team.

We hope you’ll find one or two, or even more, that stick in your mind and that you can use in your daily life.

• People change.
• People have bad days.
• People have more information at their disposal than at any time in people history.
• People seek meaning.
• People want to be valued and loved for who, not what, they are.

Would you like to receive these in your personal email inbox each week?  If so, please stop by www.ThoughtsByEmail.com and sign up.

We’d love to know what you think about this week’s snippets.

copyright 2002-2010, CoachVille, LLC all rights reserved.

What’s So Great About Coaching | This Week’s 5 Real-Life Comments

Here are this week’s 5 real-life comments about coaching:

“I never cease to be amazed at the power of the coaching process to draw out the skills or talent that was previously hidden within an individual, and which invariably finds a way to solve a problem previously thought unsolvable.”
- John Russell, Managing Director, Harley-Davidson Europe Ltd.

“Asked for a conservative estimate of the monetary payoff from the coaching they got, these managers described an average return of more than $100,000, or about six times what the coaching had cost their companies.”
- “Executive Coaching – With Returns a CFO Could Love,” Fortune

“I absolutely believe that people, unless coached, never reach their maximum capabilities.”
- Bob Nardelli, CEO, Home Depot

“Tiger Woods has one. Pete Sampras has one. So why not small business owners?”
- Charles Boisseau, “Put Me In, Coach,” localbusiness.com

“Coaching – which can help managers talk with subordinates about their developmental needs – absolutely affects the relationship positively.”
- Francine Russo, “Play of the Day,” Time

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To receive these 5 comments each week by real-life clients, media, and other coaches, go to www.ThoughtsByEmail.com and subscribe to ‘What’s So Great About Coaching’.

If any of this week’s comments strike a cord with you, please let us know by posting a comment.

copyright 2009-2010, CoachVille.com and Thought Partners International.
all rights reserved.

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