“Purpose is implanted in us as well as revealed to us — we were made for what God calls us to be.”  Tony Stoltzfus

What greater good have you been called to serve with your life?

You will keep on guiding me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny.  (Psa. 73:24; NLT)

As a life coach who has focused a good deal of my time by helping clients understand and determine their destiny, I’m always watching for new resources that would take my ability to help clients to a new level.  I believe I have found one, and I’m very excited about it.

Tony Stoltzfus, the person who taught Sharon and me virtually everything we know about coaching, has just released a new book titled A Leader’s Life Purpose Handbook: Calling and Destiny Discovery Tools for Christian Life Coaching.  My initial skimming of the book leaves me eager to dig deeper to explore some new (to me) thinking around destiny coaching.  As Tony points out, life purpose or destiny coaching up to now has primarily focused on “helping people look inside, discover their design, passion and abilities, and then pursue them.”  Some of his new thinking jumped off the page to me as I read his thesis that “calling” has been a vital, but missing, piece of one’s destiny discovery. Calling, in this case, can be defined as an external commission to serve a greater good.

Hmmmm…if he’s right, I’m guilty as charged.  I was erroneously treating calling as a synonym for destiny or purpose.  Tony is helping me to see that calling is discovered by looking outward rather than looking inward.  Pretty obvious…now that it has been pointed out to me. 

So Tony’s new book brings a more balanced approach to destiny discovery by looking in four directions:
–Outward at the external call
–Inward at what our design reveals within
–Backward at how our life experiences have prepared us
–Forward at dreams and passions pulling us toward our destiny

If you’re a coach, or even if you’re not, this book presents some very enlightening information that will take the whole pursuit of destiny discovery to a new level.  Thank you, Tony, for another awesome contribution to coaching.  I’m honored to be your student.

Prayer Power
Father, we thank You for new discovery tools and for anything that leads to a greater understanding of our destiny.  Our greatest desire is to pursue that destiny and to finish well.

Link of the Day
Coach22 Bookstore (click Coach22 Exclusives on the left to find Tony’s new book on sale)

Blessings on you as you purpose to passionately pursue your destiny, i.e., your reason for being.
 

If you’re sincere, praise is effective. If you’re insincere, it’s manipulative.”  Zig Ziglar

How are you at being a “good-finder?”

Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? (Rom. 2:4; NKJV)

One of the classic business books that was written over 25 years ago has sold close to 10,000,000 copies and is still every bit as relevant today as it was when it was first written.  It’s a very short book with large print and can easily be devoured in a single sitting of a couple of hours.  In fact, it’s written as a story, and is actually pretty hard to put down once you get started.  When you get right down to it, there’s really very little excuse to not read this classic. 

Some of you have probably already figured out that the book I’m describing is Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson’s The One Minute Manager.  The subtitle is “Increase Productivity, Profits, and Your Own Prosperity.”  Quoting from the book’s dust cover, “The book is brief, the language is simple, and the method works.  The publisher believes so firmly in the value of The One Minute Manager that we are offering an unprecedented money-back guarantee.”  Now, I doubt that they would still honor that guarantee some 25 years later, but so what…the book is less than $15 new from Amazon (less than half that if you get it in paperback ).  Or get it from your local library…it should be there…after all, it’s a classic.

The One Minute Manager presents three very practical management techniques, one of which I want to highlight in this DG.  That technique is simply “Help people reach their full potential…catch them doing something right.”  How’s that for a twist?  (It was a twist in thinking 25 years ago as well.)  Most managers are watching for things that are wrong and are quick to bring them to the attention of the offender.  The idea here is to put the accent on the positive.  (Just as an aside, match that thought with the verse of the day above.)

This technique works especially well on new employees.  Simply explain to the new employee that you are going to let them know in no uncertain terms when he or she is doing well and when he or she is doing poorly; and then watch them closely.  Anytime you can catch them doing something right, simply invest a minute of your time to go over and give that employee a one minute praising.  Keep it short–it doesn’t need to be very long.  The point is praise them immediately–not several hours or days later.

Be specific and tell them what they did right.  Tell them how good you feel about what they did right and how it helps the organization and their co-workers.  Stop for a moment of silence to let them “feel” how good you feel.  Encourage them to do more of the same, and then shake hands or touch them in a way that makes it clear that you support them.

That’s it!  Reflect on the “tone” that a manager would create in their organization if they routinely offered one minute praises to their new employees as they were learning their jobs.  I’m sure that you recognize the underlying principle here–give focus and attention to what you want, not to what you don’t want.  Simply put, what you focus on grows.

prayer Power
Lord, help us to make the paradigm shift to focus on the good rather than the bad.  Make us all “good-finders.”

Link of the Day
The One Minute Manager from Amazon

 Blessings on you as you purpose to be a good-finder today…and tomorrow…and the day after that…etc.
 

“Our dreams are the visions that shape our lives.”  Matthew Kelly

When did you stop dreaming?

You can lie down without fear and enjoy pleasant dreams.  (Prov. 3:24; NLT)

A couple of days ago, I reviewed The Dream Manager by Matthew Kelly, an excellent book about coaching people to their dreams.  In that review, I discussed the major theme of the book and its story line, but failed to mention that in the last quarter of the book, the author gives some applications and tools to help one begin to be a dream manager themselves.

Kelly makes the point that there are two truths to be assimilated by the reader.  The first truth is basically that we all need a Dream Manager.  One would be tempted to think after reading the book that this would be a great do it yourself project.  But, as Kelly wisely points out, devising the plan isn’t the issue.  Holding ourselves accountable to execute that plan is where most would fail.  As he so eloquently states, “We have an incredible ability to deceive ourselves with all manner of excuses and self justifications.”  Let me assure you that I can give countless testimonies of the truth of our propensity to get very creative with our excuses.  Accountability is vital!

The second truth is that we are all called to the role of Dream Manager.  Quoting Kelly again, “Whether you are the CEO of a multinational corporation, the manager of a small department, the newest member of a small corporate team or a stay-at-home parent, you are called to be a Dream Manager in dozens of ways every day.”  The place to start, of course, is with ourselves.  “It is easy to get so caught up in surviving that we stop dreaming.  When we stop dreaming, we slowly begin to disengage from our work, from our relationships, and from life itself.”

Kelly proposes that you start a “dream book.”  You can use anything from a fancy, leather-bound journal with blank pages to a spiral notebook to start making a list of your dreams.  Date each dream as you add it to the book and date them again when you realize it.  He challenges the reader to make a list of one-hundred dreams at one sitting.  The list doesn’t have to be complete or perfect.  Don’t stop to judge the feasibility of each entry.  Just make the list as if anything was possible.  Nothing is too wild…there are no limitations.   

It sometimes helps to divide your life into a half-dozen or so categories and list your dreams for each.  Categories might include physical, intellectual, spiritual, professional, etc.  Make an appointment with yourself to start your dream book today!  (As Kelly writes, “If you find yourself putting it off, ask yourself why.”)  Then review the list each day for a week, freely adding or deleting from your list.  Then after that week, go through the list and label each as short-term (12 months or less), medium-term (1 to 5 years), and long-term (more than 5 years).

Finally, periodically review your journal, and begin to make plans to fulfill some of the short-term dreams.  Why not?    As I used to hear virtually every night as I went to bed…”Sweet dreams!”

Prayer Power
Lord, we thank You for the ability to dream.  We thank You for the encouragement to care enough about our dreams to actually start a “dream book.”  Lord, now we ask You to guide our hand as we write our dreams into our dream book.  Let those dreams be of you and for your glory.
 
Link of the Day
The Dreams Movie

Blessings on you as you list your 100 dreams this day.
 

“Every relationship improves when we are mindful of each other’s dreams.”  Matthew Kelly

What are your dreams?

Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.  (Acts 2:17b; NLT)

I just finished a book that I would like to heartily recommend.  The book is The Dream Manager by Matthew Kelly.  I especially want to recommend this book to the coaches among our readership, but as will become clear in this review, I believe it will be of great value to the non-coaches as well. 

The book is a very easy read…will take you three to four hours if you push straight through.  And it wouldn’t be a chore to read at one sitting because the story line and writing style makes it easy to “read just another page or two before I lay it down.”  The book is a business book written in that genre that uses a story to convey the author’s message, much like The Go-Giver by Bob Burg, The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard, Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson, and others.

The premise of Kelly’s book is that if you will take care of your employees, they will take care of you.  Sounds a bit like a cliche, but Kelly takes the idea of caring for your employees several steps deeper than just the typical financial, work environment, and other HR approaches used by so many “caring” companies.  Kelly’s message is that the key to employee morale and productivity is simply to understand each employee’s dreams and then help them devise a plan to pursue and fulfill those dreams. 

“If we can help our employees beyond the quiet desperation of mere survival by teaching them to dream again, and help them to fulfill their dreams, we’ll create a loyalty and dedication that’s unmatched.  And then our people will bring the passion and energy they have for their dreams to work.”

The story itself is about a janitorial service company that was struggling with massive employee turnover costs because the only jobs they had to offer were low or no skill, dead-end jobs.  The turnaround came when they hired a “dream manager” whose job was to meet with individual employees and coach each of them to articulate their unique dream(s) and then help them to develop a plan to follow toward the realization of that dream.  It wasn’t long before they had to add several dream managers to the staff.  People came “alive” and the result flowed directly to the bottom line.  They weren’t employees any longer, as they began to see themselves as respected, valued, members of the team.

Woven throughout the story are little tips about the value of dreams, the motivational power of dreams,  how to rekindle dreams in those who have long since stopped dreaming,  as well as how to coach people to the realization of their dreams.  It’s an incredibly compelling case for providing life coaching in a corporate setting, and not just to the top echelon of management.

While the story is woven around business issues, the message extends way beyond corporate walls and would clearly be applicable in any sector, such as churches, non-profits, schools and universities, or anywhere else where people work together in employee/employer relationships.  The book is inspirational to coaches as it helps them maintain the vision for the power and efficacy of what they do, and is similarly compelling to non-coaches helping them to see how and why a coach could be of incredible value to them.

Don’t miss this book!

Prayer Power
Lord, we thank you for the creative ability you have designed into each and every one of us to dream dreams of our preferred future.  Unfortunately, many of us have long since allowed that ability to atrophy.  Show us that that vital part of their lives can be rejuvenated and restored to be fully functional once again.

Link of the Day
The Dream Manager

Blessings on you as you begin your list of dreams.