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Do Small Things

May 18, 2010 in Personal Growth, Productivity with 0 Comments

Planning is important, but action is better. If you take consistent, small actions the repercussions are smaller if one backfires. You are able to recover more quickly and move ahead with a more informed action the next time.  If you write a short blog article and no one responds, isn’t that better than writing a 200 page book and no one responding?  If you create a five minute Youtube video to express your creativity, will that give you a sense of accomplishment that the feature length film in the back of your head hasn’t (yet)?  And what if you then do a 10 minute video?  And then a 15 minute video?  Pretty soon you are in a groove and the feature length film is growing legs and taking on a form of its own.  And that form will most likely be different than the seed in your head.  But that’s okay because it’s been transformed by your experiences.  It is now real.  So get a general idea of what you want to do and then get started.  See what’s working and what isn’t.  Revise your plan and take the next step.

What have you been putting off because it seems so big it’s overwhelming?  How could you break it down? Take that piece and break it down even more.  How one thing could you do to make this smaller piece tangible?

Go make small things!

Do You Ask for Feedback?

March 18, 2010 in Personal Growth with 0 Comments

The only starting point that works is reality. – Jack Canfield

If we are looking to improve in an area of our lives the best place to start is with reality.  We need to know exactly where we are in order to effectively create a plan for growth.  And the quickest way to find out is to ask for feedback.  In areas of finance and health, it’s pretty easy to measure our current status.  Check our net worth, step on the scales, write it down, and check again later for progress.

When it comes to relationships, spiritual fulfillment, or even personal growth, which are less quantifiable, we need to ask others for their input.  Gathering feedback from trusted individuals requires inner strength and a willingness to really listen.  After we receive feedback we have to determine if what we learned is truthful and what our response is going to be.  We must determine if the feedback is truthful before responding because, depending on the relationship, even our most trusted advisers may have ulterior motives because change can be hard for everyone involved.

There are four simple questions you can ask anyone to gather feedback in order to improve:

  1. What do I need to stop doing?
  2. What do I need to do less of?
  3. What do I need to start doing?
  4. What do I need to do more of?

You can use your answers and determine the behaviors you need to modify, stop or start in order to improve.  In order to ensure you are moving in the right direction, you can also ask the person if it’s okay to follow up at a later date to discuss your changes.

The key in soliciting feedback is to be open and listen attentively.  You can ask the questions, but if you’re not prepared to listen to what you hear and then take action, you might as well not ask.

Let Someone Else Do It

March 8, 2010 in Business, Personal Growth with 1 Comment

Over the past week we’ve been running a contest at 99Designs to create a logo for our new company Constant Change Coaching.  We love creating graphics and designing things, but we realize we can only do so much.  There are a ton of tasks to be completed when starting a new venture.  It’s easy to try to do everything and end up with mediocre results because you spread yourself too thin.  So we decided to  find a designer to create the logo while we focused on those tasks that only we could do.  And instead of hiring a single designer we decided to run a contest at 99Designs.

After a week long contest we have received 125 entries to choose from for less than $350!  Had we worked with a single graphic designer, we would have gotten maybe 10 different designs to choose from for around the same price.  The vast majority of the submissions are professionally done so our choice will not be easy.  But we would rather spend our time choosing from 125 designs than trying to create one or two that may still not capture what we want a logo to say about our company.

Are there tasks you are doing in your business or personal life that someone else could perform better?  Are you spending your time doing only what you can do and letting others do the tasks that anyone could do?  If you want to provide real value and be a linchpin, then focus on what you do best, your art, and engage others linchpins to do the rest.  Odds are that together you’ll create something beyond what either of you could do separately.

The new logo will be up on the website within the next week.

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First Things First

March 7, 2010 in Personal Growth with 0 Comments

I want to kick off the blog here at Constant Change Coaching with what I believe is the number one issue with why people don’t achieve the results they desire in their lives: personal responsibility. Many people do not accept responsibility for their future. They are too busy blaming everyone and everything else for their past. Until a person can step back and say “I am not a product of my past and I will take responsibility for my future”, they will continue to struggle with attaining the life of their dreams.

Most people start life in less than ideal and many in horrible circumstances. However, blaming your past will not propel you to a brighter future. It simply is a fact of life. It may not be fair that you started with less resources than someone else, had abusive parents or your spouse left you. Those are situations we wouldn’t wish on anyone. But they have happened and the only helpful choice is to accept that they happened, learn from the situation and decide to start from where you are to move forward.

I’m not in any way trying to downplay how the actions of others can have a negative impact on our life. And I’m not trying to say that if something horrible happened to you, it’s your fault. I am simply saying that blaming the past and dwelling on it will not lead to a better future. There are certainly situations where people need help of trusted professionals to deal with and let go of past hurts. The goal of such counseling, or better yet coaching, should always be to get you to a point where you take responsibility for your future. It should allow you to let go of the past and enable you to look forward to a life that you create.

We can dwell on the past and stagnate. Or we can focus on building a brighter future and flourish. Which will you choose?

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