Tips & Insights for Top Performance » Business-Coaching-Services-Leadership-Corporate-Training-Development

What Can a Coach Do For You?

admin — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 18:30:42 +0000

I recently had to do a comparison of coaching and type of candy.
I picked Jolly Ranchers and my husband Mike wrote this poem about Jolly Ranchers and Coaching…

There once was a rancher named Molly
Whose Ranch was OK, but she not so jolly
The ranch hands were mad, cattle running amuck
Profit was dwindling, poor Molly was stuck

Inventory, weather, food for the cows
Get it all done, she didn’t know hows
She felt very busy, but spinner her wheels
It seemed like she was always back on her heels.

If I could be more productive, get teams to work
Perhaps the important I’d never more shirk
I’d love to know just how to win
To operate my ranch to bring more dollars in.

She needed a strategy to help her sort out
All things of import, the rest she’d toss out
She looked for some help, these topics to broach
And saw the best was to hire a coach.

The ranch became a team, all personalities tested
All working their strengths, while the others, they rested
When one goal was done another was made
The progress she saw, she never would trade.

It just goes to show when life gets a mess
It hampers your business, and just causes stress
So take home a lesson from Rancher Miss Molly
Hire a coach and make your ranch much more jolly!

Every business owner and executive is just like a rancher… with much to plan and manage.
If coaching can support you or a rancher you know, e-mail for a FREE sample session!

Christy Geiger, Executive Business Coach & Trainer, Minneapolis, MN

Eight Strategies to Beat Afternoon Slumps and Manage Your Energy!

admin — Fri, 01 May 2009 21:42:13 +0000

The reality is that many people experience afternoon slumps. It could be too many carbs eaten at lunch, low blood sugar, or a variety of other reasons. While the cause is important to know, the key right now is to get your blood moving and get your mind and energy motivated. Here are eight simple tips to overcome the afternoon slump.
1. Eat smart. For lunch, eat light: enjoy smoothies, fruit, water, nuts, and proteins instead of heavy carbs that will take more of your body’s energy to digest.
2. Do the hardest project of the day first. If you eat your “frog” in the morning, rather than leaving the most difficult task to do in the afternoon, you will have other less difficult things to work on in the afternoon allowing you to look forward to the afternoon and fly though it.
3. Create an afternoon routine. For example: after lunch, do a 5-minute power walk outside, perform 10 jumping jacks, stop by the restroom, put cold water on your face, and get a big glass of ice water. Then come into your office, clear your desk, do a brain bump of all morning to-do’s, turn on the lights/music, get good air flow with a window/fun, and start working! Routines help our brains connect with what we want to do. Once you develop habits, your brain will automatically shift gears when you do the same activities.
4. Engage your body. Do things that get your body moving and that are “easy.” Stand up, sit on a balance ball instead of a chair; do things that keep your blood and body moving. Stay engaged with movement and let the momentum of movement keep you alert.
5. Give your brain a break. Save the more mindless and active tasks for the afternoon (e.g., errands, phone calls, filing, straightening, sorting). Tasks that require heavy concentration like looking at the computer, reading, or listening can work against your energy making it harder to focus and stay engaged.
6. Change the scenery. If you can, move to a different room. Do things to get extra lighting or air. Sit in a place that is suitable but not cozy (perhaps a natural environment to keep you from getting distracted when your mind is already wandering). Turn on some upbeat music. Let your environment keep you on your toes.
7. Play a game. Give yourself a goal or game to play. For example, if you get a project done or so many calls made, you can reward yourself by going home early, or stopping for a treat on the way home. Introduce some momentum and urgency to the picture to counteract the slowing force of your afternoon low energy.
8. Lastly, don’t fight it. If nothing else is working, take the 10-minute power nap or a 10-minute mediation time (set a timer). This will allow you to rest and then then focus and re-engage in high productivity. If you keep fighting it, you will have a longer period of low productivity.
Track your energy and look for the patterns of what works and what slows you down. Find the things that support you to be the most productive and attentive; try different things. When you find things that work, make them habits. Try to notice what the cause might be, if it is what you are eating for lunch, staying up too late, stress, etc. you will always do better to trouble shoot the root cause.

Important vs. Urgent: Getting Out of Crisis Mode

admin — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:06:27 +0000

Steven Covey, in his book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, talks about one of the traps of people is getting caught in doing the urgent rather than the important. Bottom-line this trap is reacting to life rather than responding. While urgent things will come up, they seem to happen more when you are not planning. Eventually everything will become a crisis. STOP. When you give attention to what is important you will have less urgent things to deal with. There will always be truly urgent things, but these are called emergencies and priorities, not daily urgent tasks. Spend some of your day on this area, but spend more of it on what is important. Make a list and determine what is important for you to do to move forward with your business (or life).

Important things often seem like it will not matter if they get done today or tomorrow and therefore often are perpetually put off until tomorrow or until they become urgent. It is similar to the bad habit many of have in school with projects or homework. The teacher gives important weekly assignments, i.e. pages to read for the week. Students are busy and do not read what is important and let it go until a few days before the test when there is 200 pages of reading, now the assignment becomes urgent. Thus the cycle begins as we create urgent tasks that would not be urgent if we did the important things we need to do each day.

Action:

Recognize the cycle and how much time you spend reacting to the urgent
List what you are trying to accomplish (your goal)
What is important to do today to reach that goal?
What is important this week to reach that goal?
Highlight these things on your to-do list
Block at least one hour in your day to do the important tasks
Force yourself to do the important today and watch how the overflow of urgent tasks decrease off your plate