My first blog on Lancashire Professionals is inspired by this simple quote allegedly made by Henry J Tillman, an American physicist, on the universal subject of life as we know it.
When coaching my clients it would be wrong and unprofessional for me to tell them what business or life goals they should be setting. My own picture of what ‘success’ looks like will no doubt be very different to yours. You may want to expand your business, earn more money, gain promotion, have better relationships with your work colleagues, family or friends, be a better parent, improve your home life, your living standards or your general health and wellbeing. We all have different priorities and aspirations within different areas of our lives, and as far as I am aware you only get this one shot at it!
This brings me to a question I often ask of new clients, and spending just a few moments now could be an interesting little exercise for you. Please write this down:
“The 5 most important things in my life are…..”
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Please list your top 5.
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Only when you have filled in your answers should you ask yourself these follow-up questions:
How easy/hard did you find this brief task?
Have you ever asked yourself such an open and wide ranging question previously?
How did you interpret the word ‘things’ – did you put down certain people, possessions, your job, religion, health, money, or personal values?
If in a relationship, how might your partner respond to the same question?
How close would your answers be to theirs? (Be careful on this one!)
What order did you naturally write them down and is there any significance in that order?
Does each of your 5 answers depend on, or interact with, the others?
Do you see how such a simple but wide ranging ‘life’ question can easily send you along other significant trains of thought?
It’s a good question isn’t it? Of course the best follow up question of them all is: - “If these are the 5 most important things in your life right now – what are you doing about them - today, this week, this month, this year – to demonstrate they actually are the most important”?
Our journey through life is about the ‘important things.’ Having a great Coach can help and guide you to take that step back from your hectic daily schedules so that you are able to set challenging, believable and balanced goals, and then to commit yourself to action and success.
If anyone out there got something positive from my post, or would like to know more about me, please let me know.
