IIC Coaching Blog

Who has the power to do "good works"? You do! VOTE

The people of the Unites States of America are about to go to the polls to vote for their next President.  This is one of the most closely watched elections on the planet for a number of obvious reasons.

I personally find it truly inspirational that so many millions of Americans are voting early.  There are two distinct reasons for this I feel compelled to share.

1.  People ARE actually voting!
2.  People know what they want and/or don't want!

Some of you readers may know that I grew up in America before travelling the world and eventually settling here and becoming an Australian Citizen.  I took my responsibilities as a voter quite seriously in America.  Although voting wasn't required, it was certainly a right and one I was going to embrace.  (Voting is compulsory in Australia and I cherish this just as much; is is my right and I gratefully accept the responsibilities that go with that it.)

You've read about my commitment these 100 days to focus as much as possible on those people doing "good works".  Today, the focus is you!

Wherever you live in the world, you are likely to have rights about voting and having your views count in an official capacity, in one way or another.

If you're an American, you have the opportunity to let your voice be heard and your opinion counted.  I encourage you to take up that opportunity.  No one can make you; it is entirely your choice.  Please, make the effort to get out and vote.  All of us around the world appreciate your contribution to the process for selecting this important world leader for the next four years.  It doesn't matter if we agree with your choice any where near as much as it matters to us that you actually make a choice.

If you're not an American, please consider encouraging people you meet and engage with, anywhere and everywhere in the world, to take an active part in the election of our leaders.  Please engage in conversation about candidates and policies so that we're all more aware.  Do the research if necessary.  Explore the options. 

And one of the greatest ways we can do "good work" is to be more involved in the decisions about our future; not just my future or your future, but OUR future together in any individual geographic area and across this beautiful planet of ours.

Thank you for allowing me to share this heart-felt request.

And to the Americans...whoever you vote for, you have my gratitude that you vote at all.

Coaching Exercises

1.  What are your thoughts about the right to vote?  What are your thoughts about compulsory voting?

2.  What active role(s) do you play in understanding more about the political choices, issues, candidates, policies etc for your part of the world?  What about on a more international platform?  How aware are you?

3.  Where do you believe there is room for improvement for you to be more aware and/or more involved in such matters locally to you or on a larger scale?  What do you want to do or be or have in relation to this topic?

4.  As a result of these questions and your personal exploration and answers, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com
Join our newsletter by clicking here.
You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call it BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org  http://www.internationalcoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

The Nobel Peace Prize 2008 - Martti Ahtisaari (Finland)

I always keenly watch the Nobel Prize winners each year, particularly the Peace Prize.  This year it was awarded to Martti Ahtisaari.  The press release from The Norwegian Nobel Committee follows.  You'll find today's coaching exercises after that.

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2008

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2008 to Martti Ahtisaari for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts. These efforts have contributed to a more peaceful world and to “fraternity between nations” in Alfred Nobel’s spirit.

Throughout all his adult life, whether as a senior Finnish public servant and President or in an international capacity, often connected to the United Nations, Ahtisaari has worked for peace and reconciliation. For the past twenty years, he has figured prominently in endeavours to resolve several serious and long-lasting conflicts. In 1989-90 he played a significant part in the establishment of Namibia’s independence; in 2005 he and his organization Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) were central to the solution of the complicated Aceh question in Indonesia. In 1999 and again in 2005-07, he sought under especially difficult circumstances to find a solution to the conflict in Kosovo. In 2008, through the CMI and in cooperation with other institutions, Ahtisaari has tried to help find a peaceful conclusion to the problems in Iraq. He has also made constructive contributions to the resolution of conflicts in Northern Ireland, in Central Asia, and on the Horn of Africa.

Although the parties themselves have the main responsibility for avoiding war and conflict, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has on several occasions awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to mediators in international politics. Today Ahtisaari is an outstanding international mediator. Through his untiring efforts and good results, he has shown what role mediation of various kinds can play in the resolution of international conflicts. The Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to express the hope that others may be inspired by his efforts and his achievements.

Oslo, 10 October 2008

Coaching Exercises

1.  What is the significance of the Nobel Peace Prize to you?  What significance do you feel it has for society as a whole?  Why is it important in your opinion, to acknowledge such works? (In case you're thinking there are obvious answers to these questions, please reconsider and take some time to really think through your own responses.  Think about the impact for yourself and others, and take your thinking as large and all encompassing as you're willing to do.  Think critically.)

2.  This prize was awarded for the contribution of mediation to intense conflict situations.  How would you define mediation?  What in your opinion makes exceptional mediation skills?

3.  How would you define your own abilities at mediation?  What are your strengths?  What are your opportunities for further development?  How important would it be for you, and possibly others, if you developed this skill yourself more?

4.  As a result of these questions and your personal exploration and answers, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com
Join our newsletter by clicking here.
You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call it BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org  http://www.internationalcoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Are you in Sydney 22nd November 2008? - Masteries Workshop

Although I've blogged about this before, it's important and timely to raise this again.

If you're a coach and you're going to be in Sydney on 22nd November 2008, you may want to book yourself in for the Mastery of Self, Coaching, Business and Industry workshop which is being run as a post-conference event after the Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference: The Future of Coaching - Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s.

Here's what I blogged before in case you missed it.  These are just some of the questions which will be explored during the workshop:


Master of Self, Coaching, Business and Industry

This one day workshop will be held on Saturday 22nd November 2008 in Sydney.

For those of you interested in coming, and for those of you who can't make it, we'll be covering the following:

Mastery of Self:
What do you want for your own life and how you operate?
What needs to be worked on in terms of health, knowledge and learning, social, financial, family, the partner within, partner and significant relationships, spirituality, career, business, giving to others and giving to self?
We'll be using the Wheel of Life tools to assist in this process.

Mastery of Coaching:
How do you assess your current coaching skills?
How do you check in with your clients for feedback on this?
What do you want to know how to do better?
What do you want to learn?
What are your options and in what order do you need to do things?
Also, we'll look at how to minimise confusion about how many coaching skills you have and how you'll attract clients as they're not necessarily the same (but many coaches attend course after course on coaching skills but not on business building skills).

Mastery of Business:
Do you have a business plan that works for you as an ongoing guide?
What are your business targets?
How are you currently measuring them?
What are your business skills and how are you using them currently?
If there's something that needs to get done that you don't enjoy or don't know how to do, what are your options?
What is your marketing plan?
How much time, energy, effort are you putting into it?
Do you have a coaching profile and who knows about it?
We'll spend significant time here as it is generally the area where coaches admit they need the most development.

Mastery of Industry:
Do you know what is going on in the global and local coaching industry?
Do you know the key players and what they're doing?
Do you understand the public perception of coaching?
Do you understand the differences between life, business, workplace, executive coaching and others?
Do you know how to develop into new markets?
Do you know the research being done and why it's important to be on top of it?
Are you a member of one or more professional organisations and do you understand your intentions and objectives there?
What energy and effort are you putting into the industry itself and do you understand how that can pay benefits to you directly as well?

There are a lot of questions here and many more to be asked during the workshop.

This is a very focused and intense personal and professional planning day. And I can guarantee that you'll get so much value for your $150 that you'll be surprised the investment is so low. I'm keeping the investment low because I really want everyone who wants some help to step up as a coach to be able to afford to do so.

I feel it is part of my purpose right now to be running this event as part of my contribution to the health and wellness of the industry.

Read more in the Conference Invitation Pack. Or if you're in Australia, email me directly to register.

For those of you who cannot make it to the conference, please email me with your expression of interest to attend a massive teleclass on this. The class version will be two or three hours and will cost A$197.00. (The cost is higher because there will be greater operating costs on my end than a workshop event.) I'm just taking expressions of interest now and will likely run this teleclass event in January and February 2009. If there is enough interest I will run it monthly.

Coaching Exercises

1.  How well are you performing at "Self Leading" your own personal and professional development?

2.  What is working well?  How can you leverage that?

3.  What's lagging or not doing so well?  How can you improve that?

4.  As a result of these questions and your personal exploration and answers, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com
Join our newsletter by clicking here.
You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call it BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org  http://www.internationalcoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Orphan Angels

The 17th through 23rd of November is National Adoption Awareness week here in Australia. 

I'm adopted and I'm very fortunate to have known my biological family all my life while my adopted family raised me.  I also hope one day to be able to adopt a child as well.  So this topic is something I'm very passionate about and I feel that the work of Orphan Angels fits in well with the "good works" theme for the focus of the blog during this 100 day challenge.

Please check out their site.

Many of us know someone who has been touched by adoption in some way.  Today's coaching questions are about that.

Coaching Exercises

1.  How have you been touched or impacted by adoption? 

2.  Do you know the adoption stories of others?  How have their stories impacted you?

3.  If you could do something to help promote awareness about adoption, including needs, legislation, debates, opportunities etc in your part of the world, what could you do?

4.  As a result of these questions and your personal exploration and answers, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com
Join our newsletter by clicking here.
You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call it BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org  http://www.internationalcoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

The Inaka Project

A friend of mine just told me about a great project that fits into my goal of promoting "good works" for the next 100 days.

It's called the Inaka Project.

This book has been in the making for 10 years and explores the connections between the adult we become and the child we once were.  It's a great story that's beautifully illustrated and includes a CD narration and features music from all over the world.

The author is Gerard Brindley and in is true "Gallant Ged" (nickname) style, 10% of all the profits are donated to support the building of the La Esperanza kindergarten, elementary and high schools in Colonia La Esperanza, Tijuana.  This will be the first high school ever built in an area where more than 180,000 people live.

So, please check out the Inaka Project website and consider buying the book if you can or send gift copies to people you care about.  Please spread the word to help support a worthy cause and an incredible person's passion to help others.

Coaching Exercises

1.  What are your thoughts about how your childhood has formed the adult you are today?  Yes, this is a broad and open question on purpose.  You may wish to jot down some notes in a journal and work on this question for a while.

2.  What impact do you currently have on the lives of children in terms of how they may form into adults?

3.  What impact would you like to have on children in terms of how they may form into adults?

4.  As a result of these questions and your personal exploration and answers, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com
Join our newsletter by clicking here.
You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call it BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org  http://www.internationalcoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

The Wheels of Life - Now Available!

It's taken many months and we've finally achieved what we set out to and can announce to you today that The Wheels of Life website is now up and these wonderful coaching tools are now available to you!

We've been working on this for quite some time (the background research of the tools themselves has taken nearly ten years!).

Now you can make The Wheels of Life the foundation of your coaching practice.

Whether you're a coach or another helping professional, The Wheels of Life tools will revolutionise the way you work with people.

Quite simply, it works with the very basic coaching model of 1) raising awareness, 2) making decisions, and 3) modifying behaviour - by focusing on the first step with incredible detail so that the following steps are much clearer and supported by a logical measurement tool.

It's the simplest way of opening the awareness conversation with a client (or even with ourselves).  Essentially, it's a snapshot of our whole life as we see it today.

And we've developed numerous specialty Wheel of Life tools to explore various aspects of our life and being at a deeper, more meaningful level.

Never before now has this wonderful tool of the coaching trade been enhanced and delivered like this and we're inviting you to be a part of this incredible journey with us!

Check it out and get started today!

Regardless if you've been coaching for years, or brand new to this exciting industry, The Wheel of Life tools will easily become the foundation for your practice and you "coaching tool of choice" for nearly every client you work with.

I've recorded an introductory video which you can watch today to learn more about The Wheels of Life, by clicking here.  (It may take a few moments/minutes to load depending on your internet speed.)

The Wheels of Life site offers:

• 13 different Wheel of Life instruction e-books with complete templates
• 65 tutorial videos to help you understand exactly how to use The Wheels of Life
• Teleclasses
• Live seminar events we call "Playshops"
• Mastermind groups and much more
• A fortnightly newsletter of useful and practical coaching tips about The Wheels of Life and other coaching strategies and tools

We also are very respectful of the economic demands of coaches (and in particular how many people are trying to sell stuff to coaches).  We are coaches ourselves and understand some of the unique challenges and opportunities of this business.  Therefore, we have priced everything on the site to the lowest possible level and have a "pay only for what you want" structure so that you don't have to buy the complete packages...just buy only what you want, when you want and need it.

So, please check us out today.  Even if only for five minutes.

You'll be so impressed with what's on offer that you'll likely start thinking straight away about how this collection of tools can transform your coaching approach and business.

Check it out and get started today!

I look forward to us sharing knowledge as colleagues for many years to come!

Cheers,
Noel

PS:  Some "internet marketing gurus" say that one should always offer a series of bonuses and gifts when launching new products and services like this.  We already have some no-cost downloads on the site, but our real reason for not sending you one of those long bonus-filled email marketing campaigns is that we know, just like you, how "over the top" these can be at times.  We thought being simple and pure in our approach would be well received.  We trust that you agree and appreciate this decision.

PSS:  Please join The Wheels of Life mailing list on the site as we'll be sending out regular updates on these tools including lots of free coaching tips.  If you're on the askacoach.com mailing list, you'll get some of the same information, but not everything, so best to be on both lists.

Coaching Exercises

1.  If you're a coach and you could have access to a simple interactive coaching tool to use with all of your clients as a foundation for the initial conversation, what would that mean to you, your clients and your business?

2.  If you're not a coach, what value do you think it would bring to you to have access to this tool to "coach yourself" and/or to work with colleagues, friends, etc to help them achieve their goals?

3.  If you've ever experienced a "wheel of life" tool from any other coach or website or course, what were the outcomes of the exercise for you?  How well did it raise awareness for you?  How well did it help you make decisions and take action?  All wheel tools have this potential.  What could have made that previous experience better for you, even if it was pretty great to begin with?

4. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com
Join our newsletter by clicking here.
You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call it BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org  http://www.internationalcoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Corneille Ewango: A hero of the Congo Basin forest

Here is a video from TED which is a wonderful site dedicated to freely sharing videos of inspiring speakers on the topics of technology, entertainment and design.



Corneille's story is amazing; starting off as a poacher to help his family and pay for university and evolving into someone who stops poaching in the Congo Basin forest.

There is much we can learn from this story.

Coaching Exercises

1.  What have you learned from watching this video?

2.  How do you feel about what you've heard in this story?

3.  What opportunities do you feel are available to you to take what you've learned and what you've felt and do something which will have a positive impact on you and/or others?

4. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com
Join our newsletter by clicking here.
You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call it BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org  http://www.internationalcoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

How the markets really work - A Comedy

A friend sent me the link to the video below which pokes fun at the reasons behind the current global financial crisis.

Now, in yesterday's blog I mentioned that I wanted to be promoting those doing "good work" for others, humanity and the planet versus profiling situations which are not going so well.  I take comedy such as this to be "good work" because it helps people understand more about what's going on, what things mean or don't mean, and it gets people talking about our world.  Humour is great to get the conversation started.  Then it's up to us to see where we take it.

Here's the video:



The video was filmed last year before things got really bad but we all had an idea that they were about to get worse.

It may be difficult to find humour in such dire things today, and that's a great opportunity to take up.  If we don't remember to laugh, things will only get more difficult.  And if we can use humour to help people understand more about their choices, options and what's happening around them, then that's good too.

Coaching Exercises

1.  How do you feel about the current economic crisis on the planet?  (Yes, a vague and open question on purpose simply to see where you take it.)

2.  How has this situation changed your process regarding making decisions, if at all?  (Yes, this is vague on  purpose too.  If you see this as about how you make financial choices, fine.  If political choices, fine.  if some other choice, fine.)

3.  What is the good in this current situation?  In what form do you think the good, or further good, will come in the future?

4. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com
Join our newsletter by clicking here.
You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call it BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org  http://www.internationalcoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

My focus for the next 100 days

Today is the first day in the next 100 day period for The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World of which BRIGHT IDEAS is created. 

Remember that BRIGHT IDEAS is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

I wanted to have a dedicated focus for this period and a conversation with a colleague of mine has made the focus clear for me. My colleague and I frequently discuss some of the terrible situations happening in our society and on our planet today and explore how as coaches we can do anything about it.  And frequently we do really need to keep ourselves focused on the positive solutions and opportunities and not get stuck feeling bad about the tragedies that continue to unfold. Here's something my colleague wrote to me in an email:

"So I keep searching and asking questions of people every day.  People are frustrated and angry at what is going on at so many levels yet it seems no one has the answers Noel, and for me that's a sad reality because I do believe that the coaching philosophy does have the answers and yet I also know that if people are not willing to change, then we are stuck.  Why do we need to keep using the state of a crisis to occur to get us moving?  This paradigm that we're in isn't serving us and it's going to take a lot to shift to the next paradigm.  I feel the new age gurus and coaching gurus can take the next step; they need to go after the leaders, the root cause of so many of these problems and highlight the reality of the situation and how and why they need to step up.  If in the course of this they find the wrong people in the wrong jobs, they must be removed.  Then and only then I believe we can make the changes we need."

I really explored what my colleague was saying and have come up with what I think may be a suitable approach for me and my role in all of this.

Becoming a shepherd.

No, not the one with goats and sheep, but to help shepherd people in the direction of those out there doing remarkable work for humanity and the planet.

I could spend my time complaining about people who could be accused of harming humanity and the planet, but I'd rather focus on the fantastic work of wonderful people who are driving incredibly positive change.  The more we know about these people, the more we can support them and the more we can be inspired by them.  This feels like the right direction for me at this time.

So, for the next 100 days I'll do what I can to promote the good works of others.  There will be other topics I'll need to write about from time to time as well, but the intention and goal is to raise awareness of good work as much as possible.

Are you with me?

Coaching Exercises

1.  What would you describe as being "good work" for others, humanity and or the planet? 

2.  Who do you think currently is engaged in "good work"?  Please feel invited to email me with your thoughts so I can research and then write about them. 

3.  In your opinion, what are the benefits to others to learn about the "good work" performed by the individuals referred to in the previous question's answer?

4. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.
You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call it BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org  http://www.internationalcoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Punctuation!

The dictionary definition of punctuation is 'the practice or system of using certain conventional marks or characters in writing or printing in order to separate elements and make the meaning clear, as in ending a sentence or separating clauses.'

Punctuation was introduced to assist that small number of people who could read, to read aloud to those who couldn’t read. It’s true to say that until several hundred years ago, many people could not read and even today, some can’t.

The word punctuation comes from the Latin punctus, which means ‘point’. Therefore points were added to the written text to provide those reading aloud with guidance as to when to pause, take a breathe, or what to emphasis.

Although it was widely used, when punctuation was first introduced in Europe (early centuries AD), not many people used the same points (punctuation) for the same reason. The printers of the printing presses (which were invented in the 15th Century) wanted firmer guidelines to ensure that everyone was using points (punctuation) in the same way. Since these first printing presses there have been many rules created, discovered, others invented, and a lot argued about.

It isn’t hard to read without punctuation. Thinking about punctuation in today's world - what punctuation do you add when you are sending a text message to a friend, or colleague? It’s true to say that you probably use none, but the text message is still understood. Think about a long text message that you may have received – what would happen if you were to read it aloud? How easy is it to read?

It's true to say that if you aren’t expecting punctuation, you don’t look for it.

Authors use punctuation because they are thinking about the words in each sentence that they are using. For example, they want you to understand when to emphasis something they’ve written. Some authors hate punctuation.

Timothy Dexter (18th Century US author) hated punctuation so much that he included a page of full stops and commas in a booklet, and allowed his readers to put the punctuation where-ever they wanted it. He said he was not going to put them in himself.

Ben Jonson (17th century author) loved punctuation – so much so, that he even put a colon between his first and last names – Ben:Jonson.

«¿What do you understand about punctuation?»
Does this sentence look strange to you? Although written in English, this sentence is using punctuation from other languages. If you were to see this sentence written in, for example, Spanish – the punctuation would be correct. In Arabic you might see the same question mark sign as that used in English, but facing the opposite direction. In Greek a different sign is used altogether – they use what, in English, we call the semi-colon.

« text » - speech marks. Speech marks represent the words someone is actually speaking, in the text you are reading. They began to be widely used during the 18th Century. You’ll also find speech marks in Finish and Danish.
? – question mark. In the middle ages a squiggle about a full stop was sometimes used to show that the sentence was a question, and for this reason if they sentence was being read aloud the readers voice should go up at the end of the sentence. By the 17th Century this had turned into the ? (question mark) that we all know and love. It is felt that the shape may have come from the letter Q, which is short for the Latin questio meaning question.
! – exclamation mark. In the early days of punctuation when you saw the exclamation mark, it represented a pause. Then people started to think of it as a squashed-up version of the ancient Greek word ‘IO’ which means something like ‘Oh gosh!’ This was then represented as the i on top of the o. The exclamation mark was developed as part of the printing press invention.
, – comma. The word comma comes from the Greek ‘piece cut off’; and when seen as punctuation in the English language means a short pause.
: – colon. The word colon comes from the Greek for ‘limb’ or a verse of a poem; and when seen as punctuation in the English language means a medium-size pause.
. – full stop or period (as it is sometimes known). The word period comes from the Greek for ‘way around’. A full stop or period (as it is sometimes known) means a long pause.
' – apostrophe. The word apostrophé is a Greek word. In an ancient Greek drama, an apostrophé represented the action where the actor turned away from the audience to address someone who was not on the stage. It was from this that the word apostrophe came to represent something that was missing. The apostrophe has two meanings in the English language. The first is to show where a letter is missing in a word – couldn’t (could not). The second is with a s to demonstrate who owns something (Gerard’s keys).

Then there is the interrobang (as fully explained in the Readers Digest Australia – September 2008 issue). It’s true to say that more punctuation marks are being invented/introduced every day – a clear example of this is the introduction of texting. An interrobang was invented/introduced by Martin Speckter in 1962, and is used in those moments when you want to use a question mark and an exclamation mark at the same time (sadly not found on my PC to be able to show it)!

What about other punctuation that you might recognise?
¶- paragraph mark.
‘ – single opening quote
’ – single closing quote
“ – double opening quote
” – double closing quote

So, what do think of punctuation? How do you use it? Let us know next time you are sitting down to a cup of coffee!

Barbara J. Dalpra, MNMC, FECI
Accredited Fellow Coach (ECI)
Deputy CEO (Operations, IT, Finance)

Want to make a success of your coaching business? Take this opportunity to benefit from your membership with the ECI - promote yourself through the International Coaching Register or as an Accredited Coach through the ECI's Coach Referral Service. Joining the ECI is a simple process - click on this link and select the type of membership that will benefit you and your coaching business. Any questions, contact the ECI to get your answer.

Barbara's biog can be found on the ECI's Volunteer page for Barbara or her coaching business details can be found on either the ICR or Coach Referral Service by using this link!

BRIGHT IDEAS Volume Two Now Complete

I'm very pleased to announce that BRIGHT IDEAS Volume Two is now complete.

This means with volumes one and two done, we have now published 200 consecutive days of blog entries, totalling more than 800 coaching questions and exercises for you to explore.

Personally, I'm just thrilled with this achievement and I look forward to many more entries over the years.

Remember that BRIGHT IDEAS is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney.

We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.


Coaching Exercises

1.  What has been your favourite blog entry from The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World?  Please explore your reasons.

2.  If you purchased BRIGHT IDEAS Volume One, what impact has it had on you?  On others in response to your own personal and/or professional development?

3.  If you choose to purchase BRIGHT IDEAS Volume Two, what impact are you hoping to gain for yourself?  For others?

4. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call is BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org  http://www.internationalcoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Fear and Hate - I thought we were nearly done with this

A friend shared a video link with me today from YouTube, and I must say that it absolutely shocked me.  Really, I was stunned.


Now granted, this video was produced most likely with the direct intent of highlighting just these opinions.  I'm not naive about this.  Nonetheless, it doesn't appear as if these opinions were that difficult to find in the first place.

I'm also not making any comment about the political parties involved at all (although I have opinions).  That's not why I'm sharing this video.

I'm really quite concerned about the level of fear and hatred which exists throughout the world, in many contexts and on many topics.  Fear which helps nurture more fear.  People choosing to be uneducated and misinterpret despite having access to a wider viewpoint.  It really does frustrate me.

So, there's a bit of a soap box moment, and I'm sure you have your opinions on this subject.  (And I don't expect you to agree with me, but I am hoping you'll do some personal exploration of your thoughts and feelings on this.)

Coaching Exercises

1.  What are your initial reactions to this video?

2.  What are your thoughts on how people generally form opinions such as these?

3.  What understanding do you have about how you form you own opinions?  Include in your answer how logic, intuition, faith, assumption, fear, hate, love, etc fit into the process for you.  There's no judgement on you here...just explore honestly.

4. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call is BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org  http://www.internationalcoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Making Progress with Sufficient Awareness

A colleague of mine sent me this quote which I thought would be wonderful to share with you:

"If you are unable to make progress it is just that you do not yet have sufficient awareness."  David Hemery

This quote also works with the simple coaching model I frequently talk about:

1.  Raise Awareness
2.  Make Decisions
3.  Modify Behaviour (Take Action)

Coaching Exercises

1.  What does this quote mean to you?

2.  How does this quote currently apply to something you're working on?

3.  What specifically do you need to build more awareness of in order to make more progress and/or achieve your objective?

4. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call is BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org  http://www.internationalcoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Meet Jo Jo Lightning and the Rockets

Last night my partner and I had dinner at the home of a long-time friend and we met their amazing children who are quite the performers!  Actually, that's an understatement.  I don't have the words to describe the talent as it just blows me away that these young people are so talented, confident and are such wonderful kids.

Here's a video of Jo Jo Lightning doing a guitar solo.  He's eleven!  Regardless of whether you are a fan of this type of music, this video is worth watching to just experience the talent, dexterity, speed, passion this young man has when caught up in the rapture of the music he makes.  Did I mention he's eleven?



While you're on that YouTube page, also check out the video of Jo Jo Lightning and the Rockets, which includes his sister (she is seven!) on as lead singer!  Her stage name is Rosie Maria Flower.  This was filmed at a festival in Amsterdam where the kids were born and raised before just recently moving back to Australia.

My partner and I feel so fortunate to know these young people and their extraordinary parents.  And we're even luckier because the kids have agreed to perform at a party we're throwing in a few weeks.

Aren't young people just amazing?

Coaching Exercises

1.  What amazing young people do you know?

2.  How do you support, encourage and/or inspire young people?

3.  If you felt you could do more to support the development of young people, either directly or indirectly, what do you see as the options?

4. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call is BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org  http://www.internationalcoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Speed Coaching - Part Two

OK, we did it!

Yesterday was the speed coaching event at the major client's conference (read yesterday's blog now if you haven't already) and it seemed to be a huge success.

The 40 coaches had tables and every 25 minutes we got a new group of people at our table.  It was fun and it meant that we also had different group dynamics each time, so we had to keep on our toes and pay attention to the varying needs of everyone and respond very quickly.

My only challenge was that I have been experiencing hay fever all of this week and was feeling rather miserable, but with the help of medication I was able to be bright eyed, bushy tailed and yet still red-nosed.

What will the gains be from the experience?  I don't know yet, and I'm OK with that.

Everyone walked away with a folder full of lots of information that I knew we couldn't cover in 25 minutes but that the participants could read about later.

So my expectation is that some participants will gain value from the information folders.  Some participants may call in for coaching soon.  Some I may not hear from for weeks.  Some I may never hear from at all.

The lesson I'm quite comfortable with here is that I was there to share and help in the best way I could and that I have faith that it made an impact.  I do not need evidence that it worked measured by picking up paying clients.  I simply know the session helped someone now or will in the future and that's cool enough.

Coaching Exercises

1.  What impact do you make on others?  (Yes, this is a very open and vague question...just go with it and see what comes out.)

2.  Do you require evidence or proof of your impact?  If so, how do you want or need to measure this?  (still open and vague, still go with it.)

3.  What could you do to find some peace with the concept that you don't require evidence; that you simply know you make a positive impact and that evidence isn't required?  (Oh, that could be a bit deep...go with it anyway.)

4. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call is BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org  http://www.internationalcoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Speed Coaching - Part One

I'm about to do something very interesting today - speed coaching.

What is speed coaching, you ask?

Well, a group of 40 other coaches and myself will each host a table at a bit national conference for a really big organisation here in Australia.  Each of the coaches will have a topic to discuss/coach on for 25 minutes.  Every 25 minutes, we get a new group of people at our table.  We repeat this three times.

Essentially over 400 people will be able to participate in quick group coaching on three topics as part of their conference.

The opportunity for each of us coaches is to help a large number of people in a short amount of time, and also to establish some new relationships on the way.

In tomorrow's blog, I'll tell you how it went.



Coaching Exercises

1.  What are three hot topics you'd like to get some quick coaching on if only 25 minutes per topic?

2.  What would you need to do to be really focused during the coaching to get the most out of the short amount of time?

3.  If you didn't get everything you wanted/needed in the short amount of time, what follow-up options would exist that you could explore?

4. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call is BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org  http://www.internationalcoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Two Interviews to Listen to: Noel Posus on the ECI Conference and Rohan Dredge on "The Coach's Coach"

There are two interviews you can download and listen to at no charge that I think you are likely to find very interesting.

Get the downloads here.

The first interview is actually me talking about the upcoming Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference: The Future of Coaching - Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s  (You can download the Conference Invitation Pack here.)

The second interview is of Rohan Dredge, "The Coach's Coach" talking about not only his services to coaches, but his passion for helping our coaching colleagues achieve their desired personal and professional goals.

Both interviews are about 15 minutes long and worth listening to.

Get the downloads here.

Coaching Exercises

1. If you were to interview someone in either your personal or professional life today, who would you interview and why?  (Keep in mind this doesn't have to be about publishing the interview...you could just do it because you're interested in the person.)

2.  What questions would you ask?  What would the purpose of those questions be?  What would you expect to learn?

3.  If you then did actually share the interview with others, what would the purpose of that be?  How do you believe others could benefit from this information?  How could you actually publish it if you had permission from the interviewee to do so?

4. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call is BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org  http://www.internationalcoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Beijing Executives

A colleague of mine in Beijing wrote to me yesterday telling me about how rampant it is in Beijing and other major Chinese cities for executives to have such a stressful professional life that it is impacting their marriages and the divorce rate is rapidly increasing.

One might think that this isn't unique to Beijing - just possibly one of the few times we hear about it.

My colleague asked me what we, as coaches, can do to help.

Certainly there is a huge market in China for executive coaching.  (Life Coaching isn't big under that name, but would fall under the broader term of "Success Coaching".)  So, the opportunity is to help package and promote executive coaching in a credible way which supports the Chinese cultural traditions and considerations.  It may be difficult for some leaders to acknowledge that they could use some assistance, so it is often better to pitch it as "Do you want to be more personally and professionally successful?"  This way, we're not necessarily indicating that someone isn't successful now; but instead tapping into a desire to perform at a higher level.

All that said, there's still the challenge of balancing professional expectations and personal needs.  And this can be that much more complicated in a cultural setting such as in China.

So, what tips do I have?

1.  Create an executive success coaching programme

2.  Include within that programme exercises, awareness and models around life and work balance.  Also include information about relationships and support in a broad sense.

3.  Be willing and brave to raise the personal life goals as well as the professional life goals, paying attention to the needs of the client and only doing what you have permission to do.

4.  Know that depending on how you teach/coach professional relationship skills, your client may also then decide on their own to try to apply it to their personal life.  They may never tell you that they do.  Have trust it could happen.

Coaching Exercises

1. What do you believe you can learn from your professional skills that also could apply to your personal life and relationships?

2. Who do you know who has both personal and professional successful relationships?  What can you learn from them?

3. If you feel you don't have enough information about how others do it (and therefore what you could learn from them), are you willing to ask them directly to share their lessons of success?

4. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call is BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org  http://www.internationalcoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Show Up or Serve?

During the same conversation referred to in the previous blog, my colleague and I were also discussing the roles and common behaviours of people who serve on non-profit, community and charitable boards.

We often find that people sign up to be on the boards but don't really do much of anything.

So, we started discussing the difference between "showing up" and "serving" on a board.

Certainly in my opinion, I think many people who sign up for serving on a board don't fully realise the expectation there is to work, and sometimes, work hard. That said, sometimes the recruitment and induction process as well as the ongoing leadership of boards, doesn't promote and develop board members and the expected behaviours.

What are your thoughts?

Coaching Exercises

1. In your opinion, what does it mean to serve on a board?

2. Have you ever served on a board? What personal gains did you achieve as a result of the experience? What professional gains did you receive? What was the impact of your involvement? How would you evaluate the quantity and quality of your contribution? How did others evaluate it?

3. If you haven't served on a board, what would you like to personally gain from the experience if you did join one? What about professionally? What type of contribution would you like to make? What type of contribution would others expect of you? What behaviours would you need to consistently perform at a high standard to match the role?

4. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call is BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org  http://www.internationalcoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Space in Heart, Head and Pocket

I was having a conversation with a colleague a few days ago about all the various projects and clients we take on and the evaluation process we go through when it's a non-profit or community organisation, when it's a small business and when it's a major corporate client.

Somewhere in the conversation the following idea popped up:

- When it's a non-profit or community organisation we do it because we have lots of space in our heart for it.

- When it's a small business we do it because we have lots of space in our head for it.

- When it's a major corporate we do it because we have lots of space in our pockets for it.

- And sometimes, regardless of the type of business, it's a combination of any or all of the above.

We also took some time shooting holes through this logic, but also found the statements as profound at some level and an interesting framework for discussion.

So, what do you think?

Coaching Exercises

1. How do you evaluate the projects you get involved in? Look at the decision making process and what you consider, why you consider it, and ultimate what guides your choices.

2. What's the difference between heart, head and pocket for you?

3. If there's anything you're not fully comfortable with about your answers, what would you like to be different?

4. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call is BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org  http://www.internationalcoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Mastery of Self, Coaching, Business and Industry

There was a fantastic email response to the earlier blog on the argument for coaches to get coached. One of the outcome questions raised to me was "Could you tell us more about Mastery of Self, Coaching, Business and Industry?"

Absolutely. And I'm also running a post-conference workshop on this very topic for the Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference: The Future of Coaching - Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s.

Master of Self, Coaching, Business and Industry

This one day workshop will be held on Saturday 22nd November 2008 in Sydney.

For those of you interested in coming, and for those of you who can't make it, we'll be covering the following:

Mastery of Self:

What do you want for your own life and how you operate? What needs to be worked on in terms of health, knowledge and learning, social, financial, family, the partner within, partner and significant relationships, spirituality, career, business, giving to others and giving to self? We'll be using the Wheel of Life tools to assist in this process.

Mastery of Coaching:

How do you assess your current coaching skills? How do you check in with your clients for feedback on this? What do you want to know how to do better? What do you want to learn? What are your options and in what order do you need to do things? Also, we'll look at how to minimise confusion about how many coaching skills you have and how you'll attract clients as they're not necessarily the same (but many coaches attend course after course on coaching skills but not on business building skills).

Mastery of Business:

Do you have a business plan that works for you as an ongoing guide? What are your business targets? How are you currently measuring them? What are your business skills and how are you using them currently? If there's something that needs to get done that you don't enjoy or don't know how to do, what are your options? What is your marketing plan? How much time, energy, effort are you putting into it? Do you have a coaching profile and who knows about it? We'll spend significant time here as it is generally the area where coaches admit they need the most development.

Mastery of Industry:

Do you know what is going on in the global and local coaching industry? Do you know the key players and what they're doing? Do you understand the public perception of coaching? Do you understand the differences between life, business, workplace, executive coaching and others? Do you know how to develop into new markets? Do you know the research being done and why it's important to be on top of it? Are you a member of one or more professional organisations and do you understand your intentions and objectives there? What energy and effort are you putting into the industry itself and do you understand how that can pay benefits to you directly as well?


There are a lot of questions here and many more to be asked during the workshop. This is a very focused and intense personal and professional planning day. And I can guarantee that you'll get so much value for your $150 that you'll be surprised the investment is so low.

I'm keeping the investment low because I really want everyone who wants some help to step up as a coach to be able to afford to do so. I feel it is part of my purpose right now to be running this event as part of my contribution to the health and wellness of the industry.

Read more in the Conference Invitation Pack.

Or if you're in Australia, email me directly to register.

For those of you who cannot make it to the conference, please email me with your expression of interest to attend massive teleclass on this. The class version will be two or three hours and will cost A$197.00. (The cost is higher because there will be greater operating costs on my end than a workshop event.) I'm just taking expressions of interest now and will likely run this teleclass event in January and February 2009. If there is enough interest I will run it monthly.


Coaching Exercises

1. Read the questions above in the four categories and start writing your own answers to them. If you're not a coach, still work through the questions relative to your situation and modify those that aren't a perfect fit to the logical fit they need to be for you.

2. How do you plan your own personal and professional development now? What works well for you? What needs improvement in your planning and implementation process?

3. If you don't currently have a personal and professional development plan, what are the benefits to you creating one now for both the short and long term?

4. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call is BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

30 Days of Incredible Awareness!

The first "self-coaching" book I wrote a number of years back is still quite popular and I just realised this morning that I've never blogged about it. I'm not sure why the oversight, so I'm correcting that today.


30 Days of Incredible Awareness!


Self awareness and exploration is part of the human experience, and is a central part of what people are looking for when working with a life coach. Now imagine that you had access to 30 of the core awareness building exercises used by life coaches – more than 30 sessions worth of personal discovery – all in one place!

30 Days of Incredible Awareness brings those questions and activities into one e-book, and you can use this incredible resource to coach yourself. And, you can pace your journey. For you awareness adventurers, you can take the fast track and work through one significant exercise per day for 30 days, or you can go a bit slower and do one per week for 30 weeks – the choice is yours, and this tool can help expand your awareness about how you make choices too.

This book covers topics ranging from discovering your values, strengths, opportunities and dreams. It also includes how to tap into your own inner wisdom, how important your relationships are to you, what you are giving (or not giving) yourself permission to do, and even how to improve how much you smile and laugh on a daily basis.

There’s something for everyone, everyday. And at this incredibly low price, you’re receiving the value of coaching at less than 1% of what it would cost to hire a Life Coach to work with you on these same exercises. Be your own coach now and start the journey today. Or if you’re already working with a coach, consider bringing your insights and responses to these exercises to your next session with her or him.

30 Days of Incredible Awareness!


Coaching Exercises

1. If you took up the challenge of an intensely focused 30 day self-discovery process (using this book or any method of your own), what outcomes would you want to achieve?

2. Have you ever gone through an intensely focused self-discovery process like this before? What were the outcomes?

3. If there are obstacles you believe may be in the way of you actually doing this self-focused challenge, what are two solutions for each of those obstacles? Plan for the solutions now and the obstacles will have less power.

4. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call is BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Exceptional People Igniting Elite Performance in Turbulent Times

This is likely to be one of the most exciting events running in Sydney this year and now is the perfect time for it.

EXCEPTIONAL PEOPLE IGNITING ELITE PERFORMANCE IN TURBULENT TIMES

This event is run by my dear friends, colleagues and coaches, Allan Parker and Claire Stretch and is co-facilitated by the incredible Dr Stephanie Burns, Amanda Gore, Marvin Oka and Colin James.

Here's what Allan wrote to me to announce it:

_________________________________________________________________

Dear Noel

I am pulling together, and hosting, what I believe will prove to be the most significant, mind shifting, elite performance enhancing, time saving, productivity and efficiency stimulating event of the year. It is not to be missed. You will find full details here .

The brief summary is that I have managed to pull together, to present on the same day, four of the world's most accomplished speakers and experts on enhancing performance. This day is followed by a one day workshop with the same theme. Given the current events in the world economy, it is my belief that this event is a must for all leaders and influencers; it's up to us to model the most productive behaviours to carry us above and through the turbulence and flourish from it.

Noel, please note that I am only emailing a small number of people about this event at this point, as I believe it will sell out very quickly. I am emailing you because I believe you will 'get' the importance of this event and understand just how much it will be able to serve you and those you work with.

Please do not hesitate to call me if you would like to touch base about this opportunity on          +61 2 9962 9871       or leave a message at the office on          +61 2 9328 9777       or click here if you are thinking of registering.

Kind regards

Allan Parker
and Claire Stretch (who is working with me to pull this event together)

___________________________________________________________________

Readers, I absolutely everything Allan and Claire put together as I guarantee it will be a truly awakening, transforming and powerful event. This one is bound to be one of the best ever!


Coaching Exercises

1. Many people are talking about these days being turbulent times. How are you feeling about the world events currently unfolding?

2. With all the news (much of it could be termed "bad"), how do you process this information cognitively, emotionally and physically? What is working for you and what hasn't just yet?

3. How do you want to be able to think, feel and be during the current troubled times and moving forward? How do you want to operate, cope, rise above...whatever it is you want to be able to do better than you are now? Be specific about how you want to "be" in your future.

4. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call is BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Quick Centering Exercise

A colleague of mine called me yesterday asking for a quick centering exercise to assist one of their clients who is going through a massively busy and stressful period.

Here's the exercise I shared:

1. Stop what you’re doing and find a place to yourself (could just be close the office door, find a park bench outside, etc)

2. Have a glass of water.

3. Breathe (3 x deep and slow in through the nose and out through the mouth.) This can be repeated if necessary. The purpose is to really concentrate on slowing everything down.

4. Run through the senses.

o What do you see? (notice colours, patterns, etc.)

o What do you hear? (check for foreground and background sounds, including your own sounds such as breathing)

o What do you taste? (could be the water just drank, or the mint you just had, whatever)

o What do you smell? (could be related to drink/eat, or perfume, smell of air conditioning, carpet, wood, etc.)

o What do you feel? (two levels here: 1) If you’re touching anything, like clothes, what is the sensation of the fabric. Could be wood, chair, grass, etc. 2) What is the physical sensation for you? For example, if you’re sitting on a hard seat, how does that feel to your muscles, bones, etc. If you took your shoes off, what sensation exists to run toes against a surface?)

5. Breathe again (3 x deeply)

6. Choose what you want to feel for the next hour. Could be “in control”, “confidence”, “strength” etc. Get a picture in your mind of you being that. Keep it simple, just how you would feel and how you would adjust your posture to reflect that feeling.

7. Adjust your posture. What does “confident” for example look like in your posture? Stand up, do the posture.

8. Breathe again (3 x deeply) and connect with the posture and feeling.

9. Move on to your next task, meeting, event etc and carry this new focus with you.

10. Repeat throughout the day as required.


Coaching Exercises

1. Do the exercise listed above.

2. How do you feel as a result? What are the benefits you're experiencing? What's the value of stopping and taking a refocus break like this for you?

3. When could you use this in your day today? How will you remember to do it?

4. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call is BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

The Critical Value of Coaches Getting Coached

A reader has written in with the following question for today's blog:

"I would like to hear your thoughts on the critical value of coaching for coaches. That is, the need for us (coaches) to continue to wear the "coachee" hat for the purpose of our own ongoing development and improvement."

Excellent question and one that I discuss with new and established coaches quite often.

There are numerous points regarding the potential value, so I'll list them here with some thoughts next to them:

- It is important to be a "product of the product". We not only need to understand the process our clients are going through by having experienced it ourselves, but also that we continue to be a work in progress ourselves just like our clients are. There is integrity and authenticity in this.

- Those coaches who are members of coaching professional bodies will in most cases be required to receive a minimum number of coaching hours themselves each year. Some may consider this to be just an obligation, or a hoop to jump through to maintain membership or to apply for higher levels of credentialling. Others may view this as a natural part of their own personal and professional development. It's important to check in if getting coached is being done out of obligation or desire. This isn't a "right" or "wrong" distinction, just an important point to be personally honest about.

- The coaching industry is unregulated and in my opinion unlikely to be regulated any time soon in most countries. Therefore, one way we can work toward self-regulation is to ensure there is an appropriate range of professional development requirements through coaching professional bodies, which can include the coach getting coached. At an industry level, this also shows integrity and authenticity.

- Many of the coaches I've met (and I've met thousands...honestly!) do not have their own personal and professional development plans in place, despite working with clients to produce theirs. I find this astonishing at times. I have had the great pleasure of teaching at a number of coaching schools and running development workshops for coaches in many contexts/situations over the years. The format I almost always use breaks down the development into Mastery of Self, Mastery of Coaching, Mastery of Business and Mastery of Industry. All of us have something to work on in those areas, and most coaches I have met have not made any plans in at least three of those areas, namely Self, Business and Industry (although they enjoy studying coaching skills). Coaches who get coached can close this enormous gap that exists across our colleagues in this industry.

- Coaches getting coached by other coaches doesn't have to cost anything! Many coaches feel they can't afford to get coached, and we all certainly understand the great variety of coaching rates out there. We could be asking our colleagues (include fellow students of coaching) to do some buddy coaching. This can be a commercially free arrangement! Various professional bodies offer volunteer coaches to support their members. Of course, there is also askacoach.com which offers email coaching at an affordable rate for just about any coach. There are lots of options out there, so I don't fully accept the argument that coaches can't afford it.

- There is one area which I think is also fair to raise and may be an unpopular opinion. I'm not necessarily a fan of systems within professional bodies which dictate who someone needs to be coached by. For example, to say that someone must be coached by another coach who has achieved a particular credentialling status within a professional body, has the potential to create two distinct negative outcomes: 1) a closed-shop that simply supports its members commercially and 2) a system that doesn't recognise the great opportunities of other coaches out there who are not affiliated with any professional body. I'll give you an example, my own coach (actually, i go to three, so I'm referring to just one of them here) has been a leader in the industry for 25 years, has written five books and coaches with both the UN and the EU. An amazing individual and according to some professional coaching bodies, he doesn't qualify as an appropriate person for me to get mentor coaching from as he is not a member of that organisation and doesn't hold a credential with them. Some bodies have recently changed their requirements around this. So, my tip here is to explore all the many options you have for getting coached. Consider who you could learn from best, who you could grow most with, etc. Try not to limit you own growth by other group's standards of who they think you should be growing and learning with.

Finally, here are some tips for those coaches considering to get coached:

1. Know what you want to be coached on. Be a good "client" to your coach and help them.
2. Follow through on your commitments, just like we ask our clients to.
3. Ensure you set up an agreement up front about how your coaching relationship is going to work. Do all the ethical, moral and professional steps you would expect in the same type of relationship you have with your own clients.
4. Research your potential coaches. Ask for references. Speak to more than one coach before making your decision. Be a good customer, as this is a significant investment (energy, emotion, time and/or money) so do what's best for you in making this critical decision.
5. Be willing to get coached by more than one person over time. This expands your own experience and growth potential.
6. Get your goals and action plans in writing, even if your coach doesn't ask you to. Do it for yourself as this is what you ask your clients to do.
7. Give your coach feedback. Celebrate with them their strengths and the value you are receiving. Share with them professionally and respectfully if you are not getting your needs met.
8. Be open to offering yourself as a coach to new coaches and student coaches. We all need support and it amazes me how many coaches come to me telling me that no other coach would help them. Give to our colleagues.
9. Keep a professional development log. Many professional bodies require it. You can be doing it for yourself, regardless of those groups, as a way of celebrating your own growth.
10. Get coached regularly. If you haven't been coached by anyone for six months, go out and get at least one session to just check in that you're not going stale, procrastinating, going backward...whatever. Have a regular check in to keep you on top of your own game.


WOW, I didn't think I was going to write so much! I'm sure I could have written more, but this seems like a good place to stop.

I trust this has answered the reader's question and has also been of value to other readers.


Coaching Exercises

1. What would the value be to you to be coached? (Answer this question regardless of whether you're a coach or not.)

2. When was the last time you were coached? What was the outcome? If it's been a while, what has been in the way of you continuing to be coached? If you've never been coached, what has been in the way of you starting?

3. What do you have to work on currently in Mastery of Self, Mastery of Coaching, Mastery of Business and Mastery of Industry? What could you be working on with a coach?

4. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call is BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Oprah's Pay It Forward Challenge Stories

I don't get to watch the Oprah show very often but every now and then when I sit down for lunch and turn on the tube, there is her show. I really love some of the episodes, particularly when audience members are encouraged to act; to do something remarkable and do good for others.

Such is the case with Oprah's Pay It Forward Challenge. Read the stories here.

Essentially, participants are given $1000 and told to do good work with it. The idea is that someone helps someone and then instead of a "thank you" or a "pay it back" the person is encouraged to "pay it forward" to someone else in need.

So every person has to go out and do good for others with the money.

Brilliant!

This is something I would like to do on a big scale at some point in the future. If anyone knows someone with a lot of cash who would like to sponsor such a remarkable series of goodwill - good action - pay it forward acts, please help me meet them and let's get this happening!

Please read through the stories on Oprah's website to learn more about this remarkable concept (originally started by a ten year old many years ago and there's a wonderful film about it to called "Pay It Forward"!).


Coaching Exercises

1. If someone gave you $1000 today and told you to go do good work to benefit someone else, what would you first thought/reaction/response be?

2. Now think about it a bit more. What could you do?

3. Even more interesting, how could you turn the $1000 into more money so you could do more work? For example, one of the stories on Oprah is about a woman who turned $1000 into nearly $72,000 by getting community and organisation donations to top it up to help a family in great need. Her community only has 14,000 people in it and they worked together to make a huge difference, far beyond what $1000 could have done. What could you do to grow the funds to do your good work with?

4. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call is BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

What do you want me to write about?

I can tell from the stats that hundreds of people read this blog every week, and I'm very grateful for that. Thank you!

Every now and then readers write in to me to tell me what they would like me to write about; they share challenges etc that they're looking for solutions for and/or they give me tips and permission to share them with you.

Just in case you didn't know you could do this, I'm formally inviting you now to tell me what you want to read about in The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World.

Simply email me with your ideas and requests.


Coaching Exercises

1. If you don't tell people what you want and need, you're leaving it up to them to figure it out on their own. Who do you need to tell what you want and need today?

2. Similarly, others may not be telling you what they want and need. Who do you need to check in with today about their needs?

3. If you're not sure what to say or how to ask the questions to others related to the previous two points, you may want to consider creating a list of things or even some sample questions/statements you could make. The key thing is to not try to come up with the "perfect" question that will reveal all. Instead, come up with a variety of options as the reality of the situations for you will be varied and it could be a good idea to have a few alternatives up your sleeves to match the situations as they occur.

4. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call is BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Are you a good person?

Of course you are. I believe all of us are good people or at least have the potential to be.

However there are certainly times when we observe behaviour exhibited by someone else (or ourselves) and we think, "a good person wouldn't do that."

Yes, this is all very subjective. And also an interesting topic for today's blog in my opinion.

This isn't necessarily one of my soapbox moments about other people. When selecting this topic for today I'm also thinking about myself, my own behaviour and how others may perceive me as either a "good" or a "bad" person.

We also need to be clear about generalisations. For example, just because someone may have done one behaviour that is perceived as "bad" by others doesn't then mean that the person themselves is "bad."

So, I find it intriguing to be able to separate behaviour from person; to look at once-off events and trends; to consider values, beliefs, attitudes, choices and the resulting actions and reactions.

I could go on and on about his, however I suspect that some of the questions below will be enough and helpful on their own to get the thoughts rolling in on this topic.

Enjoy good people!


Coaching Exercises

1. What makes a person "good"? Be specific, make lists, write in your journal...do whatever is going to work for you to really explore this simple, open question.

2. What makes a person "bad"? Be specific, make lists, write in your journal...do whatever is going to work for you to really explore this simple, open question.

3. What specifically makes you a good person? What behaviours do you do on a regular basis that quantifies / qualifies your "goodness"? Similarly, what behaviours occur from time to time (or more often) which are contrary to what you believe is "good". What's happening in those situations compared to those situations when you're being "good"?

4. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call is BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Laura Trice on how important saying thank you is to world peace

Here's a really short video from one of my favourite websites. TED and one I think will help us all look at world peace differently, one household at a time.



Laura shares so many important messages in this three minute video. Watch it again if you feel you didn't catch them all. I'm particularly attached to the message that world peace starts one household at a time.

Coaching Exercises

1. Who needs to hear "thank you" from you right now?

2. How do you know? Have you asked? If you haven't asked what someone needs to be acknowledged for, how can you do that today?

3. What do you need to learn how to do, or to improve? Is it the asking for what others need, the telling how grateful you are, or both? How could you make that improvement happen?

4. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call is BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Stefan Sagmeister on what he has learned

Here's another short video from one of my favourite websites. TED .



Stefan Sagmeister's video shows a number of different creative ways he has taken information from his own diaries and turned them into powerful public messages.


Coaching Exercises

1. What messages, or life lessons, do you have to share?

2. What creative ways could you be sharing them? For example, how can art, visuals, audio, smell, touch, etc be incorporated into the telling of your message to have truly unique impact on yourself and others?

3. If you're not sure you even know where to start on the creativity front with this, consider getting a pack of post-it notes and writing one word of your message on each note. Now, you just need to consider where to post those notes for others to find.

4. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call is BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia

Speaking Up With Confidence - Taking Control of Your Life

A wonderful colleague of mine here in Sydney, Sonja Ridden, has asked me to help promote her new workshop, Speaking Up With Confidence - Taking Control of Your Life , and I'm happy to do it.

You can read more on her website by clicking here.

Here's some of the information about the course if you'd just like to do some reading here first:

DO YOU:

* Find it difficult to say “NO” to other’s requests or feel guilty when you do?
* Often feel under-valued, not appreciated, not taken seriously?
* Find it difficult to set limits on other’s behaviour?
* Often feel like no-one cares about YOUR needs and wants?
* Often feel as though others are making the decisions in your life?
* Frequently feel resentful of those you love?

If so, you are not alone. These struggles are common but... THERE IS AN ANSWER!

You can learn to say “NO” without feeling:
unreasonable ~ uncaring ~ uncomfortable ~ unloving ~ guilty

“SPEAKING UP WITH CONFIDENCE – taking control of your life” is an empowering one day workshop that is designed to help you improve your self-confidence, own “who you are”, stand up for yourself and TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE

Workshop Topics include:

* Understanding different behaviour styles
* Recognising the value of personal boundaries
* Understanding why a lack of assertiveness causes stress and distress
* Discovering beliefs that don’t help
* Learning when and how to speak up
* Making requests without manipulating or controlling
* Confronting with wisdom and with love

WHEN: Saturday, October 18th, 2008
WHERE: Gordon
HOW MUCH: $145

TESTIMONIALS:

I used to say 'yes' all the time, even when I was desperate to say no. This made me so mad at the people who asked me to do things and….at myself. Well, I now no longer have to say 'yes' unless I choose to. What a relief!! (Sandra S)

This workshop taught me a lot about myself. Boy, was I a people pleaser! It’s so liberating to no longer be driven by what others might think or say about me. It’s been such a revelation!! (Mark L)

I always felt like I had no right to say “no”. The course taught me that saying “no” when appropriate isn’t only my right, but my responsibility. (Grant S)

The most important thing that I learned at the workshops was that real love means being able to disagree. That was such an eye-opener that it's turned my life upside down in a really good way. (Ruth L)

I’d say “no”, but spend days feeling worried, guilty and selfish. Now I can say “no” without beating myself up. (Trish G)

I can't express how invaluable this workshop has been for me. I've not learnt half as much in my whole life as I did in that one day. No wonder doing relationship is so difficult if you don't even know who you are yourself. I've still got a long way to go but the workshop gave me a great starting point. (Louise R)

The course showed me who I am – Thank God, I am finally free to be me !!! (Kristen A)


For further information and/or registration click here.


Coaching Exercises

1. What does self-confidence mean to you?

2. When you are feeling personally confident, how does that feel? What factors help you feel that way? What have you accomplished when confident? How have others been impacted when you're confident?

3. You know yourself better than anyone else. What's really required for you to feel confident more consistently? Be specific in your answer; consider creating a list if necessary. And if you were to pick one thing on that list to start with; something you feel positive you could change relatively easily, where would you start?

4. As a result of these questions and your considered responses to them, what are you committing to?

As always, if you need any further personal support in response to any of these coaching exercises, please consider using the askacoach.com service.

All the best,
Noel

Noel Posus - Master Coach
www.askacoach.com  Join our newsletter by clicking here.

You can now get 100 days worth of The Best Little Life Coaching Blog in the World in e-book form. We call is BRIGHT IDEAS and it is our fundraising project to support The Oasis which helps out homeless youth in Sydney. We publish a new BRIGHT IDEAS volume every 100 days, so you can also order previous volumes to complete your collection. Click here to purchase your copy today and help our young people make a new start in life.

Noel Posus is on the Board of Directors and is the Head of Marketing - Asia Pacific for The-ECI - www.europeancoachinginstitute.org

Check out The Inaugural ECI Australasian Coaching Conference - The Future of Coaching: Embracing the Opportunities of the 2010s at http://www.europeancoachinginstitute.org/conference_2008/

November 20-22, 2008 - Sydney Australia