Top 10 Ways to Add Value, for the Sheer Joy of It

To make money in business, you need to add value to customers. And to have a very attractive life, adding value is, of course, key. In this Top 10 List, you’ll learn how to add value to others in ways that can also bring you joy.

In fact, the aspect of the practice of adding value which will make you most attractive is the joy that you experience in doing so, not the quantity or quality of the value you are adding. Big difference. The bees do it right.

They do their thing, going from flower to flower collecting pollen as they go. The byproduct/value being added? Pollination of the trees and flowers. Often, the best value is the byproduct to others of what you do for joy.

1. Find out what the other person places a high value on.

Everybody has their own opinion as to what adds value to their life. Take the time to ask and get to know what other people define as value. You may not want to package or deliver what you have to fit their exact description, but the process of being open will add value to you because it will sensitize yourself to what matters to others. With this expanded perspective comes wisdom.

2. Discover what brings you joy and do lots of that.

Very few people know what brings them joy, but when they find out, they become more attractive to themselves. What does bring you joy? Is it intellectual pursuits? Giving to others? Solving problems? Designing something? Usually when you’re expressing your values, you’ll feel joy. When you experience joy, you’re probably adding a lot of value to others at virtually no cost to yourself.

3. Find ways to broadcast/share what you have/know, without a cost to yourself.

Thanks to the Internet and electronic distribution of information, you can add lots of value to others, without it costing you any extra time or money. Set up a weekly e-newsletter, teach a TeleClass, trainer trainers/teachers, write a book, create audiotapes. These are all ways to increase the distribution of what you know, which add value all along the way.

4. Stop trying to sell, convince, enroll or hype yourself or what you offer.

Part of the process of becoming more attractive is to stop pushing yourself or what you offer onto others. Adding value usually occurs least expensively to both parties when one party takes it from ‘your doorstep’ instead of you knocking on their door. It’s a pretty big change in style, but few people who are pushing hard experience joy. So, stop, and find a better way to make your business work or reach your goals.

5. Help others create tremendous value from what you provide; instead of just giving them more value.

You can overwhelm your customers and potential customers with too much value, just as you can fill your mouth so full with food that it’s hard to chew. So, one way to add more value without adding a thing is to show your customers/potential customers how to make the most of what you’ve got. Giving them instructions, coaching them, staying with them as they use your product or service, challenging them to invent new ways to use it, etc., are all ways for more value to be created without you having to give more product.

6. Don’t get your personal needs met by attempting to add value to others.

‘Adding value’ is an attractive mantra, but it becomes less so when it is simply a way to get your needs met. When this is the case, the buyer feels the added value as a hook or a setup, not as a gift. It’s pretty subtle, but it affects the buyer negatively. Add value because it brings you joy, not because it fills a need for you personally.

7. Match what you have to the people who need/want it; customize.

One of the easiest ways to increase the value you deliver without a lot of extra work is simply to repackage or customize pieces of what you offer to fit the exact (and I do mean exact) needs of your best customers. Buyers are getting very picky and exacting; each of the forty shades of beige/ecru/bone matters a great deal to the person buying those shoes. The same is true for almost every product or service today. Plus, it’s fun to customize if you’re at all creative.

8. Get into synch with a large trend and move forward to the head of it.

Because the bulk of what is called value added in our information age is intangible (information and skills, not brick and mortar), the more you can add value to other people’s intangibles, the better. And keeping up with trends which will affect the value of information and other intangibles, is the perfect lookout-position! Right now, two meta trends (that’s meta, although these are mega as well), are the Internet and ‘meaning.’ Perfect your knowledge of these, and their implications, and you’ll be adding a lot of value because it will upgrade what you currently offer without you having to upgrade that.

9. Put people together in networks which mean a lot to them.

You can add a significant amount of value by doing what may come naturally to you — putting people in touch with each other. Whether you have a big Rolodex or are developing one, the more people you put together, the more value that everyone receives. And if you can sponsor, host or create special-interest networks, that’s even better. People need to belong (emotionally) and need resources (professionally), now more than ever. You can provide this service without any extra work.

10. Become a coach and/or master the full set of coaching skills.

A coach is someone who shows you how to do or master something, whether it be to reach an important goal or to make a difficult change. A coach stays with you and helps you select the goal, engage with it, progress through it, achieve it and integrate the accomplishment into your life. People need this level of care and 1-1 touch. Show people how, don’t just tell them how.

Unleashing Project Thomas To The Public (That’s you.) | What Would You Like? What Do You Need? What Would Help Most?

Interviewed as I was by Mark Joyella, @coachreporter of www.CoachingCommons.org last Friday morning while in New York, I had the opportunity to express the desire to take requests from you, dear reader, about the things you wish would happen with Thomas’ body of work.

If you haven’t seen the video itself yet, look for it here:  http://www.coachingcommons.org.

A few requests have begun trickling in:

• “I have a big corporate gig I’m bidding for, for 2010, and I would love to discuss how some of the Thomas material could play a part in that” (Experienced corporate coach approaching a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company.)
• “I’m a teacher running a coach training program. Would you be willing to allow the 15 Proficiencies to be repackaged for this purpose?”
• “I loved the Toleration Free program when I took it and would love to teach it in groups and workshops for my retirement market. Will you be making that available?”
• “Where are the Thomas Leonard t-shirts??”

My imagination tells me there must be more of these kinds of requests, and I know I haven’t been vocal enough about being very open to them.  So thank you to the Coaching Commons for springing wide this conversation.  I truly am eager to hear how this mountain range of material can be pressed into best service for us all.

Comments, suggestions, insights, requests - all will be replied to in email with more details. Thank you very much in advance!

Proficiency #13. Relishes the Truth

This may sound obvious, and it’s deeper than that.

After all, truth is a level above mere honesty, as in there is always a truth about a situation, person or event that, when discovered and articulated, can transform one’s life or business. Certified Coaches have come to enjoy and orient around truth as a source of joy and guidance.

What are some key distinctions?

1. The perspective that truth provides calms people down.

Relishing the truth actually takes the pressure off. Some clients won’t want to tell you the truth they see because they think they have to make a change, and they might not be ready. If you help them relish the truth, naming it actually feels like a relief. It no longer has the power of the secret they can’t tell anyone.

2. Strategy and direction become clear.

Once the truth is articulated, and relished, things move much faster - the strategy becomes obvious.

3. Timing is everything.

As always, use your interpersonal skills and intuition to know when the client is ready to hear about this. You can still relish the truth, just make sure the client is open to hearing about it.

4. Relish the Client’s truth.

The point is to relish the client’s truth, not your opinion about what the client’s truth should be. This is part of respecting the client’s humanity.

Click here for full-size image of the above.

What is the model for relishing the truth?

Click here for full-size image of the above.

How does relishing the truth make you a better coach?

1. Relishing the truth opens possibilities.

When you and your client look at the truth with anticipation and excitement, it changes the chemistry of the coaching relationship. You both are more excited and having more fun, and thus open possibilities.

2. Takes the pressure off.

Both you and the client will feel less pressure, so you can just enjoy the conversation. This shifts from having to always be working at something to letting something be or evolve.

3. Reduces client fears.

Clients may fear that they always have to be working at something, or that the truth is “hard.” By relishing with them, these fears are reduced or eliminated. Then they have room and space to change if they want to.

4. The client reorients to truth.

When a client discovers something, he generally reorients. Sometimes it is a simple redefinition, other times a whole rug-pull experience.

5. Clients understand themselves better.

As a result of understanding a situation better, the client understands themselves better. Particularly if you ask relishing questions…

What are some general truths about relishing truth?

1. Truth is something to be enjoyed, not avoided.

2. Clients avoid putting truth on the table because they think they will have to do something about it.

Want more insight and guidance into ways to be more provocative as a coach, and add value to your clients? The newly-produced print and audio collection ‘Thomas Leonard’s 15 Coaching Proficiencies’ is now available in early-launch pricing.

The 15 Proficiencies are a fundamental and historically-pivotal, not to mention immediately useful, coaching model. It’s probably the best-kept secret that CoachVille regrets is a secret, which explains why we’re highlighting it thusly today.

Comment here about how just the above helps you.

And/Or browse further samples and the first-edition early-sales prices for the Multimedia Paperback/CD collection here. Just be sure to book time in your calendar for the 15 recordings…all yours within minutes of purchase.

Top 10 Ways to Unhook from the Future

From Principle #2 of 28 Principles of Attraction by Thomas Leonard

Click to see full-sized model.

You are most attractive when you’re living in the present moment, not living in the future or striving for it. But how does one keep focused on today, yet still attract a better future?

This Top 10 List will help you make this important change in how you live and think.

1. Give up the goals which are seductive.
We all have things we want to achieve or acquire and nothing is wrong with this. But when these types of goals get us worked up to the point that we become more passionate about the future than we are about today, then it’s easy to get into trouble. Whether it’s a goal to get married, make a million dollars, change the world or become somebody, these kinds of goals can lead one down a seductive path where the future is far more interesting than the present. As a result, you lose the present, which is where the real gifts are.

2. Perfect the present.
When your life isn’t as you want it to be, the first thing we tend to do is to set a goal for a better future. Not bad, but if you’d take the same energy and perfect the present right now, you’d probably attract a better future instead of trying to acquire it. Very different approach. The idea is that a better future will find you when you have made the most of the present you’ve been given. The present is a superb teacher; the future is a seducer.

3. Stop watching television.
People get hooked by advertising messages — they cause us to want and ‘need’ more, which is kinda fun, but usually very expensive, given we give up our present quality of life in order to afford that item, tangible or intangible. The tendency is to acquire a lifestyle and confuse that with having a life. If you stop watching television, the future won’t be as seductive, because your present will be more appealing.

4. Stop motivating yourself.
Positive self talk, affirmations, external motivation and other ‘force’ measures can be very, very effective. But they tend to be expensive because they put the blinders on and turn you into a horse running on a track. Better to enjoy all of what you already have to the point that you don’t need to change a thing. At that point, a better future will find you, without the expense of motivation.

5. Stop trying to become a better person.
Give up. I’ve coached too many people trying to become a better person that they lose their humanness. Ego is a very, very positive part of you. Faults are rich and wonderful teachers. Mistakes are golden. Weaknesses are usually just hidden strengths. So, stop trying to improve, declare the game over and get to know 100% of YOU, just as you are. Stop trying to change yourself and you’ll start living much more in the present. The future does not need you to improve, but it does need you to evolve. You can only evolve when you are in the present, not striving for a better future. This is a tricky one, so stay with the it and work it out for yourself.

6. Stop over-planning.
I don’t mean not to plan for your financial future or to give up your important goals. But it’s tempting for some personality types to think that fully laid-out plans and perfectly identified goals are the right thing to do. In fact, they may simply be a mind exercise to reduce risk and fear. Identify a vision or sketch out a plan and then learn-as-you-go, but learn quickly. Better to become a rapid in-the-moment learner than become an expert planner. Life is accelerating so quickly, that most planning skills are irrelevant by the time you master them.

7. Stop hoping.
Life may improve for you, but not because you’re hoping. A popular bumper sticker says it all: “Since I gave up hope, I feel so much better.” If you’re living in hope for something to occur or improve, you’re simply escaping from the present. We all need an escape from the present from time to time; just don’t turn hope (aka the future) into your personal ZIP CODE.

8. Give up future-based possibility.
There is a lot that’s possible in life and many of the best things that will happen to you during life will be things that you never saw as even possible. But does expanding your thinking to consider what’s possible make these things happen more often or sooner? The jury is out on this one. But the idea is that if you see the possibility in the present, instead of what’s possible in the future, you’ll be a lot better off and more attractive.

9. Stop hanging out with strivers.
Strivers can be very fun to be with, but the net result is usually a drain of your energy. Strivers need lots of encouragement and energy from others to keep up their pace. Find folks who are happy with themselves and who are involved in creative endeavors which express their values instead of seeking to succeed.

10. Stop using if/then formulas.
Whenever I hear someone start out a sentence with “if” or “when,” I know they are living in the future. Entrepreneurial types, being optimists, are really good at this. The trick is to take out the words “if” and “when” from your vocabulary. That will help you stay in the present and not set you up to have what you want to occur be conditional or hinge on another person/event, such as “When I get my degree, I will make more money.” Better to say something like, “I am really, really enjoying my studies.” See the difference in orientation?

Want more insight and guidance into how to be attractive? CoachVille’s Pro Coach Membership (only $99) provides much more, direct from Thomas Leonard, on this and 49 OTHER chapters.

Please share your comments on how even just the above helps you.

Lesson 1: Know Precisely the 20 Best Things You Can Do for People | from Full Practice 100 Program

Click to see full lesson.

Potential clients don’t really care about you or coaching…
I don’t know that the term ‘coaching’ has even been properly defined or easily described, so I suggest that you steer clear of trying to talk about “coaching.” In my experience, while people may sound curious about what coaching is, what they really want to know is exactly how you can help them with a problem or opportunity.

Potential clients just want to know if and how you can help them…
And they need your help to do this. They need to hear SPECIFICALLY what you can do.

Mistake #1: Being too general
“I can help you reach your goals.”
“I can help you solve that problem.”

Mistake #2: Using jargon
“I can help you get more space.”
“I can help you transform your being.”

The trick is to be very, very specific…
It’s even okay to be too specific because even though your example of what you can do may not fit for this client, they at least will get a sense of what you can do. And, when you share with them several things you can do for clients, they may well be able to weave in your comments and buy the fabric, if not the thread.

…And to be very, very situational
It’s not enough to say what you do. Rather, you need to include references to what real people are experiencing in their personal and business lives.

Tips to think ’situational’…

1. Stand in the shoes of your ideal client. Ask yourself:

• What problems are they having?
• What is causing their stress?
• What opportunities are they missing out on because they are ______?

2. Stand in your own shoes. Ask yourself:

• What did I use to have problems with that I no longer do?
• What comes easy for me that perhaps I can share with others?
• What’s the contribution I want to make to others?

3. Stand in the shoes of humanity. Ask yourself:

• What are the biggest problems that humans in our culture are dealing with right now?
• What are the key skills, support structures and resources that people need to be their very, very best — and successful?
• What are some of the trends that are redefining the priorities that people have?

Excellent examples of specificity…

Here are examples of what coaches can say to potential clients who ask them what they do. Please note that the word ‘coach’ is not used in any of these responses.

• I help entrepreneurs to systematize their entire operation so that it can run without them, yet not take any of the fun out of being an entrepreneur.
• I tend to work well with mid-level corporate managers whose advancement progress has slowed to the point that they doubt their future with the company.
• My practice is exclusively working with individuals who have too many choices/options in their lives and who feel the need to design a simple, sustainable, flexible and elegant life and lifestyle.
• The person who I can do the best work for is the person who is totally confused about who they are and what they want.
• Our firm grooms and polishes executives-to-be.
• People who come to me are particularly curious about what their mission, vision and purpose are and how to reorient their lives around these.
• I work best with clients who are in overwhelming or seemingly impossible financial situations.

Want more insight and guidance into how to fill your practice, and add value to your clients? CoachVille’s Pro Coach Membership (only $99) provides much more, direct from Thomas Leonard, on this and 49 OTHER chapters.

Proficiency #01. Engages in Provocative Conversations

Coaching Success Assessment, contributed by W. Jan Austin, excerpted from the Coaching Forms Collection

Click here to see the full assessment in PDF format.

How are you doing with the following suggested items for assessing your coaching success? As coaches, are we only as good as our last coaching session? How can you let this list assist you in the very next coaching call you’re scheduled for?

• Identifies openings to performance, change & transformation.
• Helps create a clear focus of coaching interaction each time it is held.
• Connects my development to an appropriate sense of urgency.
• Clear priorities are established during the interaction.
• Encourages you to take appropriate action through a planned, systemized process.
• Accountability is created around priorities and time lines.
• Offers to share experience and knowledge when appropriate.
• My coach has no authority, accountability or responsibility for the outcomes I produce.
• Takes time to learn about what I do in my job.
• I look forward to our meetings and interaction.
• The coach is available for prescribed meetings and is accessible.
• Time you spend interacting is free from interruption by outside influences.

Click here to see the full assessment in PDF format.

We invite your comments on the assessment and its usability and/or other thoughts regarding practical tools for coaches.

Environmental Design Coaching | The Environment Always Wins

Environmental design is essential to masterful coaching because the environment always wins! If you want your clients to win the games of their lives then you MUST help them to design winning environments - environments that support them, inspire them and bring the game to life.

An environment that is full of obstacles or missing essential support will make it impossible to sustain a winning effort. In fact, a poorly designed environment is what makes most games of life unwinnable in the first place.

Success becomes sustainable when the environments support success AND make you feel fully alive. Being fully alive allows you to play a much bigger game in life. And through these BIG GAMES you evolve to your optimal potential and new levels of beauty, grace and greatness. One of the fundamental steps towards achieving this is understanding the different environments that surround us every moment of every day:

The 9 Environments of YOU:

Which of these – for yourself – is where you want it to be? Where and what are the improvements available to you?

1. Memetic Environment - Ideas
2. Financial Environment - Money, Wealth and Budget
3. Relationship Environment - Close friends, family and close colleagues
4. Network Environment - Professional Connections, Greater Community
5. Physical Environment - Places and Things
6. Body Environment - Your Energy, Appearance and Clothing
7. Self Environment - Strengths, Talents and Character
8. Spirtual Environment - Deep Connections and Sacred Spaces
9. Nature Environment - The Great Outdoors

A Closer Look at the Nine Environments

1. The Memetic Environment

The world is full of ideas. The issue is, which ones are you getting in to your mind? And an even bigger issue is how do these ideas impact your ability to play your new game at your best.

2. The Financial Environment: Assessing Your Financial Environment

Nearly any game your client can play will be affected by their financial situation. How healthy is your client’s wealth? Don’t know? Hmmm… maybe it is time for you to take a close look at their money situation. It is important that YOU and your client have a realistic picture of their current financial health. If necessary you must help them develop the basic money skills required to finance the games they are playing and possibly move in a direction of financial freedom.

3. The Relationship Environment: The Mirror to Your Self

If you want to know someone really well, simply get to know their five closest relationships. Everyone in a person’s life acts as a mirror to some part of themselves. AND we become like the people we spend time with; this is a simple and powerful truth of the Relationship environment. The majority of human beings are aware of the importance of their intimate relationships but rarely use this awareness as an Environmental Design tool.

4. The Network Environment: Designing a Resourceful Personal and Professional Network

As your game changes, your network environment must evolve and grow. Through network design, your client will discover ways to team up with others and create a supportive and thriving network. Your client’s network can play a powerful role in helping them achieve great success in the games of their life. CoachVille has many resources that can help you coach your client in designing a network to create supportive partnerships.

5. The Physical Environment: Does Your Physical Space Inspire You?

Creating physical spaces with great style, beauty and efficiency is no simple task. What we know is that the yearning for the design of our physical spaces is much deeper than the eye can see. In your client’s heart what they truly want is to be able to walk into places and spaces that nurture them on every level. They want spaces that provide warmth and relaxation, safety, and security, and most of all, a place that expresses their true personalities and one that makes them come alive! The goal of this environment and the work you do with clients on it is: to create physical spaces that stimulate spiritual energy and a feeling of: Ahhhh, this is me! I have truly come home.

6. The Body Environment: A Source of Strength and Energy

It may seem strange to think of the body as an environment but it is. You are NOT your body, your body is something you have, and so, it can be designed. The Body environment also includes clothing, hair and energy. Is your client’s body a source of inspiration to them? Is it strong, flexible and graceful? A positive body image is one of the most important aspects of happiness and well-being, yet it is an area which often seems to be a challenge for many. A holistic approach to strength, energy and well-being through daily practices is essential for the client who wants to win the games of their life.

7. The Self Environment: Using Your Strengths, Talents, Character and the Authentic You

The Self is another element of the environment that is not often thought of as such. But it is. You can help your client design new strengths, abilities and character. You can help them tap into the deep resources on the inside that can be reflected in the world around them. Are there old patterns that are restricting your clients’ full self-expression.

8. The Spiritual Environment: The Power of Pure Potential and Sacred Spaces

Are your clients getting their energy from low vibrations or negative points of power - such as control, overwhelm, clutter, addictions, force, manipulation, and anger OR from high vibrations or positive points of power such as love, truth, oneness, beauty, a giving spirit, and thankfulness. As with all design choices, your clients can choose to get energy from the highest of sources, which ultimately come from living in way that honors the soul. What would happen if you explored how to assist your client in designing sacred spaces for creating high vibrations of love, truth, thankfulness, and positive points of power.

9. The Nature Environment: Designing “Everyday Nature” with Inspiration in Mind

Our spirits are so lifted by flowers, a shining rainbow, or stars shining brightly in the clear night sky. We are drawn so dramatically to a panoramic view and to the sound of crashing waves on a sandy shore. There are deep and compelling reasons for our connection and love of nature. Our connection to nature has the potential to be a constant source of inspiration. No matter what games we are playing in life, connection to nature can bring us to life and restore our natural sense of wonder and mystery.

These are the 9 things that we at CoachVille call the 9 Environments of You. Which ones feel available for improvement for you? Which ones feel attractive to you? Which ones will you work on with your clients?

Supplies, For Relishing The Truth In Life…

The concept for Truth Relish, the poster, has been a splinter in my mind for years, and now finally here it is. (Click on the image to see it full size.)

Relish the truth, of course, is one of the 15 Proficiencies written by Thomas Leonard, and expanded upon in further detail elsewhere on this website and on the Internet.

Before calling the project done, though, what do you think? I wondered about adding sandwiches, but, ultimately thought it was cluttered.

We worked rather inordinately hard on the relish jar…

Please help make this collectible poster perfect before we send out a final PDF to all who appreciate such humor - probably mostly coaches trained in the proficiencies, but still, a worthy crowd to please if so. Printed poster versions can be made available if there’s enough interest.

Oh and yes, I have a couple other pithy poster possibilities in the old thought-trunk - who knows if they’ll see the light of day…

Need a Life? Get a Coach. Newsweek Article Features Thomas Leonard in February 1996 | Where It Began

Are you curious about exactly how the coaching field first burst boldly onto the scene?

Believe it or not, it used to be necessary to talk MUCH more laboriously about what this thing called coaching was. It was often painstaking and many coaches dropped out of their beloved coaching businesses because they just couldn’t do it.

On February 5, 1996, Newsweek Magazine published a full page article about this new phenomenon called coaching.  In some ways it was not very flattering, which you’ll see for yourself. However it was one of the very first times our world was documented in a mainstream magazine and it caused a real flurry of inquiries of people who became coaching clients, and, another flurry of individuals, perhaps like you, who saw themselves in the description and became students of coaching.

I think you’ll find it an education to read, and, since it’s an important part of our history, hope that you do.

Click here or on the thumbnail above to read the full article, as torn out from a personal copy of the magazine.

And  please share your comments and impressions in our comments section here.