Doing What You Love

I had lunch with a friend today and one of the things we spoke about was figuring out how to laser aim my coaching business.

We were talking about what I do - writing and coaching - and speculated what kind of a niche I could establish. Now I love everything about what I do. I write poetry, essays, short stories, novels, non-fiction books -- I've even written songs. I coach people on anything - starting businesses, making business grow, changing careers, getting healthy, writing, community contribution, ... anything. But she asked me what I loved most and what was the most satisfying. Hard to pick that out. Most coaching is really rewarding. Then I recalled something.

I had a client who wanted to increase her income. She doubled it. She wanted to market a business. She did. She wanted to give a seminar. She did. And she wanted to love her husband again. That's a really challenging goal. They all are, of course, or they wouldn’t be goals. But to rebreathe life; to rekindle the flame, to complete the past and start even fresher. She did that, too. (I love this client. She's still in my life) But she hasmn’t been the only one. One of my clients created an extraordinary relationship with her teen age son. Another with her daughter; another with his wife. And there have been others.

My friend lit up. She said that was the niche, that people fear divorce; they dread the prospect - and they aren't necessarily satisfied with marriage counseling. Well - Been there, done that. And my 37-year marriage keeps getting better. And then I saw that that could be my way in. The actual coaching is on everything. I love being able to win in business, create contribution and well-being. But the focal point could be refreshing relationships. Let me know what you think. I want to know.

So this blog is an announcement blog. Watch this space.

I’m Bored – I Have Too Much to Do

I remember my kids favorite complaint – “I’m bored. There’s nothing to do.” And I echoed my mother – “Go bang your head against the wall.” Today I think there’s too much to do. The Internet has given us non-boredom overload. We actually have to pull ourselves away from communication (instant messaging, email, efaxes – and spam), games, entertainment, information - blogs. Our bodies are becoming shaped like chairs – big, wide bottoms and necks permanently tilted,
I started thinking about this in two veins - in the context of politics and in the context of ‘being known.’ In terms of politics – actually, news in general – how can we tell what’s true? True is a funny word, given that truth is subjective. Fair reporting has to be enough. But – what’s fair? And how can we tell? I watched the Democratic Convention by alternating between Cspan, cable news networks and the networks. Whjat I watched on Cspan was not reported. I got instant opinion on the cable channels and sound bites on the networks. People did not get the convention and it was useful – even important – to have gotten it. We don’t get reality – we get ‘about-reality’ – someone else’s reality as if it were the reality.
Here’s the other thing – When you can know everything, you know nothing. We are born with the capacity for habit --- but we have to learn the capacity to discriminate. How can anything gain access to people’s eyes and ears? (Of course, I really mean – How can I win your eyes?) So I will shamelessly ask that you tell your networks to read this and to check out www.1stClassCoaching.com.And I promise to give value for your attention.