Perspectives in Brief

Monday June 15th 2009, 8:33 am
Filed under: Perspectives in Brief

I was reflecting on that question on the train ride home from Toronto. What inspires me? My clients? Those who dive into my class? and I mean dive in ’cause there is no treading water when you learn the Shadow Coaching methodology.

I had been teaching an amazing group of masterful coaches and listened to their stories and their brilliance as they processed information and then dove into the deep end of learning. One of the commonalities that shows up again and again in coaches is the fact that they help people evolve and embrace a life of their choosing which definitely inspires them.

For me, I’m inspired when I watch the light bulbs go off in their eyes when they ‘get it’. It’s when I bump into a client months or years after we’ve worked together, a mischievous, all knowing grin appears on their faces and they start sharing their victories. And it’s remembering the world is my classroom…to pay attention to what unfolds before me and what I can learn from it and how I can grow from it.

If you can’t immediately answer the question “What inspires you” I urge you to take a moment to answer. Once you do, find that inspiration every day in everything you do, whoever you speak to, listen to or read about.

It’s what brings a spark to life and fuels your passions.

“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds; your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.” - Patanjali (c. 1st to 3rd century BC)

A few footnotes..

For members of the global coaching community and other professionals who are interested in connecting their practice to service work, join me in this inaugural event. Not only is this event one not to be missed but will grow your business and support non-profit coaching organizations that impact the world. http://www.abetterperspective.com/CoachsCareSuccessSummit-donnakarlin.html

With deepest respect,

Donna Karlin
Founder and Principal
A Better Perspective
http://www.abetterperspective.com

ISSN 1913-6307

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All A-Twitter About, Uh, What Exactly?

Tuesday June 09th 2009, 6:56 am
Filed under: Perspectives in Brief

Social networking is an amazing concept. The number of documented published blogs change on a regular basis. Last I heard there were almost 113 million English language blogs. There are over 73 million Chinese blogs and other undocumented statistics of blogs on many other languages. Blogs are here to stay. There are political leaders who run their campaigns through blogs, Facebook and other social network sites.

On blogs and Facebook and other social network platforms you can post or tag pictures, articles, enabling followers to see a broad perspective of what’s happening in your world (sometimes way too much but that’s another story).

So what’s with Twitter? I’ve been asking myself that for a long time. Colleagues insisted I have a presence on there so I thought I’d try it out. Within a few weeks I had 1800 people following me. Who are these people? Why would I want these nameless faces following me? How do I know what they’ll do with what they read?

Are we all a-Twitter about nothing?

Like anything else social networking can become addictive. We all know people who spend an inordinate amount of time updating, posting, adding comments, telling the world they’re going to the grocery store. Why would I want to know that, pray ?

OK. So you’ve read a ton about social networks. Here is Donna’s three cents..

1. Don’t post anything you wouldn’t want a personal friend or family member to know. It’s amazing how people would post things on there that they wouldn’t be caught dead telling anyone. Do you think if millions of people are reading some of these things, someone you know won’t find out? It’s a very small world especially when you don’t want it to be.

2. Remember, anything that goes up on the web is accessible by all sorts of people and it’s almost impossible to take it back. Read and reread what you’re posting twice before you hit that Publish or Update button

3. Like anything else, choose your platform wisely. If it’s for business remember it’s your professional front and will either help you fly or sink you. If it’s for personal reasons, staying in touch with people or reconnecting, great. Be discerning as to what ‘permissions’ you grant the service so you choose who can read and respond to it.

4. And choose what you spend your time on. I remember asking my blog readers what they would do if they had 15 extra minutes a day. They had such a hard time figuring out what to do with only 15 minutes. Well….just think. How many spend seconds on posting 140 characters on Twitter and HOW many times a day? Every post takes time. What are you contributing to the world and the people in it exactly? Are you filling time or are you respecting it for what it is…invaluable small chunks and moments of life?

As soon as I post this newsletter I’m taking my profile off Twitter. Ahh…all of a sudden my day seems lighter.

One more thing…

On June 22 - 26th, 2009 I’ll be joining my amazing colleagues and peers in a Coach’s Care Success Summit. Check it out and register. These are conversations you won’t want to miss!

http://www.abetterperspective.com/CoachsCareSuccessSummit-donnakarlin.html

I’ll leave you with this…

“Realize that now, in this moment of time, you are creating. You are creating your next moment. That is what’s real.” - Sara Paddison.

Something to remember, don’t you think?

Make your day be great, one choice at a time.

With deepest respect

Donna Karlin
Founder and Principal
A Better Perspective
http://www.abetterperspective.com
ISSN 1913-6307

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Adjusting Your World

Tuesday May 26th 2009, 7:53 am
Filed under: Perspectives in Brief

At the Conversation Among Masters Conference in Branson Missouri (yes you read right…. Missouri) we talked and learned and percolated ideas, caught up, connected with old friends and colleagues and hooked up with new ones. This conference is unlike any other as it’s high level conversations of Master Coaches from many parts of the globe.

Thing is, with coaches, the conversations never end. We talk and discuss, create, tweak and then tweak again. One of the usual topics of conversations in our conversations around conversations (i.e. conversations around, in-between and before and after the “conversations”) was about work / life balance. Is there a balance?

Absolutely not.

However there are other perspectives we shared that just might make sense.

One of my colleagues and I were talking about that over breakfast very early one morning. He shared with me a conversation he had with a performer from Cirque du Soleil. He had asked this man how he could stay so balanced in his act. He answered “It has nothing whatsoever to do with balancing. It’s all about readjusting.”

Such is life.

We adjust what isn’t working and then make small tweaks along the way until it feels right. Then as circumstances and life changes we adjust yet again. It’s not about balance, although many people think it is or should be.

Another tidbit of wisdom we all agreed upon when talking about sustainable leadership was, “If you let the people who work for you have a life…they’ll stay” . No matter what rewards are offered, bottom line is, if you make them give up their lives to work, they might be enticed with rewards for a bit but the ultimate reward of having a great life won’t happen. So they’ll leave.

What adjustments are you in the middle of figuring out? They’ll wait. But will life?

With deepest respect
Donna Karlin
Founder and Principal
A Better Perspective
http://www.abetterperspective.com
ISSN 1913-6307

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Slowing Down to Move Faster

Monday May 11th 2009, 2:24 pm
Filed under: Perspectives in Brief

It’s spring. Time for a change, for a reality check and for updating, rethinking and revisiting. That goes for Perspectives in Brief as well. I’m making it shorter, sweeter and more to the point ’cause I’d rather you read less and took time to figure it out more.

So for today we’re going to think about how to get out of reacting mode. People are scrambling as fast as they can do to twice as much work with half the resources. Is it sustainable? No.

It’s time to think. It’s time to take time to think.

Life happens whether or not we’re ready for it. It just is. We might live in a disposal world, with instant access and communication, but either the immediate world controls you or you control it.

What’s it going to be? How fast and for how long are you going to run before you crash and burn? Rush rush rush. Something’s gotta get done. Why are you doing it?

The greatest single problem people have these days isn’t time management. It’s not making the right choices or any choices at all and reacting to whatever’s thrown at them.

Stop reacting. Slow down to go fast. Think, respond, do it right and for the right reasons.

Two reality check questions…
What are the consequences if you do ‘it’?
What are the consequences if you don’t?

“…however fast they went, they never seemed to pass anything. ‘You’d generally get to somewhere else - if you ran very fast for a long time, as we’ve been doing,’ Alice said. ‘Here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!’ the Red Queen replied.” - Lewis Carol, Through the Looking Glass

Time to stop running. Start walking, paying attention to what’s around you and breathe. Let space back into your life and become one with it. Take those small quiet times for you to think, just be, and figure out your place in the scheme of things …and beyond. For every choice you make there are ramifications upon ramifications upon ramifications. So make those choices great.

With deepest respect,
Donna Karlin
Founder and Principal
A Better Perspective
http://www.abetterperspective.com
ISSN 1913-6307

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Off With the Old and On With the New

Tuesday April 14th 2009, 4:18 pm
Filed under: Perspectives in Brief

For some reason this is the time of year when people take a good hard look at their lives and make some fundamental changes. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s Spring which signifies a new beginning or what but historically this has happened in all the years I’ve been coaching. It’s an “Off with the old and on with the new”.

To quote Warren Bennis, “People who cannot invent and reinvent themselves must be content with borrowed postures, secondhand ideas, fitting in instead of standing out.”

Once people figure out what they want to change in their lives they can’t wait to make it happen. People are impatient. They want things yesterday, especially if they think it will help them realize their dreams.

When is the last time you’ve taken stock of your life? What you’re living, what you no longer want to be living, what you want to be doing, who you want to be hanging out with, learning and growing with and who is holding you back? It’s a powerful exercise.

So how to begin? Figure out what you’re tolerating that’s taking the fun out of life. Why are you holding on to it or to them? Time to redefine.

Let go of what’s no longer serving you energizing you and making you happy. Yes, we have choices. After all the best way to predict your future is to invent it.

Celebrate your uniqueness even what with which you’re not as comfortable and choose a life that embraces that part of yourself rather than force it back into some shadowy existence. As long as you don’t accept all of who you are, you’ll be at war within. Once you start accepting all of who you are, you’ll celebrate your weaknesses as well as your strengths and let them live in harmony with each other. You don’t have to be all to everyone just someone special to those you choose to have in your life and you in theirs.

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round heads in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. But the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”- Jack Kerouac

Here’s to reinvention or shall I say re-acceptance?

With deepest respect,

Donna Karlin
Founder and Principal
A Better Perspective
http://www.abetterperspective.com
ISSN 1913-6307

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