Why Would I Hire a Coach?

After explaining that I am a coach and what I do, I often get the question, why would someone hire a coach? This is a question of tremendous merit and value. A coach provides unconditional support for a client in reaching their highest potential. A client may have goals they are reaching towards and some will be attained and some will be replaced by new goals more in sync with the client’s authentic self. Through this process of discovery a coach supports who the client is with unwavering care, listening and advocacy. Typically, clients work with me because they have a vision for their future and want a partnership where, together, we can explore and refine their vision as well as strategize on ways to achieve the vision in the most effective and efficient path. For some this means accelerated sales goals, for others it is exploring who they are and helping them define and become who they want to be relative to their personal, spiritual and professional life. To expound upon the variety of reasons why someone would desire to work with a coach, I’ve compiled a list below.

• Courage to make significant change
• Create stronger, deeper relationships
• To make better decisions
• To gain clarity on my life’s purpose
• Build a business
• To set better goals
• Attain personal goals in an accelerated fashion
• Attain professional goals in an accelerated fashion
• Take control of my financial situation
• Greater financial success
• Organize my life
• Help prioritizing competing forces in my life
• Gain insight into my truth
• Finding peace through transition
• To understand the role and influence of technology on my life/job
• Have a collaborative partner
• Strengthen and develop my leadership skills
• Have lasting impact on the world

Do some of these goals resonate for you? That is tremendous! Consider accelerating your path to achieving these goals by hiring a coach to help you create a path to reach and achieve what you want and deeply desire for yourself. The International Coach Federation (ICF) is largely considered to be the governing body for accredited coaches around the world. Visit them at www.coachfederation.com to search for a coach that will best meet your needs.Next week stay tuned for questions to ask a prospective coach and things to consider when hiring a coach and to ensure you find the right coach for you! Find resources and articles on MargaretPundmann.com: Globalized Workplace Integrity - We Are Our Word Connect to me: Margaret Pundmann's LinkedIn.com Profile Margaret Pundmann's MySpace.com Profile

Simplify

How can we simplify our lives in order to maximize our lives? Isn’t this a question to which many of us deeply desire an answer? Simplification is a state of mind as much as it is a set of actions that we carry out. For years I travelled three to four days each week. This, for me, who needs to pack extras of everything just to attend the opera, pushed me to simplify, streamline and mass customize my entire life so that I could travel and do my work. To give you an example of how I did this I’ll detail the clothes I packed for the trip. For one week of travel, I packed two suits and several different shirts to mix and match. Each suit would match my black shoes and black purse. This wasn’t one bit glamorous, but it enabled me to simplify in a number of ways. First, I was able to carry my suitcase on to the airplane rather than checking it which prevented countless catastrophes of being without my luggage. Second each morning I was able to sleep later because all of the clothing decisions for the day were made. Third because everything was interchangeable should an unwanted substance arrive on my pants or jacket it was easy to improvise. Fourth, I “mass customized” my clothing, a term best defined by Josepha Pine and Jim Gilmore in The Experience Economy. Mass customization refers to the production of large quantities of goods that are mass produced, but also customized for the individual. I use this term for my clothing in that every day I wore black pants and customized with a colorful jacket or scarf. These four strategies made my travel each week simple and gave me freedom to attend to the job at hand – client meetings and sales. That is the ultimate goal for each of the last several blog posts – to minimize the choices we each must make which in turn will give us greater freedom and flexibility. My request is that you consider ways that you can un-complicate and simplify your life. Think of how you can take simple, basic activities that are chaotic and create minor shifts that will streamline your experience.

• How can you simplify, streamline and mass customize areas of your life? Here are some suggestions, use them as a point of departure to create your own:
• A handful of standby recipes that you use for the majority of family dinners
• Select three or four colors for the majority of your clothes
• Pre-printed list of groceries that you get each week
• A morning routine to get the kids off to school and you to work
• A system of checking emails three to four times each day
• What activities do you do each week that seem tedious?
• What areas of your life do you repeat each day or week that continue to drain time and energy?

Now, look at these areas critically what can you simplify about these routines? If you cannot arrive with a solution, ask a friend. Friends are good at seeing where we are stuck. When we simplify we have space and time to make optimal choices and decisions for our lives. Check out other articles on MargaretPundmann.com: Globalized Workplace Integrity - We Are Our Word Connect to me: Margaret Pundmann's LinkedIn.com Profile Margaret Pundmann's MySpace.com Profile

Eliminate vs. Accumulate

Sure, it is fun to buy new magazines, clothes, kitchen gadgets; presents for someone in the future – yet where does accumulating non essentials get us? A big headache is what I’d say. Having too much stuff is really a weight. When we have too many clothes to close the closet, when we have stuffed our desk drawer so full it won’t close or when we have so much stuff that we can’t even keep it in our own home and we must pay for a storage unit – how can we possibly enjoy and appreciate the things we do have? That is just it we can’t. I started a practice in my home. It is basic for every one item in my house, one says good bye. The one-in, one-out, model applies to everything from books, to clothes to gadgets. Additionally, I purge my closets and drawers and donate at least twice each year. It feels really good to know that things I can no longer use will have a new life and serve a purpose for someone else. It makes basic sense though, that if we consistently fill our lives with an accumulation of items and never take time to eliminate, recycle and donate we will bust at the seams. I’ve created another strategy for idle shopping; if I see something I absolutely love and can afford, I buy it, pretty simple. Yet if I see something that I like, but don’t love or I am not absolutely sure that I need it, I put it on hold for a couple of days. If the item is important enough to make a trip back to the store to purchase then likely it is something I should have. If I don’t make back to the store, then great a little space allowed me to make a better decision. I think that is really what this conversation is all about. Creating a little space before you make a quick decision to add more clutter and stuff to your life is an easy way to streamline your choices and postpone making a decision so that you can make the most appropriate decision for you! This week I’ll be writing on simplifying your life in order to simplify your decisions or said another way how simplifying your life can simplify your decisions! Check out other articles on MargaretPundmann.com: Globalized Workplace Integrity - We Are Our Word Connect to me: Margaret Pundmann's LinkedIn.com Profile Margaret Pundmann's MySpace.com Profile

Priortize Your Goals

Most of us want to accomplish lots of things, but if we don’t prioritize them we often achieve few if any of our goals. Goals are these lovely, wonderful, usually big to dos. Goals are not intended to be should’s or have to’s, but instead, authentic desires of our heart. Goals that are not pure become bourdons and really aren’t worth the journey they require to accomplish lest we arrive and realize hummm, we didn’t want this goal after all. Once we clearly understand and have articulated our values, it is easier to examine the purity and authenticity of our goals. For the sake of this conversation I am going to assume you’ve got your goals and they are in alignment with your life. Prioritizing goals helps un-clutter your life and your decisions. Another benefit of prioritizing our goals is that it is more likely we will actually achieve them. Following the prioritization of my goals an additional strategy that works well for me is breaking them into smaller, measurable and accountable pieces. For example, when I ran a half marathon, I did what most runners do, broke the 13.1 mile goal into smaller goals. First, I looked at the timeframe I had until the half marathon, for me it was about 12 weeks. Each week I had distance goals for each day and for the week along with times that I would beat based upon my performance the previous week. Ultimately, it wasn’t a marathon just a bunch of long sprints strung together. Remember the phrase, enjoy the journey? Breaking this larger goal into smaller pieces kept me motivated and allowed me to celebrate along with way toward the big goal. Having goals that are prioritized and founded in your values reduces the number of truly important decisions you have to make and frees you to actually accomplish the goals that really matter. Breaking your authentic goals into pieces is a great excuse for a party and keeps you motivated along the way. Later this week, I’ll be writing eliminating vs. accumulating! Check out other articles on MargaretPundmann.com: Globalized Workplace Integrity - We Are Our Word Connect to me: Margaret Pundmann's LinkedIn.com Profile Margaret Pundmann's MySpace.com Profile

Define Your Values

Defining your values is an exercise in understanding what is important to you and how you prioritize that which is important to you. Defining your values is likely something you’ve already done at least informally in that values drive what you do day-to-day and long rang plans that you make. I’d suggest there are two levels of values: qualities, non material, which you value in others and yourself and material things that you value. Below are a couple of questions to bring forth your values into awareness and into conscious present space. Having your values in the present is a reminder to powerfully choose that which is important and drop the rest. Decisions can be confusing if you aren’t in touch with your inner, non material, values and don’t have a system of prioritization. Questions to ask yourself to help determine your inner values: -What do I admire in myself? -What do I admire in my mate and/or close friends? -What legacy must I impart on my children? Once you’ve identified the inner values it is helpful to examine your material values. These material values influence your day-to-day choices and ultimate decisions. Two questions that will provide a good guide: -How do I spend my discretionary time? -How do I spend my discretionary money? The things in your life that you devote precious time and money towards are likely things that have great importance and value. Understanding these values helps you to make powerful choices in your life. For example, if travel is important to you then you will spend time, money and energy on travelling, travelling gear, books, maps and other related items. Knowing that this is a value of yours helps you to put into perspective the relative unimportance of other decisions thrown your way. Deep down we have a sense of our values, but taking a few minutes to outline them can help you to put the small choices and decisions into perspective and minimize their impact upon you. Later this week, I’ll be continuing the theme of helping you streamline your choices and decisions by focusing on prioritizing your goals. Check out other articles on MargaretPundmann.com: Globalized Workplace Integrity - We Are Our Word Connect to me: Margaret Pundmann's LinkedIn.com Profile Margaret Pundmann's MySpace.com Profile

Too Many Decisions!!!

On Thursday, April 24th NBC’s Today Show featured Dr. Gail Saltz, a Today Show contributor and psychologist, as well as Life Coach Dorothy Breininger, founder of The Center for Organization (http://www.centerfororganization.com/ .) They discussed a study completed by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology that revisits common assumptions on the impact of so many choices on us; and correspondingly the impact of more complicated decisions on other activities in our lives. Yes, choices absolutely lead to personal freedom and expression, however too many choices can cloud and exhaust our decision making ability. Studies have found that people often default to heuristics or “rules of thumb” to make decisions easier. It is an enormous energy drain to make numerous decisions. Developing strategies to streamline decisions can simply our lives. Life coach, Dorothy Breininger provides suggestions to help us all un-complicate the many decisions we face. She suggests the following four strategies: -Define your values -Prioritize your goals -Ask ourselves, what can I eliminate? -Avoid the terrible two’s – having two of everything Over the next week, I am going to discuss in greater depth how I believe you can practically implement these suggestions. To watch the Today Show clip: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/24426409#24292077 Check out other articles on MargaretPundmann.com: Globalized Workplace Integrity - We Are Our Word Connect to me: Margaret Pundmann's LinkedIn.com Margaret Pundmann's MySpace.com Profile