In my last posting I mentioned I read a couple of good books lately, the first one being The Jackrabbit Factor and the second Og Mandino’s The Greatest Miracle in the World. I couldn’t put this book down from the moment I opened it. In fact, I read the entire thing on a plane flight from Oregon back to Phoenix. So far, this one book has been the final piece to help me really pump up my rabbit catching (see my last posting).

Recently I realized I’ve really been letting negative thoughts and emotions take over way too often. It was hard to admit at first because I really have worked for many years to keep a positive outlook. I’m a coach; wouldn’t that seem to be a natural part of the job? Funny thing is that I’ve been coaching my clients to keep a positive outlook and positive thoughts, but I started slacking. 

I really didn’t even realize how much I was doing it. Luckily I have a good coach who points these things out to me. Crazy thing is, even though I received some good coaching, I still had a tough time changing my thoughts. It was kind of like a virus that just kept eating away at me, and slowly but surely my business had been paying the price, not to mention my own happiness and enthusiasm.

The big challenge that I’ve been facing lately is refining and re-defining the type of coaching I want to do and coaching business I want to have. I’ve been practicing as a business coach for almost nine years, and I’m feeling the need to advance my practice to the next level. For more than a year, however, I’ve been unclear as to what that next level is supposed to look like. I’ll confess that being unclear for that period of time has been diminishing my confidence about ever finding that clarity and vision. 

Luckily I did get some really good coaching: “Troy, be grateful for all that you have. Look for the positives in where you are right now. Allow yourself to see, feel, and be in the mindset that everything is working.” At first, those words really sounded cheesy to me. I mean, what’s the real benefit of allowing, seeing, and feeling when really what I need is to be doing!! I took the advice anyway and began applying it. Okay, it’s no surprise that I’m going to report that it’s working, but what I want to report is that after reading The Greatest Miracle in the World, IT IS REALLY WORKING!!!

I’ll tell you how it’s really working in later posts, but what I want share now is that we have to realize that we are already extremely successful. I learned that the number one reason we don’t have everything we desire is  our lack of confidence and nothing else. Throughout our lives we are constantly faced with the reminders of what we have not done or have tried without success. Yet we fail to accept credit for the successes and accomplishments we have had. We are living, breathing, walking, and talking miracles. Our greatest and unmatched successes have already been achieved. We truly are free to go forward and create absolutely anything we desire, as we already have all the tools, ability, and skills we can ever need. We just have to remember to stop and acknowledge ourselves for each and every piece of our miraculous lives, to truly be grateful for every single piece of ourselves, and “allow” our confidence to build and build.   

Coach’s Challenge: This week’s coach’s challenge is to read the books The Jackrabbit Factor and The Greatest Miracle in the World. (I literally read each of them in two hours – and I’m a pretty slow reader.) At the end of The Greatest Miracle is an opportunity for you to take on a life-changing mission. Take the challenge as I have and be the change you wish to see in your life. 

Stay tuned as I’m begin to share with you all the awesome “rabbits” that are showing up all around me. One of them just might make an awesome difference in your life too. J