Saturday, January 29, 2011

Moving forward inspite of it all

Saturday, January 29th 2011. Cold, gray, wintery. Piles of snow everywhere and more on the way. Spending days snow blowing, shoveling, wrapped up, braving the elements. Also working on a Medicaid application - very tedious and time consuming. Buried in stacks of folders and documents. Finally, today, doing battle with a Blackberry that does not connect to the local server and can not get or send emails. Life is a struggle sometimes.

Here's the good news. No the great news! God knows us intimately and completely. Knows how we struggle to live and move and be. Knows our earthly troubles and tribulations. God faced these and overcame these and did it for us. So, if Jesus Christ completed this for me. Came, modeled life for us, faced trials, temptations and troubles and beat it all. I can live freer, more confidently, more boldly in the arms of Almighty God - who loves us with an undying, irresistible love. Not that I can live rightly by following Jesus, but I can live faithfully by following Jesus and this is what God desires. So, Spring is coming, the earth is blanketed (at least here in Lancaster) with frozen moisture that will nourish God's earth and bring forth life!

I tarry forward feeling God's love and smile. Have an awesome week!

Monday, January 17, 2011

What are YOUR Daily Questions?

Last week I heard a podcast on Marshall Goldsmith's routine of asking and getting asked a list of Daily Questions. Then I went to his phenomenal website - marshallgoldsmithlibrary.com! What a gold mine of resources! Anyway, here's the powerful technique that could be used by anyone to go further faster! Make an agreement with a friend to have a short once a day phone call to have this person ask you a list of your own questions. These questions will be written by you and sent to your friend. They will be questions that YOU want to pay attention to in your life. They can be anything at all. They are personal and just for you. And, when your friend asks you the questions, your response should be YES, NO or a number. For instance, What is your weight? Did you do your devotions today? On a scale of 1 - 10, how happy are you today? Did you give someone a compliment today? etc. When they ask you these questions, they are only permitted to listen and not to comment at all. There is tremendous power in having someone ask you "your own" questions. You may find that you make changes and grow in your ability to get things done, become kinder, weigh less or become happier. The power is simply in that you pay attention to certain aspects of your life. Give it a try. Let me know how you make out.

Friday, January 14, 2011

The power of focus

So on Monday afternoon, I attended a teleclass on promoting my coaching business. It was the first hour of a four part series, held via webinar format with a powerpoint slide deck and a conference call. It helped me see the importance of really nailing my "ability to solve a specific customer problem." What I mean is, this 60 minute workshop showed me once again how critical it is to be top notch at providing a solid solution to a client's particular problem. Then, and here's where the promotion comes in, tell the whole world about your specific expertise and niche. When you hone your ability to provide an outstanding solution, puff yourself up and boldly announce your focused expertise.

Let me give you an example: Rather than claim that you are able to encourage and support people to achieve abundant lives; say "I am able to provide organizational expertise that will save you 2 hours per week." Or, maybe, "I am able to support your creation of a world-class leadership development program for your staff."

The point that was well made is that we all are looking for tailored, nuanced solutions to our conundrums. We want answers to our questions, solutions to our problems and healing for our diseases. So, if that's true, then appropriate promotion of a product or service will be a precise explanation of what solution you are able to provide. That's a keeper. That's brilliant marketing wisdom. That just makes sense.

So, it begs the question: "What is your focused expertise? What precise solutions are you able to provide?" Let us all know! We will be clamoring for your product or service!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Empowering thoughts in the New Year

Have been very engaged in life for the past few weeks. I guess that's another way of saying - been busy. Trying to be productive and not just busy. Here's what I'm learning. I have an incredible fondness of learning and discovering new ideas in the leadership, organizational design, and management area. A number of events are pushing me in that way (and I'm quite grateful). First is a look at some Positive Psychology websites and blogs. They will point toward happiness issues and focusing on your natural skills and abilities. Secondly, today, I attended a teleconference class that indicated the use of "subject matter expertise" in solution oriented coaching. This is helping me understand the fact that everyone is looking for "real results," and "solutions" to life's conundrums. So, as we work toward focusing on our wisdom, experience, skills and abilities, we are far more likely to be "just the right fit" for partnerships or coaching engagements.

Today I googled, "cutting edge management theory" and got connected with a host of wonderful tools by Naomi Stanford (naomistanford.com) If you are doing change management or organizational design, I recommend her site.

Finally, when I think back on some of my happy, in the zone moments, I think of lessons I've learned in management books and in podcasting these nuggets in my iTunes podcast series -
charliegross.com/charliecreativity.rss
(note - this podcast is now available at charliegross.com/ee.rss and is incorporated into the Empowering Encouragement podcast)

Anyway, I'd encourage you to think about your own "in the zone" moments and what brings you great pleasure in your work. You might discover that just as Frederick Buechner said - (paraphrasing - The place God calls you is where the worlds greatest needs and your greatest joy intersect) God's Extravagant Blessings!