Life is either a lamentation of stagnation or a practice of mastery.
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Writing one’s “bio” for a page like this is a series of choices. First-person or third? Focus on the present, with only a nod to the past or go on about details? And, perhaps most importantly, gin-up accomplishments and titles, or something else?
I’m going to choose: first, the present and something else.
The words at the top sum up where I’m at now. My life has been both, even simultaneously at times, but I’m actively focused on making my life a Mastery Practice. That may sound grandiose, but it’s not. It’s merely a choice to look at life as an opportunity to learn and grow and develop.
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A bit about “mastery” before we continue
Some folks confuse “mastery” with a destination, a title even. It’s not. Yes, many people who are wise and experienced are seen and described as Masters, but they are just at one point on a journey, one stage of a process.
When one adopts a mind- and action-set of life-long learning and remains open and curious they are a master. When one continually looks for the lesson and value in life events, one is a life master. When one reminds themself that learning and growing is never done, they are a master.
Any one can be a Master – if they’re willing to adopt mastery as a practice.
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Because I want to help the people I am meant to serve, I do want you to understand my background. Such is one way for you to see if we’re a good fit for a coaching partnership.
First off, I’m a bit of a personal development junkie. Since my teens I’ve been interested in how people work and why we do what we do. I’ve listened to tapes of the “great motivators” (Nightingale, Tracy, Robbins, Ziglar, Brown and many others). And I’ve read a ton* of self-help, personal and spiritual development, and “business/leadership” books (* upwards of 500 titles, I would say)
All that listening and reading helped, but it was incomplete. I had a belief that if I just put enough “good stuff” in my head it would crowd out the “bad” and my life would get better. And it worked, to a degree. It wasn’t until later, much later, when I found coaching, that I began to understand that information is not enough. One needs to act.
But even action combined with good information isn’t really enough. The combination is certainly powerful, but becoming a coach taught me that how one combines the action and information matters.
The key “seasonings” if you will, are clarity and experimentation.
The clarity comes in the form of better knowing yourself and what you truly want. Not what others want for you, that you’re willing to accept, but what you truly, deeply want for yourself.
Experimentation is vitally important because not everything we try is going to work, or at least it won’t work for us individually. Approaching things with a spirit of curiosity and being willing to experiment is very powerful – a wonderful habit to adopt. When we’re willing to conduct experiments in life we learn and grow much faster.
Something else you should know about me, that relates to my ability to help you, is that I have an interesting perspective.
For a number of years I worked in IT. I had an opportunity to work in many different environments and have seen all sorts of folks – and their challenges and frustrations. I worked in the non-profit, higher education and corporate sectors. I’ve managed people and teams and been an individual contributor. I’ve struggled and I’ve succeeded.
My coaching practice is devoted to helping people deal better with the opportunity of integrating their work and personal lives.
What I’ve learned is that everything is solvable. Everything is an opportunity to learn and grow. Specifically as a coach I’ve learned that everyone has their own answers and power to make change – if only we can identify and solve what’s in the way.
The Next Step
If you’re curious about what it would be like to coach with me, I offer a Free Coaching Call to anyone who wants to experience actual coaching.
CLICK HERE to take the next step.