How Coaching helps change your trajectory

I have written multiple posts on the advantage of having a coach in different areas of your life, whether they are virtual or physical.

In my opinion having a coach has 3 key advantages

Sounding board
Been there done that
Variety of experiences

Sometimes you just need someone to listen to you and showcase the fallacy of your arguments, without you getting defensive. In your official positions, you may have colleagues or bosses whom you could sound your ideas. But more often that not, you end up getting defensive if they point too many flaws. But since you have taken a coach, chances are you will take her feedback more constructively.

If the coach you have chosen actually has worked in your industry and has shown success, then you can be sure that the problem you are facing has been solved by the coach somewhere else, earlier. The coach would have some frameworks based on which they solve problems.

Which brings me to the last point, in terms of the variety of experiences. Since the coach could be dealing with multiple people from different environments, he can cross pollinate ideas from different industries and come out with a solution to a problem which is not being addressed at the moment in your industry.

But the biggest advantage, I think that a coach has is the Accountability or Compliance that the coach brings. You are supposed to take action on the discussions which happen and come back with the results, based on which the next step is decided.

On our own, most of us humans , me included, are lazy and keep postponing things, even when we know our success is dependent on it.

So. look out and get a coach.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

What’s better….process or outcome

differentiation, Frameworks, ideal customer, Positioning, segmentation, single target market, Uncategorized

In our world of monthly or quarterly targets, where we are we marked in every week’s review meeting, it gets very enchanting to see the outcome without noticing the process and inputs.

Sometimes good processes can also lead to bad outcomes because of the randomness in the market that you are targeting . For example you may have identified the single target market , you would have planned your marketing activities for the long haul, you would gone about systematically educating your market, you would have identified the positioning by doing the correct segmentation, but suddenly an unexpected event occurs and throws your complete plan out of gear. The COVID-19 pandemic threw so many launches out of gear. No process can predict this kind of a situation. But because of the right process, while we couldn’t go ahead with our original OEM we now have an even more responsive OEM to launch our offerings.

On the other hand I have had situations in my life, where I was scared, because we had short circuited the process , because of lack of time, but still got amazing results. That was also a result of randomness or luck where a certain trigger of a government deadline moved all our inventory in no time. We made a lot of profit also.

Sometimes you need to tweak processes to make them more responsive for the increased pace of product launches. However I am of the belief that we need to map the process for a product launch. It could be directly from the books by Philip Kotler or it could be built on your experience but having a process ensures that you don’t miss any step.

Tell me in the comments below, what is your view.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Thinking and Action – frameworks

Affirmative action, books, Flow, Frameworks, Habits, Human Brain, possibility thinking, problem solving

Till now I have been generally written about how the brain gets positive feelings when you do a gratitude exercise or when you do charity etc. This feeling helps your brain see more possibilities. This was actually topic of my last post. While all of this is true, I still was not able to figure out what will ensure that I keep taking action on a continuous basis because at the end of the day, just thinking won’t get you there, you need to take action.

This is not to degrade the thinking process. As a matter of fact if you spend time into thinking then the chances are that you will find a solution which may be extremely elegant and solve the problem. But you need to have the grit or persistence to work on the solution, figure out if it actually works, if it doesn’t, go back to the drawing board and find another solution.

How does someone ensure that they are always taking action. What will create that behaviour which will make me ensure that I am moving in the direction, to achieve my goals of the impossible while I am coming out with more creative solutions to handle my constraints.

While I am not sure if I have all the pieces of the puzzle in place for me, I do think that there’s a combination of things which I have observed when I have read the following 4 books – Tiny Habits by B.J.Fogg, The Art of the Impossible by Steven Kotler, A Beautiful Constraint by Adam Morgan & Mark Barden and Think Like a Rocket Scientist by Ozan Varol.

So two of the books – in no particular order – are about solving problems and handling constraints, one is about creating behaviours and the last is about taking your brain into a high performance agenda. over the next few weeks I will try to see if I can take out the best pieces of advice and put it into a framework for myself and see the results.

So there are some low levels activities which I completely stop doing – like writing emails. Then I create behaviours for small things which can make a huge impact for me, find processes and frameworks to resolve constraints – thinking tools and then get into flow to figure out creative solutions. If I can have prompts to help me do all this then I would have really figured out a way to not get stuck from time to time in time.

Once there’s a behaviour based on a habit, then my brain will also not get over worked. With the energy that I conserve, I may actually figure out even better solutions.

Is this too much of a fancy. I don’t know. Let me put it in action and see. I will keep you posted.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Reference Guides

books, Frameworks, Questions, Reference Guides

While I write about my opinions on a lot of topics and give my view points on how to solve them, I myself end up in one spot or another every now and then.

As Joe Polish says – and I paraphrase it here – as you climb up the challenges take up more difficult formats – and you need to handle them , learn from them and move higher.

I have found books to be my source of support for the different kinds of challenges that get thrown my way. I have shared the different books I read from time to time. I also end up taking a speed reading course to help me increase the speed of my ability to read.

But sometimes you come across a book which you can keep going back to as a reference guide. It lays out the framework easily and then also puts the tools in your hand to ensure you get to use the stuff. When I was in school we had an English grammar book by Wren & Martin. I used that book from grade 5 to grade 10 for all my exercises. But I kept using that book even later as a reference to ensure I could check out, when I had a query related to English grammar. I even bought that book for my son when he was in school and I still have that copy with me.

In physics we had Resnik and Haliday which had such a well written basis that I took a liking to physics only because of that book. Marketing of course has been Philip Kotler.

Recently I have been mentioning about this book – The Road Less Stupid by Keith Cunnigham. Its one of those books which I have reread multiple times. First it was end – to – end , subsequently it has been specific topics. But the book really helps you THINK.

I have written earlier about focused time and also shared with you the links to Dean Jackson’s videos on how to focus etc. Once you do that and you want to actually move forward, onto figuring out root cause issues and the right questioning frameworks to solving the right problems, then this is a reference guide. I would highly recommend you read this book in case your job is to figure out solutions everyday.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!