Talane's Coaching Tip for the Week.

Talane’s Coaching Tip for the Week, September 14, 2009
The Power of Less

Hello all! I have just returned to the UK after two glorious months in Manitowoc, Wisconsin where my mom lives—we had fun playing on the beach of Lake Michigan—beautiful weather all summer and, oddly enough, no mosquitoes this summer. We were glad to have missed yet another dismal English summer—rainy and cold. My eldest daughter has started “big” school and has a uniform (all the schools in the UK have uniforms) and looks so official now. And I've just finished writing my third book, Coach Yourself to a New Career that will be coming out this spring! A fun and busy summer to say the least!

Upon my return to England, I found my husband had ordered a book called Power of Less, The: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential...in Business and in Life by Leo Babauta and ironically, he ordered two copies by mistake. So I read it and thought it just the medicine required. I'm a packrat by nature and my natural inclination is for more, not less. (My husband is the minimalist.) Babauta recommends getting rid of the clutter, but doesn't tell you how (you'll have to read my book for that—Coach Yourself to Success!), and he recommends focusing on one thing at a time, and thankfully, he gives specific instruction on how to do that. His main point is to never have more han one big goal going on at a time and that goal should be achievable in a 6-12 month time frame). In my case, that would be writing a book. If your goal takes longer than a year to complete, then you need to break into smaller segments. In addition, you can have a maximum of three projects going on with the caveat that one of the three projects must be supporting and related to your big goal. [A project is defined as something that would take at least a day to complete or more but isn't as big as the big goal.] In my case a project might be to interview clients for the book or read a book for research, or draft a chapter.

My problem is that I'm always tempted to put more than one goal and more than three projects on at a time. Babuata says this dilutes the power of your focus—a very good point! So until you finish all three projects, you can't add in any new ones. I like the rigor of his approach and will try it out in real life to see if it is actually practical. I suspect, depending on your job and the nature of your work, you may need to adapt this to your own situation. Ideally, if you can get away with only doing one thing at a time, he recommends it as the best way to get things finished. I have to agree. Two weeks before I left England I got it into my head that I should try to get the first draft of my book done. (My original plan was to write it in Wisconsin). By giving myself permission to really focus on this one project intensely and write as much as I could every day, I did get the entire rough draft done! Of course, it needed more work over the summer, but I started the summer with a really solid draft to work on and refine—and boy was I glad because once I arrived in Wisconsin I really felt like sitting on the beach drinking margaritas. I slipped into holiday mode instantly.

This strategy requires saying “no” to lots of things so that you can focus on your one big goal and the three projects (remember that one of those three projects is for your big goal). He gives some good tips on how to tell your boss three projects is enough for any one human being. And he gives some good tips on managing your email–like only checking it twice a day and never ever check email before you've done some work on your big goal. Overall, the book is a quick read, concisely written and a great reminder to focus on one thing at a time and get rid of all other distractions. By the way, Babauta has six kids so such a strategy is essential or I could imagine he wouldn't get anything accomplished!

Enjoy!
Talane

P.S. I just wanted to share that even if you only have half an hour a day for your big goal, you'll get there in the end. I know an author who wrote her book every night for half an hour while her son was little—it was all the time she could spare and had the energy for. She finished the book in one year! So think about it—in one year from a day you could have a book or some other big goal accomplished! But just pick one big goal!

Copyright © 2009 by Talane LLC. All rights reserved.

Talane’s Coaching Classic Tip for the Week, September 8, 2009

Talane’s Coaching Classic Tip for the Week, September 8, 2009

Listen Profoundly

Most people like to think that they are good listeners. Very few people actually are. Think about the people you know. Of all your friends and family, how many really listen to you? Listening is an art and, like any life skill, takes practice. No one ever taught us how to listen; we were taught to speak. Stop worrying so much about what you are going to say. What really attracts people is not what you say, but how well you listen. Listening and keeping your stories to yourself will lead to an unexpected result. The person who does the most talking ends up feeling he knows and trusts the listener. It seems like it should be in reverse, that the person listening should feel he knows the talker, but this isn’t the case. A well-known reporter confirmed this. He said that the way to build trust is to listen and keep on listening and then keep on listening some more. As a rule of thumb, talk 20 percent of the time and listen 80 percent. Try this today and see what happens. You might be amazed at the things people will tell you when you really listen. People will love you for listening. Listening profoundly is not easy; it takes practice. Experiment. Try listening for three minutes before you say your piece. The more profoundly you listen, the more people will enjoy being around you and the more opportunities you will attract.

Copyright © 2009 by Talane LLC. All rights reserved