Displaying items by tag: leadership - Executive Coaching University

Friday, 21 March 2014 13:11

Why Are You So Negative?

Ever said that to yourself?

Everywhere you look there are articles, videos, and advertisements stating the need to shut off our negative thoughts and be more positive. While I am all about viewing life from the perspective of “what you can do” versus “what you can't do,” I also understand that turning off negative thoughts is not a light switch that can be turned off with enough willpower!

Did you know that?

Inside the multiple layers of your brain, deep within, is an electrical system so alive that with every thought you are firing and wiring synaptic connections.

Every time you learn something new you make a new connection in your brain.
Your mind and body are connected by chemical releases we like to call “feelings” or “emotions.”
Most of our actions are taken in order to emotionally feel the same way we did yesterday.

So why can’t you just stop being negative?

Because you have wired your brain and your body to think certain thoughts and have certain feelings. You have done this so well and for so long that those connections are stronger than ever.

Moving from negative to positive is a physical process.

Start to think of your brain as a garden.

Your job is to plant enough new thoughts, emotions and experiences that your current connections automatically get pruned away. When your garden is full and vibrant, you will naturally start to remove some of the older, unhealthy plants that don’t serve your garden anymore.

In the neuroscience world (like in the gardening world) it is called pruning. You see, you’re a human being and your nature is to be successful…you’re built that way. With a little attention you can shift in the right direction.

Start small, chose to learn something new and begin to create new experiences in your life. Here are some ways to do this:

Read up on a subject matter that interests you.
Take a different route to work.
Eat at a different restaurant.
Start-up a conversation with someone new.

As we learn something new, we fire a new synaptic connection. As we experience something new, we get our body involved and feel differently.

The more you gain new knowledge and experiences, the more you can wire and fire your brain with brand new connections. The more you repeat your learning and experiences, the more current is sent to these new connections.

If your brain is busy wiring and firing your new thoughts, feelings and emotions, it is not signaling your old ones.

Your job from this day forward is to:

Slow down.
Pay attention.
Learn, grow and expand.

This is how change is made and finally you can STOP being so negative.

To your future!

Find out more about Jenna here.

Are you ready to boost your career...and earnings? Coaching skills are the answer! Gain these skills with this program:

Coaching In The Workplace

Published in The Executive Coaching University Blog

Thursday, 13 March 2014 14:56

Ready, Fire, Aim!

High performers are not like everyone else. They think about, and do, things differently. One of the ways in which high performers differ is in their audacious willingness to execute…often when others would prefer to remain inactive or fiddle around trying to have the perfect plan before “pulling the trigger.”

Execution for high performers follows a very distinct path. High performers follow the “Ready, Fire, Aim” sequence versus the more socially accepted, and dismally fatally flawed, “Ready, Aim, Fire” approach.

Let’s look at the “Ready, Fire, Aim” sequence more closely to understand why it far out performs the standard “Ready, Aim, Fire.”

READY:

The “READY” stage is exactly what you would imagine it to be. This is the initial step where inspiration ignites into an idea, that idea further aligns with our passion, and we’re off to the planning races. This is where we collect the energy, knowledge, and resources needed to accomplish the initial steps of our grand adventure. At this stage it is imperative that we move through with a solid goal setting process – visualizing the overall goal, and then reverse engineering so we can “chunk” up each step. Without proper “chunking” we will find ourselves adrift after only a couple of “Ready, Fire, Aim” cycles…and we will not reach our goal! So “READY” is all about taking our inspired idea, molding it into an overarching vision, breaking that big picture into small bites through working backwards, and collecting the necessary information/resources to begin the next step – “FIRE.”

FIRE:

Now it’s time to “FIRE” – to take action. This is where we take that very first step you developed in the “READY” phase and put it into practice. Remember, that first step is a synergistic element made of all the knowledge, resources, and inspiration, needed to take this action. None of those elements will likely be perfect - they will never be. So take that small step of action and allow the environment to provide you feedback. Listening to that feedback is what allows the next step, "AIM," to be increasingly effective in getting us closer and closer to our target.

AIM:

Once we have taken the action of putting our initial step developed in the “READY” phase into the environment into which we intend to impact, we will begin to receive feedback from that environment. That feedback (wins/losses, improved times, reviews, criticisms, sales numbers, improving/worsening relationships, etc…) is new inspiration, knowledge, and resources, we then put into our next “READY” cycle. Entering the new data into our calculus allows us to create a new “Ready, Fire, Aim” cycle that allows us to hone in more effectively on our goal than did our first cycle. Each successive cycle gets us closer and closer to accomplishing that overall goal – step by step.

Each of these “Ready, Fire, Aim” sequences then become “chunks” of our overall approach. Each step towards our goal we move through a “Ready, Fire, Aim” cycle specific to that step...and one that builds upon all initiated before. This is how we “zero” in on our target.

High performers utilize this “Ready, Fire, Aim” approach to guard against the common phenomenon of “paralysis by analysis” – essentially trying to get everything “perfect” before taking action…commonly leading to no action at all!

“Ready, Fire, Aim” also allows high performers to operate much more consistently within a reality highly engaged with the environments within which they are “playing.” They are receiving real time feedback from the environment within which the target resides (creating an open feedback loop), not focusing on the often faulty internal feedback system of thier own mind (a closed feedback loop).

One exceptionally important concept to understand with adopting the process of “Ready, Fire, Aim” versus “Ready, Aim, Fire” is that of “failing to succeed” – as in the quickest way to success is through consistent, multiple failures. In current business jargon this is called “failing forward.”

Are you a high performer? Are you willing to fail to succeed? Do you have the courage to operate in a manner in which the masses resist?

You’re reading this blog – so the answer to all those questions is “Of course I am!”

Then get to it!

Find out more about Greg here.

Are you a high performer? Please tell us why below.

This program will help you become an even better peak performer!

Coaching In The Workplace

Published in The Executive Coaching University Blog

Monday, 10 February 2014 18:20

So You Think You're an Executive?

I am often confronted with the question “Why are you sending these blogs to me? I’m not an executive!” from those non-business executives to whom I forward ECU blogs. After all, we are the “Executive Coaching University”, so all our material is targeted only to those seen as business executives, right? Wrong!

In my mind the term “executive” is more adjective than noun – it describes how someone approaches her life rather than who she is and is synonymous with “peak performer”…someone who desires to live life at the highest level possible.