Recently-I decided to get some t-shirts made in my arsenal of business coaching tools that say “Wake Up”. I offered a free shirt for stories shared with me on this site of how you
Wake Up!
Wake Up Shirt
witnessed people “Waking Up”?
Russel from New York had this to say:
I too was honored and felt immensely grateful for some feedback I received from a Client that he is informing me is “Waking Him Up”.
The Client I’m referencing has enjoyed an immensely successful 30 year career as a photographer — pictures we’ve probably all seen in magazines. Like many other businesses, the business of photography is changing radically and it is becoming harder to earn a living commensurate with which he has become accustomed to. He wanted to receive coaching to help him determine A) whether he wanted continue in this profession and B) How, if he did decide to remain in the business, how he could re-invent himself.
Like many of our Clients (and ourselves) our “Saboteur” (Gremlin) (Lower Self)… Whatever we want to refer to it as can grab hold of the steering wheel and either pull the car off to the side of the road and shut the engine off or make a U Turn and take us in the opposite direction of where we want to go.
Here are a few things that have helped my Client “WAKE UP” (and while I’m honored to receive the positive feedback, I’m more honored to be have the privilege of helping my Client help himself.
#1Movement to Elude Saboteur: When feeling overwhelmed and hijacked by his sabotuer, he will implement (literally physically if he is in his office or in his mind if he is with Clients) a “juke” move (a hop or a movement to deceive an opponent). By doing so, he has eluded his saboteur and then he envisions the saboteur falling off of him. When I write this it actually sounds silly but the power of geography and movement in the coaching session has provided this Client with something he using to evoke transformation and “WAKE UP”.
#2 Mindful Word Selections That Tie To Values: In linguistics, very small changes in words can have a huge impact in the outcome (think about discussions with colleagues, friends or even better, our spouses). Shame inspiring words like “Have To” “Need To” “Should Do More Of XYZ” have become “flagged” words that create a “spell check” / error message for him and when they arise in his journaling, conversation or notes to himself, he autocorrects to a word that aligns to his values — e.g. “I WANT to do “XYZ” because it will bring me closer to “ABC”
#3 Mantra & Affirmation: In an effort to mitigate “overwhelm” of all the To Do’s and change that my Client wants to evoke, he, like many of us, can quickly downslide far off into the future. We worked to implement a mantra that would work for him… he selected the quote by author John Bytheway: “Inch By Inch Life’s A Cinch… Yard By Yard, Life is Hard.
I was thrilled to hear not only that my Client was accountable and putting these challenges / requests but elated to hear how they are shifting his perspective and enabling him to step into more of what he wants and is capable of.