The Decision-Making Blueprint is a shockingly good masterpiece. I loved both the idea and execution. The book consists of bite-sized chapters, which provide a short but insightful description of a single concept related to better decision-making.
I found only a single CON of this book, and it is related to my own personal philosophy.
Some slippery slopes are real, but often they’re not.”
The above quote applies to one of the mental models (Slippery Slope) described in the book:
Photo by Michael Burrows
In one of my previous articles, I explained how to find a good business coach. This article is complementary to that one. The stuff I share here is a secret coaching sauce unnoticeable for people who aren’t coaches themselves. I’m not covering the obvious points – that a good coach has a habit of using open-ended questions or doesn’t shower you with advice. I’m talking here about relevant small habits that can make or break the whole coaching process. And most of them pertain to the crucial coaching competence recognized by the International Coaching Federation called contracting.
What is it? A skill of creating kind of a deal between the coach and coachee. Like with deals, there are some standard elements and some optional.
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Photo by RODNAE Productions
On Wednesday, the 11th of May, I had only half an hour on a train to work for myself.
I still cling to my day job, working 10 hours a week. It provides about 10% of my overall revenue. 90% of my livelihood depends on the things I’m personally responsible for: my writing, coaching, and my book advertising business.
After I was done with my day job’s tasks, I had a call with my VA. After the call, I had less than two hours to work on my tasks. Then, I had a 2-hour long coaching training, and an after-hours department party to attend.
Not a big deal, right? Actually, a huge one. In the beginning of May, I’ve been bombarded with new inquiries. New coaching client, new book advertising client, a past customer who wanted to work on a new book, a recurring customer who suddenly dumped a couple of book projects on me to be finished in a week, another customer who needed help with formatting…
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Photo by Karolina Grabowska
When it comes to personal development, believe me, I have done it all.
Visualizations, chanting affirmations, reading books, listening to audio programs over and over again, till I knew them by heart, watching videos (even though I hate learning from videos), attending seminars and events…
Working on my mindset, on my fitness, productivity, relationships, spirituality, finances…
Setting goals, crafting a vision for my life, developing daily habits, creating a morning routine and an evening routine, journaling, reading motivational quotes, teaching others…
I’ve been there, and I’ve done that. I know what’s effective, and what is not. And, quite recently, I discovered something that works WAAAY better than anything else.
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How do you put a bunch of strangers together and they become a tribe? How come they are compelled to invest their time in online relationships with total strangers? How come they even pay for that experience?
Those questions have been at the top of mind of online creators for some years. I know the answers.
In the beginning of 2013, when forming an online community was an outlandish new concept, I took part in the Online Transformational Contest organized by Early to Rise. I experienced there an incredible community magic. I chased similar level of engagement and commitment since then; without much luck. Any other online, or even hybrid community, was subpar to the TC.
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Photo by Andrea Piacquadio
Coaching is the most powerful tool I’ve ever encountered in personal development (thus business development – for solopreneurs, authorpreneurs, freelancers and other entrepreneurs whose business depends solely on their performance).
It’s the more effective the better is your coach, assuming there is the right chemistry between the two of you. So, how to find a good coach?
Let’s go over some common sense tactics, guidelines of the International Coaching Federation (ICF), and secret practices of coaches to find a good coach for you.
Those are things any sane person would go over when hiring someone in any capacity. However, some of them can be misleading or not so obvious (see point #3)
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Book by Chip & Dan Heath
The Power of Moments is an amazing book. I read 50 to 100 books a year, and this title firmly belongs to the top 1%.
Anybody in any kind of a leadership position should read this book: church leaders, supervisors, managers, top executives, educators, moms and dads. Every single one can benefit from the knowledge hidden inside The Power of Moments, and from its various applications.
It will be especially beneficial for business people and those in positions up in the corporate ladder. If they utilize some of the common sense tactics The Power of Moments talks about, they can literally add 20% to their bottom line overnight. No exaggeration.
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Nope, creating habits doesn’t get harder as you get older… everything gets harder.
I heard on The Brian Buffini Show a story of a golfer who won whatever golfers win (golf is totally NOT my thing) after 50.
This golfer said he realized he just needed to put more effort than previously into his practices when he got older. He still could be an excellent golfer; he just needed to try harder.
But it only goes as far as your physical limitations. You try to exercise more and your body is more prone to injury. You are trying to develop a new habit, but your memory cheats you and you forget about starting the habit in the first place.
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What kind of obnoxious question is this? Of course, I have no bad habits! I’m perfect!
Gotcha! 😀
There are no perfect people on this world. Our habits make us who we are, so lack of perfection suggests at least some bad habits.
I don’t go to sleep early enough to have a truly productive morning.
I don’t praise my children often enough (read: I almost never praise them).
I binge-eat on sweets all too often.
Stop! Enough of this embarrassing list! I hope you got the point. I have “some” bad habits.
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For me, The Wealth of Connections was preaching to the converted. Every morning, I read a fragment of a book titled “Big Potential” by Shawn Achor. Shawn argues, exactly like Vincent Pugliese, that collaboration is so much better than trying to make it on your own. In fact, Shawn calls working alone Small Potential. In contrast, collaboration and working with others is the Big Potential.
So, I didn’t need convicting. Maybe that’s why the only CON I want to mention is that The Wealth of Connections didn’t wow me. In fact, it was unusually hard for me to read it through. And I have no idea why. When I reviewed my highlights, they were almost evenly distributed throughout the whole book. The passages I highlighted were powerful and impactful. Yet, the overall reading experience wasn’t.
