My Calling

So here we are, soon to leave January 2021. Most of us are locked down. Having to adjust, having to work from home. Having to home-school with some of us in survival mode focusing on voids, shortages and losses, and some of us are focused on developing ourselves mentally and physically, and in other creative ways. Ring any bells?

For me, I have been having a ball and have learned how to cook Nigerian jallof rice, West Indian Ginger Beer, Hot Pepper chicken soup, the fluffiest pancakes I have ever had and a multitude of other things. I learned how to deliver webinars and on-line courses in Self and Time Management and Communication training. I programed myself to just move closer to the things that challenge me and make me feel uncomfortable that I would normally avoid, especially in Crossfit, mobility, primal movements, and other things that are too numerous to mention.

Last year in March there was a rapid decline in my coaching and instructional activities due to the crisis we all face and I was visiting my clients in Germany, Austria, and Russia. Most companies were very good with how they dealt with this, but some were not. They just 'ghosted'.

As a Personal Development and Performance Coach I then had an opportunity to practice what I was preaching, and that is "embrace and honour the struggle", thank you to the counsel of inspirational people such as Les Brown, Steven Eugene Kuhn, Brendon Burchard, and Bob Proctor.

Yes, it has been a tough time but when you learn the importance of a good morning routine beginning with silence, effectively written and memorised affirmations which I can chant, visualizing my affirmations, mobility and exercise, and growing my mind by feeding it with inspirational content, the result is that you start building success momentum which I now really believe is a 'success habit'.

I find that what you do in the mornings has a huge impact on how your day will run. So choosing to stay in bed, choosing to check social media, choosing to check email and messages switch you into a reactionary mode, and this in my opinion robs you of the time in which you can INVEST in the successful running of your day.

Actually, I have been practicing morning routines since 2015 and I have become a slave to this habit. After all, we are creatures of habit, right? We surrender surrender our free-will to years of accumulated habits, both good and not so good. So if we are creatures of habit, why do we not create new habits and become slaves to them?

I learned that the difference between a success and a repeat failure is in the difference of their habits. A successful person develops good habits, and becomes slave to them. A repeat failure does not.

In the Corona time, I really do feel that I found my true calling which gives me a sense of meaning and purpose as a Coach. I have been in different forms of coaching since I was in the British Military not realising why I really liked it. I just knew that I was good at making people feel good which in turn made me feel good.

Recently I found out why I love elevating and uplifting people so much. It is really simple, and I had missed this for years. It is simply because coaching fits with my identity. This is something I had a breakthrough with with my Mentor Steven Eugene Kuhn, and since then I have been elevated and empowered to serve and deliver value to my clients, friends and sometimes even strangers.

The knock-on effect is that I have attracted my niche clients with whom I also elevate and empower to get the results they can be happy with, but to do this I had to connect to myself in a way that I had not done in the past. Reaching breakthroughs and clearing my own blocks, and this is an ongoing process.

Interestingly enough, my clients have also been instrumental in 'me seeing me' which helps me to amplify my purpose and help them which creates radiant value.

All this pays off because the following has happened in a very short period of time.

1. Hired by a UK based company to be their dedicated Continuous Personal Development and Performance Coach (all delivered on-line).

2. Delivering Strategy Planning webinars for a Vienna based client. Additionally running team and sub-team health checks to root out and deal with issues ranging from poor Team Communication to social issues, to project issues.

3. Helping a high flying US client with decision making processes and performance.

4. Helping a mother and her son to deal with a potentially life changing event.

5: Helping two up-coming young executives to realise their identity so they can fit their roles to their identities. (This was something that was deeply moving for both me and my clients).

I could go on, but I will desist. This all stems from a lesson I learned from another Mentor, he told me "change the way you look at things, and those things will change in front of your eyes". I can testify that this is true. Prior to March 2020 I was half heartedly instructing and coaching, but this crisis lifted the veil on where I was blocking myself. It forced me to work 100% from home after having to send my car to the leasing company.

Important thing here is that as much as I thought I loved that car, I did not miss it nor focus on it as a loss or void, because it was a distraction cost wise that would have impacted my goal.

Embracing struggle by taking consistent but often imperfect steps ALWAYS leads to progress. Setbacks and failure are as I have learned, and am still learning, part of the success process. For some of us, we fail our way to success.

Another valuable thing to remember is that as long as your decision is to reach your goal whatever that may be, anything that gets in the way by way of challenge is just a detour to your success. You just simply change your route to your goal.

Finally, in the words of Les Brown "It aint over until I win"!

I wish you all success.

I want to acknowlege the following people:

1. Caroline Alexander and her son Jay
2. Steven Eugene Kuhn and Lane Belone
3. Rene Vurcer
4. Clemens Diwald
5. Martin Cooke of EOGB
6. Corey M Smith
7. Tyree Smith
8. Kieran Bingham
9. My Clients
10. Stefan Hummel
11. Adversity and Challenge