Coaching Businesses and Life, a view from Long Beach

Looking for old friends

I know this is going to sound weird but over a decade ago, I decided to get in touch with old friends I lost contact with.

So far, I have caught up with most.  However, there are still a few that elude me.

So Tanith Lambert, if you are out there, contact me.

The Old Man In The Coffee Shop

I was at my favorite coffee shop today when in walked an older gentleman.

He was a friendly fellow.  Said he was an actor and dancer.  He proved it by tap dancing.  He said he was 86 and was wearing a pink shirt with white pants.  He was a friendly one.  He addressed me directly and started talking.  Little did he knew I am also a talker.

We had a friendly discussion about people and being people oriented.  He said a few things that struck me.  He said he cared and was interested in people.  I thought he would have made a terrific coach.  We are interested in people and their well being.  He told me wherever he went, he picked up conversations with anyone and was truly interested in their lives. 

What I walked away from with was that it made me even more hopeful about aging.  Sometimes you fear you will be old and debilitated.  This gentleman was anything but.  He gave me hope about one day being 86.  I can still funny and witty.

What is your motivation?

Sometimes I get people who simply don't know what to do.

Sometimes you know you want to change, you feel the urge to do so but don't know what, how, where and when.  So the best place to start is to ask yourself what is your motivation to change?

To most, the desire to change comes from a certain level of discomfort, pain and dissatisfaction.  If left unchecked, these negative feelings can be used as excuses for addictions, whether drugs, alcohol, sex or other.  The problem with that is they only bury the feeling for a little while until the inevitable is faced.  Once sobered up from the excesses, the same feelings are back and most often than not, amplified until dealt with.

Eventually we all have to face the invisible enemy.  That distorted Ego attached to chimeras and fleeting illusions.  Eventually, we come to embrace our true natures and treat the ego as what it is, a tool that needs no killing but to be subdued.

So what does all of this have to do with motivation?  Simply enough, you need to know what your motivation is.  If you have a hard time getting to it, check to see if the desire comes from the ego or it is a nobler one.  The success of any changes is always based on how sturdy the foundation of your motivations are.  The purer, the better.

Recovering from a bad computer crash

I am still recovering from a bad computer crash.  No, it wasn't Apple's fault but Windows'. I was trying to install my Windows version on my Mac and even there, it just spoiled the fun.

I am late on my newsletter and late for my articles and posts tomorrow.  Mondays are busy days.

Overall, you just have to take it in strides, one step at a time.  I always catch up!

Enjoying Yourself

In the middle of this turmoil, it's easy to get caught up and stuck in a rut.  I spent a weekend driving in southern California on the Southern California Carrera with 20 other old cars and it was fun.

Yes, we burned gas and certainly that makes no one feel good but friendships were made and conversations were interesting.  One thing that surprised me is how open minded these collector car guys were open to the idea of electric cars.

The Importance Of Backing UP

While this might not be strictly speaking coaching related, we'll give a twist and spin.

I lost a lot of data, not so much because I didn't back up but because I went too quickly with the installation of this program but mostly because I didn't take the extra 1 to 2 minutes to double check on the backup.

As a coach, I have to tell you this makes me laugh and also reminds me how human we are after all.  As an old IT consultant, I am well aware of the dangers of not backing up.  So I do, although on a Mac, not as much as I used to do on a PC.  And the culprit was a Microsoft program, to top it all.

All in all, it pays to take time, especially with things you know how to do well.  It is easy to go through it mechanically felling snug that you know what you are doing.  You become careless and mistakes can cost a lot.

I lost 6 month worth of work.  Conclusion?  I will go and buy a bigger back up disk so that I can use Apple's stellar Time Machine and take the time to walk slowly through things I feel I know too well.