10,000 hours!!!

Have been working hard at getting the coaching company up and running and we recently secured a contract with BMW/MINI Oakville.

Our coaching company is always trying to set itself apart by reading, attending workshops, connecting with other successful coaches and entrepreneurs, and finding out what we can leverage to be preeminent in the industry. Well, according to Malcolm Gladwell, you just have to do the time; 10,000 hours or so!!!

In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell makes a compelling case and explains that it takes 10,000 hours of experience and practise before you can become exceptional at anything. Gladwell quotes neurologist Daniel Levitin: "The emerging picture from such studies is that ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert -- in anything."

The list of people Gladwell cites as examples to support this claim is impressive: Wayne Gretzky, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Bill Joy...and there are more but you really should read the book for yourself.

The good news from what I can gather is that you don't have to be THE BEST in order to be successful; you only have to be good enough and it's up to you to know your industry, market and business well enough to know what "good enough" means.

So, I know what I've been doing in my formal training to become an exceptional professional coach but my hunch is that I've already spent thousands of hours preparing for this role - it's just that the hours have felt so natural and effortless that I wasn't even aware that I was doing it.

Reminds me of what Captain "Sully" Sullenberger said about making the emergency landing in the Hudson River. "Everything I had done as a pilot had prepared me for that moment."

Buy Outliers and read it this summer. Also, read the part about keeping your children's minds active through the summer months and what Gladwell has to say about that!

With continued curiosity,

Ruth

I'm reading Alan Webber's Rules of Thumb: 52 Truths for Winning at Business Without Losing Yourself and so far, so good.

This really is a different kind of business book. Webber translates his 52 Rules through stories that yield a message.

Rule #1: WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, THE TOUGH RELAX.

Webber writes, "Anytime you approach a task with fear you are at least a double loser. First, you colour the work with fear and increase the chances of failure. Second, you guarantee that you won't enjoy the experience."

So here's to making sure that I (and you, perhaps?) take a second and remember that I asked for all this. I'm smiling as I type this. I'm enjoying the trip!

Ruth

The good old hockey game

I love play-off hockey. Even though there is no Canadian team this year, the calibre of play is better, faster, and the stakes are HUGE.

I find myself rooting for Pittsburgh so the Canadian boy-wonder from Eastern Passage can live the dream. What's not to love???

I'm watching them now decisively beat the 'Canes 6 -2.

Until Tuesday night when they meet again!

Ruth

Thank you BF

Over the last while I have been extremely distracted and busy building my coaching practice and I just wanted to send out a big thank you to BF! You are the best thing that ever happened to me.

Lots of love and gratitude,

Catney

Happy Mother's Day again!!!

Cusomize this video and send it to a great mother you know. It's very clever!


http://news.cnnbcvideo.com/taf.html?id=ID&nid=YqlUA4SZlvF_j4POxNlMozQ3MzEyOTA-&p=moveon


Annie sent it to me an I was so delighted. Share it...you'll be glad you did.

Once again, Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Back in 2006 Salary.com,Inc., the compensation experts, announced their valuation of a Stay at Home Mom's job and for the first time addressed the question of what a Working Mom's job is worth.

Salary.com consulted with Stay at Home and Working Moms and determined the top 10 jobs that make up a mom's job description. If paid, Stay at Home Moms would earn $134,121 annually (up from 2005's salary of $131,471).

Working Moms would earn $85,876 annually for the "mom job" portion of their work, in addition to their actual "work job" salary.

Salary.com found the job titles that best matched a mom's definition of her work to be (in order of hours spent per week): housekeeper, day care center teacher, cook, computer operator, laundry machine operator, janitor, facilities manager, van driver, CEO and psychologist. New job titles that made the list in 2006 include psychologist, laundry machine operator, computer operator, and facilities manager. The job title of nurse fell out of the top 10 this year.

"People recognize that both Stay at Home Moms and Working Moms carry a heavy load of responsibility and work long hours," said Bill Coleman, senior vice president of compensation at Salary.com. "It is an eye-opener for many people when they see the real market value of the work moms perform. This year, by adding information about the compensation for Working Moms, we hope to expand the recognition of just how hard all moms are working and of the economic value they bring to society."

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms who choose to either stay home and be the "glue" for your families OR go into the paid workforce to make a difference that way. I hope that either way, you get recognized for the enormous contribution you make! The world is a better place because of you.

Catney

A Quote

"The price of discipline is always less than the pain of regret."

- Nido Qubein

I'm counting on this one being true.

Ruth

Simple Abundance

Back in 1999 I was reading Sarah Ban Breathnach's Simple Abundance and it was bringing me such comfort and peace. Every calendar day there was an entry that eloquently reminded me of how abundant and rich my life was. My great health, my family, the sound of wind in the trees, my morning coffee, the sound of birds outside my window, friends laughing, a home cooked meal, or making a child smile. That was the year I met my husband & I believe he came to me because I was in a grateful place and when you are grateful, you open yourself to receiving even more greatness.

Yesterday I took this book off the shelf to keep it on my nightstand again. I have been so busy DOING in the last couple months that I have lost touch with staying present and acknowleding how rich my life is. Every night I will now read an entry to be gently reminded about how abundant my life really is. I have every thing I ever wanted and so much more.

Hope you know you have everything you need too.

Catney

Bring it On!

What an exciting time! I've started accepting clients and it is such an honour to be able to work with people to help them meet important personal and professional goals! And it's just getting better! We're in discussions with 3 corporations right now to bring professional coaching to middle management and their sales force!

This is just the beginning!

Here's something to help set you up this month.

Brian Tracy, author of Flight Plan – The Real Secret of Success contributed an article to Costco Connection magazine back in 2008. In it, Tracy states that all successful people do 4 things:

1. They set clear goals
2. They take risks beyond their comfort zone
3. They accept feedback
4. They self correct

Using the analogy of air travel, Tracy offers these steps to success:

Choose your destination.
Decide in advance exactly what goals you want to achieve in each area of your life

Review your flight operations.
Gather information to determine all of the various ways you could achieve a particular goal

Write your flight plan.
Only 3 % of adults have written goals, and they earn 10 times as much as people who live day-to-day

Prepare for your journey.
Take the time to get everything done before your journey

Take off at full throttle.
Be prepared to work wholeheartedly, with all of your energy and determination, for a long time before your achieve any worthwhile goal

Plan for turbulence.
Expect setbacks, disappointment and reversals as a normal part of achieving anything worthwhile

Make course corrections.
If something doesn’t work, try something else, and then something else again

Accelerate learning and progress.
Learn from every experience. Look into every setback as an opportunity to grow. Seek valuable lessons contained in your roadblocks and obstacles.

Avoid shortcuts and other mirages.
Be prepared to pay the full price of success, in advance. Forget easy money and get-rich schemes. There aren’t any.

Master your fears.
Develop the habit of courage by confronting your fears rather than avoiding them.

Persist until you succeed.
Resolve in advance that you will never give up until you achieve your goal.

May is here. Make it count!

Catney!

Anti Aging Checklist

So now that the nicer weather is returning I'm planning to get back out running and cycling outdoors again. Here's a great checklist of things we should be doing every day for diet, exercise, and vitamins. The "1 glass of red wine every day" on the list puts a smile on my face! Really.

Here's the link if you want to print a copy out for yourself!

atic.oprah.com/download/pdfs/health/oz/oz_antiaging_checklist.pdf

Ruth

The Coaches Training Institute: Process

I'm on Day 2 of my Process Coaching module and they do a very clever thing - they get you to work through your own crap B4 they let you become a coach!

Today I learned the importance of working through my own baggage and unresolved issues in order to be able to best serve clients and hold THEIR agenda and not my own.

And you know, while it wasn't easy in the moment to dig deep and be "comfortable with being uncomfortable", it really is a liberating experience to let go of limiting beliefs that are created from negative life experiences. No two situations are identical. There is nuance, minutia of detail, and shades and I now know that for sure.

And so, the judgement truly dissipates. I am ready to coach now more than ever!

ruth@forbesmktg.com

Seth Godin

Have been working hard on a presentation for a pharmaceutical contact and was directed to Seth Godin's blog about the topic. Here's what he has to say about presentations:

The hierarchy of presentations

• A presentation is a precious opportunity. It's a powerful arrangement... one speaker, an attentive audience, all in their seats, all paying attention (at least at first). Don't waste it.



• The purpose of a presentation is to change minds. That's the only reason I can think of to spend the time and resources. If your goal isn't to change minds, perhaps you should consider a different approach.



• The best presentation is no presentation at all. If you can get by with a memo, send a memo. I can read it faster than you can present it and we'll both enjoy it more.



• The second best presentation is one on one. No slides, no microphone. You look me in the eye and change my mind.



• Third best? Live and fully interactive.



• PowerPoint or Keynote, but with no bullets, just emotional pictures and stories.



• And last best... well, if you really think you can change my mind by using tons of bullets and a droning presentation, I'm skeptical.



• A presentation isn't an obligation, it's a privilege.

I'm planning to check out his Purple Cow and Tribes books. If you've already read them, let me know what you thought of them.

Ruth