Little Changes Make a Big Difference

People ask me if I have a coach.  I’ve had my current coach for 2 ½ years.  I am lucky to have a coach that is a leader in the coaching industry.  She is a skilled Master Coach (a coach for coaches) and is joyful, feisty, and creative.

We’ve worked together on my coaching skills, my ICF certification, building my coaching practice, establishing my business processes, marketing, sales strategies, and strengthening my personal foundation.  The benefits of my coaching relationship are that I am more focused and efficient, more proficient as a coach, more assertive with my clients, more effective at marketing, happier, and stronger in who I am.

I’m now doing exactly what I want to do: coach, write, speak, and develop Life Improvement products.  Doing what I want to do and having my values aligned with my work, has been the key for me to become much happier.

Recently I realized that I still wasn’t as happy as I wanted to be on a daily basis.  I felt a little restless and closed in.

My coach helped me find some small shifts that made a BIG difference.  This is something I’ve found with my clients, that a series of small changes can shift a person from blah, to downright joyful.

Here are the shifts I made:

Shift # 1:  I wasn’t feeling excited to get out of bed every day.  My coach helped me realize that I was walking straight from bed to the computer to check e-mail, and that’s not a pleasant way to start your day.  I was going from Zero to 60 work-speed in the blink of an eye.

My new approach is to start my day with breakfast outside in my garden: feeling the breeze on my face, listening to the birds, and looking at my beautiful flowers.  The result is that I’m happier, and for an extra added bonus, I’m more productive.

Shift # 2:  I was feeling fragmented during my work day.  My coach helped me realize that I was unconsciously obsessed with e-mail, checking it 25 times a day or more.  Now my goal is to check my e-mail twice a day (ok, I slipped today and checked it 4 times!)  Even at 4 times a day, I feel much calmer and focused now.

Shift # 3:  I kept beating myself up because I wasn’t making sales calls to market my business.  My coach helped me realize that coaches talk on the phone all day, and it’s natural not to want to make more phone calls.  I have now given myself permission to keep my marketing calls to a minimum. I am working with alternative methods to get my name out to people.  This has freed up my creativity, I’m actually having fun marketing, and I don’t feel guilty anymore.

After just three small shifts:  having sunshine breakfasts, batching my e-mail processing into two sessions a day, and giving myself permission not to make 20 phone calls a week, I’m more peaceful, joyful, and creative.  Here are the two lessons I’ve learned:

1. It’s the small shifts that make a big difference
2. Having a coach can really help you identify habits that are holding you back!