New Release | A Japanese Language Edition of 52 Thomas Leonard Quotations

As part of a multiple-language project, we’re excited to release this completely no-fee ebook for coaches and non-coaches.

Thanks too, to the Japanese Coaching community for their willingness to help us with the perfect Japanese title. Once it’s settled, the appropriate English translation and title will be placed on t he above cover.

Got a language you want to help translate? Interested in a print version of the above? Hit reply to let us know – we don’t have unlimited amounts of time, but if you’re interested in contributing, we’re interested in hearing.

Click here to claim your copy now.

Thanks!

Happy Birthday, Thomas! The 2nd Annual Commemorative Birthday Gathering Held By Coaches in Japan

On Saturday, July 30, 2010, 25 coaches gathered in Yokohama, Japan for an afternoon of celebration on the occasion of Thomas Leonard’s birthday.

As part of the festivities, they studied the first section of the Full Practice 100 materials, listened to a pre-recorded audio message from Mentor Coach Andrea J. Lee former General Manager of Thomas Leonard’s team, and enjoyed birthday cake.

The depth of friendship, love and respect toward Thomas remains very strong in Japan, and even though the economic climate has made it challenging to succeed especially in the last few years, enthusiasm and commitment levels to the coaching profession remain high.

As Global License Holder of Thomas Leonard’s intellectual property, we were excited to launch the Japanese edition of 52 of Thomas’ quotations in ebook format at this party.

Coach Leslie Nielsen was instrumental in making this brand new publication possible through her dedicated translation, interpretation, and patience.

On behalf of Thomas, a big thank you to Leslie-san, and the many coaches in Japan who continue to create change for good.

Click here to check out the Japanese publication now.

Lesson #19 How do you coach a first time business owner who is completely over his/her head?

Given almost no one had Entrepreneurism 101 or Running a Small Business in high school or college, it is completely natural for business owners to get in over their heads from time to time.

Here’s how you can help.

Where ignorance and optimism meet, arrogance follows.

The great part of entrepreneurs is that they are quite optimistic, naturally driven and open to learning by doing.  The downside of entrepreneurs is arrogance (meaning that they overestimate their ability to handle things well, or they can’t collaborate/learn essential things until it’s too late).

Entrepreneurs are different than you and I.

Most entrepreneurs are idea people and in some cases, idea-chasing people.  Ideas breed opportunities and opportunities breed ideas.  A dizzying loop if you’re not an entrepreneur yourself.  Logic, linear planning, management and follow through are not generally the gifts of the entrepreneur.  The wise ones outsource these functions or have been lucky enough to attract folks who can handle the entrepreneur’s ways.

Entrepreneurs are prone to get in over their heads financially.

This again, because they are naturally optimistic if not dreamers.  That is their function in life.  Entrepreneurs are key to what drives innovation in many countries and are the backbone of business creativity in the U.S.  Remember, entrepreneurs have a different relationship with risk than you or I.  To them, it’s a greater failure to have not tried their best, even if the project/business didn’t make a lot of financial sense to the accountants of the world.  Entrepreneurs see so much that could and should work out.  And, on the downside, entrepreneurs are often ahead of the marketplace or get more excited about the idea/product/service/opportunity than they do about testing it out to make sure enough people will actually buy it, and buy it quickly and often enough to keep them in business.

How to coach the entrepreneur when they get in over their head.

There are two types of “in over their head.”

The first type is when they are bouncing around from idea to idea or business project to business project.  What they most need is to experience some modicum of success.  Without enough people buying their product/service, the entrepreneur loses faith in themselves and to compensate, comes up with another ‘great idea.’  And the cycle can continue until the deep hurt kicks in.

The second type is the entrepreneur who’s in trouble but can’t admit or or can’t admit all of it.  And believe me, by the time the entrepreneur even hints to you that they are in trouble, they are likely days away from a financial crisis.

What I’ve found that can work in these situation are a combination of…

1. Get their attention.

It’s not easy to get the attention of an entrepreneur who is in panic mode.  They tend to dominate their surroundings as a defense mechanism.  Rather than clamor for their attention, ask “Bob, how can I get your attention?”  It works.

2. Help them switch their focus.

From idea/revenue/project/opportunity to the actual customers. Not an easy shift at first, but once made, the entrepreneur often thrives on this new focus.  They apply their creativity to fixing customer and product/service problems.  It also keeps them out of idea mischief for a while.

3. Be very, very positive and encouraging.

Entrepreneurs are like kids; even when they mess up, they need love and encouragement.  You can be highly positive and encouraging and still ‘force’ the entrepreneur to face the facts and get to work to solve their problems.  But whatever you do, don’t b.s. them.  They are acutely aware of b.s. given they are often on the broadcasting side of that.

4. Ask them to sort out the problem and come up with a solution.

I’m all for being direct with clients, but entrepreneurs seem to do better when you ask them to come up with their own solutions.  I’ve also found it works really well to challenge the entrepreneur to solve the problem and then some within 30 days.  They LOVE a challenge.  Give them one.

5. Help the entrepreneur to honestly and accurately define the problem.

Entrepreneurs have tons of ‘reasons’ (aka excuses) for why things aren’t going the way they should be going.  I’ve found it helpful to push/put heads your together and figure out the real source of the current problem/stress/mess.  It’s usually one of these 5 things.

1. The entrepreneur is too idea/opportunity-based and isn’t customer focused enough.

2. The entrepreneur’s overhead or variable costs structure is too high.

3. The entrepreneur is impatient/overly optimistic about sales/revenue.

4. The entrepreneur’s lifestyle is too expensive, causing performance pressure.

5. The entrepreneur isn’t going deep enough with one business or product and instead is scratching the surface of several opportunities, doing none of them justice.  The real revenue and high profits occur when you do deep, not shallow.

6. The entrepreneur doesn’t know how to market or sell well enough, or he/she hasn’t outsourced this function.

7. The entrepreneur is trying to sell the wrong product/service.  It’s truly hopeless and the plug should be pulled.

I hope this was helpful.

Thomas

copyright 2002-2010 by coachville.com and bestofthomas.com written by thomas j. leonard. all rights reserved.

Access to all of the How to Coach Anyone curriculum is available in print and ecourse format.  Click here to find out more. (By using the coupon code FRINGE at check out, you save $5 until July 25.)

Please feel free to share your thoughts below.

Defining Success

What does Defining Success mean?

It means that you have identified the 3 key relationships, things, or other elements of life that that are most important to you in your life at this time.  These 3 items can be things like “The love I experience from my wife.” to “How creative I’m being.”  The idea of defining success may sound pretty obvious to you, but there is a subtlety to this process that you’ll learn about in just a moment.

What seems to be true about the notion of defining success?

• Until you take the time to define success for yourself, it is most likely being defined by others, your culture, the past, hope or advertising.

• Only you can truly define success for yourself.  And, you can use feedback from others to help you articulate your 3 success definitions.

• These success definitions set you free to enjoy life completely; they do not define you or box you in.  Rather, they release you from priorities that are not relevant or that meaningful.

Why is it beneficial for me to define success?

Given the number of influences, past and present, that one is subjected to, it’s very helpful to know what’s most important to you.  This, so that you don’t get seduced or distracted by the demands of others, your job, advertising or other sources which will tend to define what’s important to you if you haven’t taken the opportunity to define yourself first.

The 3 Steps

How do I define success for myself?  There are 3 steps…

Step 1.  Ask yourself this question.

I know I am being successful by… [fill in the blank here]

It’s very important that you use the exact sentence structure and words that you see above because this sets you up to articulate more clearly how you not only define success but how you know you’re being success at any given moment.  See, we promised you a subtlety and that is it.

Step 2. Tweak your 3 responses until they resonate.

You’ll know that a success definition is phrased well when you feel a tingle in your body, or the light bulb goes on or you feel otherwise excited.  Not feeling that way yet?  Not to worry.  This exercise is new for most people and it may take a couple days of tinkering with your success definitions before they zing.  And they will.  You will also find yourself thinking about success as you are redefining it; that is good!  If you are truly stuck and just can’t find resonating definitions, then simply start over and pick totally different ones.  This, because sometimes people confuse what they should or could want for their success definitions with what they really, really want.

Step 3.  Notice the tugs you feel.

As you feel your success definitions resonating over the coming weeks, notice the way it tugs at you to make small, or perhaps significant, changes in your life. You’ll catch yourself fairly quickly when you feel pulled away from your definitions.  You’ll find it easier to say no to people or situations that just don’t fit anymore with what is most important to you.  It’s up to you if you want to make these changes right now, but at least you’ll know what your body and heart are suggesting.

Who is defining your success? Just three steps to make sure it is you.

Everyone wants to be successful.

WHO’S TO SAY WHAT COACHING IS OR ISN’T?

Are some forms of therapy coaching?

Is consulting coaching?

Is managing coaching?

Is parenting coaching?

Is teaching coaching?

Is mentoring coaching?

Is ministering coaching?

Is loving coaching?

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes and yes.  It’s all coaching, or at least it’s becoming coaching. 

For years, we coaches have spent time educating the marketplace on what coaching is, and is not. But over that time (the last 20 years), and especially during the past 5 years, I believe we’re seeing coaching being used to describe a lot more than ‘just’ coaching, at least as we’ve known coaching.  Coaching is a catch-all term and I believe the term is big enough to include therapy, consulting, parenting, teaching, mentoring, ministering and loving.  I think we’ve spent a lot of time drawing the distinction between coaching vs other ‘professions.’  But the marketplace has quickly caught up with us and is now overtaking us coaches and that’s very, very good news.  If you think of coaching as sourdough starter, a lot of great bread is being made and enjoyed using the principles and methods of coaching.

There’s more to say here. My view has always been that coaching is simply a set of advanced communication and relating skills that elevate relationships to a higher place.  Heck, that’s what managers, therapists, consultants, parents, mentors, ministeres and just plain people are smack dab in the midst of getting better and better at.  Coaching is becoming FAR bigger than just we coaches coaching.  It’s also been my view that everyone is a coach, period.  And that everyone is getting better at coaching, through experience, training, awareness and modelling.  Think about it.  If coaching is truly a more evolved way of communicating and relating, coaching is something that benefits everyone worldwide.

That said, the specific and high level coaching work that we do as professional coaches continues to play a vital role in the acceptance of coaching as a skill set and of coaching as a valued profession in the marketplace.  We coaches will continue to be very special and sought after, even as the coaching approach and skill set becomes integrated into virtually every personal and business relationship.

During the Millennium Coaching Tour, I guesstimated that there may well be over 1,000,000 coaches coaching within 30 or 40 years. Some coaches think I’m way low.  Others wonder what calculator I’m using.  Regardless, the coaching skill set is here to stay and will flourish in multiple ways and via surprising avenues.  Parents, managers, ministers, consultants, therapists, and just plain people will be proud to call themselves coaches over the coming years.  And the vast majority of them will never be ‘professional coaches’ like we are.  But they will learn to coach very, very well.  And we first 10,000-30,000 coaches have ourselves to thank for taking the initiative to make this profession — and even more importantly, this skill set — stronger, more developed and freely available so that the world can benefit as every human being grows into being a coach in how they communicate and relate with everyone they meet.

–Thomas J. Leonard
CoachVille.com
October 3, 2000

THE ZEN OF PERFECT

1.   What is, is perfect.

And, you can perfect it.

2.  What isn’t perfect, is perfect.

Because there is something to learn.

3.  You are perfect.

Even when you are not.

4. Others are perfect.

Especially when they are not.

5.  Life is perfect.

But only when you see that it is.

6.  Weaknesses are perfect.

Their perfection is simply unrecognized.

7.  Your strengths are perfect.

So, continue to perfect them.

8.  What already is perfect is perfect.

Leave it alone.

9.  Tragedies are perfect.

We just can’t see the perfection, yet.

10.  Perfect is perfect.

Make perfect an art form.

Key Coaching Principles

1. SYNERGY CAUSES BETTER RESULTS, MUCH MORE EASILY.

PROPER COACH/CLIENT MATCHING IS ESSENTIAL FOR SYNERGY TO OCCUR.

2. WHEN PEOPLE ARE FULLY HEARD, THEY MOVE FORWARD IMMEDIATELY.

NOT BEING HEARD SLOWS DOWN PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND HUMAN EVOLUTION.

3. ANY SITUATION CAN BE OPTIMIZED, TURNED AROUND OR IMPROVED.

AND IF IT CANNOT, GET OUT OF IT RESPONSIBLY.

4. FEWER PROBLEMS OCCUR WHEN ONE HAS A STRONG PERSONAL FOUNDATION.

RISING ABOVE THE MUCK OF LIFE IS STEP 1 IN COACHING.

5. SOMETIMES THE CLIENT HAS THE ANSWER, SOMETIMES THE COACH DOES.

IT DOESN’T REALLY MATTER WHERE IT COMES FROM.

6. ONE CAN HAVE A PERFECT LIFE.

IT’S NOT A FANTASY OR PIPEDREAM. IT REALLY IS DO-ABLE, AND IN THIS LIFETIME.

7. HUMANS OPERATE AT 1%, OR LESS, OF OUR POTENTIAL.

COACHING INCREASES THIS FIGURE.

8. SUCCESS IS A BASIC HUMAN RIGHT.

SUCCESS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH DESERVINGNESS, PRIVILEGE, OR BACKGROUND.

9. WHEN THE CLIENT PROPERLY DEFINES SUCCESS, COACHING BECOMES EASY.

AND CLIENTS KNOW BETTER HOW TO USE THEIR COACH.

10. MOST PEOPLE DON’T REALLY KNOW WHAT THEY TRULY WANT.

A COACH CAN HELP CLIENTS DISCOVER WHAT THAT IS. IT’S USUALLY SIMPLE.

11. WHAT ONE PUTS UP WITH COSTS ONE DEARLY.

TOLERATIONS WASTE ONE’S SPIRIT, ONE’S HEART, ONE’S MIND, AND ONE’S POCKBOOK.

12. WE ARE ALL PICASSOS-IN-TRAINING

THE WORLD IS WAITING FOR PEOPLE TO DISCOVER, EXPRESS AND SHARE THEIR CREATIVTY

COACHVILLE.COM

VERSION 1.0

WWW.COACHVILLE.COM

Excerpt from “Lesson 6 – Working through the “I’m a fraud factor”

Like a glass of cold water on a hot day

Thomas Leonard was not only extremely creative; he also had excellent timing. Thomas’ creations always seemed to arrive at just the right time, helping to answer a pressing challenge that the coaching world was facing.

Why was Thomas’ material always so instantly relevant and helpful you may ask?

Thomas had his finger on the pulse of coaching, and had an uncanny ability to figure out just what the growing world of coaching and coaches needed. Some of his best work helped empower: showing coaches that the whispering voices of doubt were wrong, and that they could, and would, have success with their business.

Today’s Best of Thomas offering is one of these coach empowerment gifts, taken from “Full Practice for Coaches – 100 Time Tested Lessons from Coaching’s Founding Father”.

1. I’m a fraud, because the client doesn’t know that I barely know what I’m doing.

Observation: Most coaches don’t know exactly what they are doing at any given moment, but we’re all learning.

Solution: Be forthright with the potential client but to accentuate what you KNOW you can do.

Example: “Now, Bob, while I have some experience in that area, I am not an expert. But what I am skilled at
is….”

2. I’m a fraud, because I don’t have a degree or any formal training.

Observation: Some of the best coaches don’t have degrees and many have had no formal training. Formal training is definitely a major plus, but not a requirement to be effective. Some coaches “just have it” and coach quite well without formal training.

Solution: If the client doesn’t ask, there is no need to bring this up. That said, some coaches feel the need to be totally forthright and do bring up their lack of formal training/degrees before they are hired. In most cases the client couldn’t care less, but for some coaches, they MUST bring this up in order to feel good/clean/clear about taking on a new client.

Eventually, the coach works through this and begins to look at their track record of client success as their credentials/degrees and they no longer have the need to bring this up. However, if YOU feel awkward about not having a degree or any formal training, by all means inform your potential client of this before they hire you. That will help you sleep at night and avoid the dread of being “found out.”

3. I’m a fraud, because my own life sucks, compared to that of my clients.

Observation: It’s not uncommon to have parts of your life pale in quality as compared to that of your clients.

You might even have feelings like “God, if they only knew my life in that area was a mess or so much less than theirs…” It’s normal to feel this way.

Solution: I used to feel this way when I first began coaching because my life DID suck. I felt, “Gee whiz, how can I coach them when I feel like a mess?” The problem with that reasoning is that the focus is on you (and your weaknesses) instead of being on the client. Focus on and revolve around what the client wants and needs and you won’t have so much time to get into the comparison game. Measure yourself against how well THEY
are doing, not how well YOU are doing.

Example: I was mentoring another coach who was broke and who was coaching a millionaire and the coach was terrified that the client would ‘find out’ that the coach had zero money and zero prospects for success. So I asked the coach to broach this subject with his client and here’s what the client said (paraphrased from my memory) “Karen, I didn’t hire you as my financial planner, I hired you because I wanted help to make some important changes in my life — changes that you, obviously, have already made. That’s why I hired you. Now, can we get back to business here?”

To download “I’m a fraud, because…” numbers four and five, as well as a helpful assignment to deal with your own “I’m a fraud, because…” statements read the full lesson here.

The extensive, prolific, expansive, “wow” list of Thomas Leonard work

One of the interesting, and unique characteristics of the Best of Thomas community is the truly diverse range of knowledge and familiarity that the community shares about Thomas Leonard.

As you read this you fit into one of the different Thomas Leonard groups:

• Knew Thomas personally, took classes with Thomas, and helped create Thomas’ wide range of projects.
• Have experienced Thomas’ material extensively through CoachVille, his writing, and listening to audios but never actually met him personally.
• Are completely new to the world of Thomas Leonard and, most likely, trying to absorb as much as you can, as quickly as you can.
• Somewhere in between these three polarizing positions.

This diverse understanding of Thomas and his material is important to creating the richness of the group as people share their different perspectives on the Thomas’ materials. It also presents the Best of Thomas team with a huge, thought stretching, and extremely fun challenge: how to present a range of Thomas material that is interesting and satisfies those who are continuing Thomas’ legacy while taking the time to properly introduce the new arrivals to all of Thomas’ work.

For the new arrivals, read through this site and check out some of the Best of Thomas books for a great start in catching up on all things Thomas.

For Thomas veterans hopefully the material being presented is bringing back some memories, reminding you of forgotten information bits, and providing some “aha” idea moments for moving forward.

Today’s newsletter will provide a baseline check from you on how to move forward with presenting the Thomas Leonard material at our fingertips.

How to best do this? Below is a list, definitely not complete, of all of the interesting Thomas bits: programs, writings, ideas, audios, images, etc that we have managed to pull from the cobwebbed depths of the Internet.

For Thomas community newcomers, read through this list and leave a comment or send an email to content@bestofthomas.com and let me know what titles below nudge a thought, or glimmer of interest in your mind?

For Thomas community pros, read through the list and let me know which of your favorites are missing, which of your favorites you would like to see again, and, even better, what Thomas material you may have saved in your own archives that you could share with the Best of Thomas team. Leave a comment or send an email to content@bestofthomas.com and let’s start putting our heads together to make Thomas’ legacy even more complete.

The Attraction Program
A Perfect Life Program
Personal Evolution Program
Personal Environments Program
Toleration Free Program
525 Life Models
Evolutionary Progressions
Topten.org
Thomasleonard.com
CoachVille Graduate School of Coaching
Thomas Leonard Coaching School
Certified Leader Training
Coaching Critiques
Coaching Models
15 Coaching Proficiencies
Full Practice Marketing 100
3 Steps to Success Program
3 Step R&D Program
Genius Coaching
CoachVille Certified Coach Program
List of Coaching Principles
101 Coaching Mistakes
How to Coach Anyone
Passive Revenue for Coaches
5-Day Full Practice Program
5-Day E-zine in a week program
Coaching Forms
Becoming a Perfect Person
Coaching the Entrepreneur
Becoming Reaction Free
Getting into the corporate door of coaching
Lazer coaching
Natural selling process

21 Personal Evolution Strategies

To evolve more quickly and easily…

1. Surround yourself with new ideas instead of recycling your beliefs.
Beliefs can limit your ability to experience life as it unfolds.

2. Make chaos your friend.
The unexpected is a good thing as long as you’re open to it.

3. Let your environments do most of your evolutionary work for you.
Evolution occurs as you adapt to such environments.

4. Use tolerations to your advantage.
Every single thing you are putting up with is an opportunity waiting to be leveraged.

5. Constantly experiment.
Synchronicity is the reward.

6. Spend more time in nature.
Nature nourishes and recalibrates our natural systems.

7. Become the host of a thriving network.
Let your network evolve you as you serve them.

8. Continuously integrate all aspects of your life.
Integration evolves you from being needlessly complicated to being richly complex.

9. Invest in your virtual environments, not just your physical environments.
Life is becoming more virtual.

10. Design your sources of energy.
You can then operate at a higher frequency.

11. Become superconductive.
Reduce the energy you consume by 90% by reducing your resistance to life.

12. Master the evolving set of Cyber Skills.
Extend your intelligence by connecting with everyone.

13. Surround yourself with people who are eagerly evolving.
They spark you. You spark them. Evolution occurs effortlessly.

14. Stop resisting.
Assimilate events the first time they occur.

15. Choose a goal that is bigger than you are.
Be pulled forward by it, instead of pushing yourself.

16. Get over yourself in every possible way.
Arrogance holds you back.

17. Learn how you naturally operate.
Come to honor your personal dynamic.

18. Know your gifts.
And design your life to fully express them.

19. Emotionally heal.
Healing maximizes your emotional IQ.

20. Cause something and surprise yourself.
Initiative is a muscle.

21. Make what you don’t know is more interesting than what you do know.
Enjoy learning more than teaching.