By this stage in the Mindset Coaching relationship, we’ve taken a close look at what’s happened or changed and how that change may be impacting your life.  We’ve explored conditioned patterns of thought and emotion which can take the form of agreements, attachments, judgments and resistances and make moving forward more difficult.  And, we’ve examined your core values and beliefs and how those core values and beliefs may be pointing you in a new direction.  So, what now?

​Now we get specific.  Although we’ve likely discussed potential choices in the process to this point in our relationship, now we work toward crystalizing a desired outcome that’s best for you.  “What do you want?” as a challenging or even painful question in the recent past can now come with a clear and concise answer.  You’ve done the work and considered your options carefully.  You’ve come to know exactly what you want.  So, what’s next?

Next, we work together to create a personalized plan for you.  We write out a clear and concise statement of your desired outcome. We map out a reasonable time frame and specific action steps to take in order to reach your goal.  We also consider potential roadblocks which may stand in your way and identify additional resources that can help you, if needed.  Most importantly, we highlight and celebrate each and every accomplished step along the way.  This is our journey together to meaningful life change.

To see if a Mindset Coaching relationship with me is right for you, please feel free to listen to the podcast on my “Home” tab.  More information about my approach to coaching can be found in the “Private Coaching" tab.  You may also view my "Ed Talks" to learn more of what led me to want to help others in this way. 

When I’m working with a client, one of the most important steps in our work together comes when we talk about closely held core values and beliefs.  Believe me when I say that this topic can hold some of the most prized and closely protected content within a client’s personal space.  Our core values and beliefs can serve to help define who we are and do shape how we see ourselves in the world around us.  Our core values and beliefs form the basis for the choices we make, the actions we take and ultimately, the lives we create.

As our core values and beliefs help to create our life outcomes, it’s important to examine them every now and again, especially when we face unexpected and unwelcome change in our lives.  I find that when I’m In the midst of a personal or professional transition, it can be very helpful to take time to go within and reflect.  I ask myself a series of questions: “What core values and beliefs are working for me and why?”  “What core values and beliefs have changed and may no longer be working for me and why?”  “What potential new outcomes do my core values and beliefs now point me toward?”  You may ask questions of your own to help you look within.

From this place of connection with our deeper truth, we can begin to create anew.  We can work toward fresh and fruitful outcomes which best reflect who we are and how we see the world.  No one can do this work for us.  It’s the truth we know for ourselves, deep within, that we are after here.  Connecting with that truth will point us in the right direction.

​To see if a Mindset Coaching relationship with me is right for you, please feel free to listen to the podcast on my “Home” tab.  More information about my approach to coaching can be found in the “Private Coaching” tab.  You may also view my “Ed Talks” to learn more of what led me to want to help others in this way.

If we are honest with ourselves, most of us hate change.  Watch carefully whenever an unexpected or unwelcome event or circumstance breaks into our lives.  We fear, avoid, deny and even fight against almost anything that threatens to interrupt our life momentum.  If that interruption happens to take the form of a hardship or a loss, or a sudden change in health, relationship or a career, we can tend to resist all the more. 

I know in my own life, I form strong attachments to the people, places and things that hold the greatest meaning for me.  This is only natural.  Whether I am fully aware of it or not, I often spend time assigning an emotional value to those people, places and things.  And, I make agreements with myself, and with others, to keep those attachments in place.  We all do.

But, what happens when things go wrong?  What happens when circumstances and events change and we are left with little-to-no control over their outcome?  I find for me, a tremendous amount of mental and emotional energy can be spent in resisting what has happened.

So much of that resistance can be fed by a preoccupation with either the past or the future.  We can feel a deep regret over what we wish might’ve been different, or an honest worry or fear over what might happen next.  Bringing a present moment awareness into the events and circumstances that break into and reshape our lives is key.  In our focused presence we can find true power.  This is a time when a Mindset Coaching relationship can help.

​To see if a Mindset Coaching relationship with me is right for you, please feel free to listen to the podcast from my “Home” tab.  More information about my approach to coaching can be found in the “Private Coaching” tab.  You may also listen in to my “Ed Talks” to learn what led me to want to help others in this way.

When I’m working with clients, I like to give them something simple and practical to help them remember the focus of  the work we’re doing together. To that end, I use a simple acronym, “C.O.R.D.”  The letters stand for, “Catch,” “Observe,” “Replace,” and “Dissolve.” The acronym is a device to help us look at our attachments and agreements, at what we may be resisting or judging in the flow of life, and why. 

As we’re often working to break old, conditioned thought patterns, emotional patterns, speech and behavioral patterns, we’re working to break the “cords” that bind us and keep us feeling stuck.  I like to ask, “How much of what troubles us in life is simply a bundle of thoughts?”  If we can catch a negative thought or emotion, observe it, and then replace it with a positive thought or emotion, we can begin to dissolve the old and familiar patterns of conditioning. 

​Once the “cord” has been dissolved, our thoughts and emotions, our words and actions can then become fresh, clear and new.

When I’m working with a client, one of the most challenging moments in our work together can come when I pose a simple, four syllable, four word question: “What do you want?” Whether a client has suffered a hardship or a loss, a change in health, relationship or a job, we are working together to help them make new choices and move forward in a new and positive direction.

The Question, in any context, can help a client to sort through the options and set a new direction.  But, that doesn’t mean the sorting through the options and setting of a new direction is always easy.   I know from personal experience how The Question has been one of the most difficult to answer at times, especially when I’ve been in the midst of a long and unclear life transition. 

I’ve found The Question to be downright annoying, as it sounds so simple and straight forward, and should be easy to answer.  The truth is, The Question is anything but simple and isn’t always easy to answer.  It cuts to the heart of what we want from life. 

“Do I want to stay in a job I hate just because it pays well?”  “Do I want to remain in a relationship that is no longer working for me?”  “Am I willing to make the difficult food or exercise choices I need to, to improve my health and overall fitness?” 

​Sometimes, the answers are part of a longer process and can take time to come by.  Sometimes, a client’s truth, the truth they know only for themselves, can take work to uncover.  Much of that work together takes the form of asking, and answering, clarifying questions.  And, of those clarifying questions, one of the most effective continues to be: “What do you want?”

When I’m working with clients, I like to give them something simple and practical they can take with them into their day, and specifically, into any difficult situation or situations that may be troubling them. Personally, I use an acronym that helps me stay present in such challenging situations; the acronym is “S.L.O.W.” 

The letters stand for, “Stop,” “Look” at the situation, “Observe” how I feel about it, and, “Welcome” what is.  The acronym is simply a device that helps me stay present and avoid getting lost in anxious worries about the future or guilty regrets over the past. If I can stay present, fully in the moment at hand in which the challenging situation presents itself, often, a shift in perspective, a new solution or a clearer choice will emerge.  Then, when I act from this place, instead of reacting from the others, I make better decisions, resolve conflicts more easily and feel at peace as I move through the day.