Perceived Value - The Cost of Change.

In Chicago's O'Hare airport on my way back from Hawaii and looking for some reading material, I came across a book by a gentleman named Ron Karr. The book is called "Lead, Sell or Get Out of the Way." Mr. Karr has been attributed with approximately $500m in sales. He's motivational and one hell of salesman. I follow his LinkedIn forum which is a mine of information for people in sales. Interestingly enough, I am in sales. More interesting is his use of what I would term Personal Development techniques. Being in sales AND personal development myself, the book was a wow because every entrepreneur has to be a sales person.

From his LinkedIn forum Mr. Karr had invited a few of us to a webinar he hosted for free, imparting some of his wisdom. Again, he made common sense seem like the miraculous. You know when you say "Oh yeah, that makes perfect sense, how come I didn't see that before?". One of the nuggets that I took away is his formula for Perceived Value. CNC - CC = PV. As it turns out, it's a formula for life.

To digress for a minute, there is a saying which goes "You should never ask an insurance salesman if you need insurance" and being a life coach, no-one is going to ask me if they need coaching. Part of that I believe has to do with a perceived negative starting point if you look for coaching. If it's not broken, why do I need coaching? Did you know that at the top of his game, Tiger Woods swapped coaches to see if he could improve his swing? Imagine if everyone had taken the notion after the first maned flight that the whole flying thing had been done so what's the point in trying? Humans have always looked to progress in the areas of freedom and potential.

So why change? What is the value of change? Well, to get the answer we use Mr. Karr's formula; the Cost of No Change minus the Cost of Change equals Perceived Value. He used the example of buying his book; Annual Sales of $120,000 - price of the book (approx) $20 = $119, 980. Not much cause for change there. But let's say that by purchasing and implementing the training and knowledge in the book you could double your annual turnover. The formula now looks like $120,000 (CNC) - $240,000 = -$120,000. The Perceived Value is now a negative figure. IF YOU DO NOT CHANGE YOU WILL LOSE OUT! You can continue being 'OK' or you can raise the bar on yourself.

So this is my point about coaching, you can continue plodding along being 'OK' in a zone where there appears to be no need for change. However, what value have you placed on the Cost of Change? Whatever your situation you can apply this formula. Want to give up smoking, what is the cost of change, what is the Cost of No Change? Want to go for that promotion, what is the Cost of No Change? In your life, what is the Cost of No Change?

Who is your inspiration?

Sitting at a table in a canteen not so long ago with a group of life coaches in training after a very revelatory class, I was asked the question "Who inspires you?"

It's an interesting question, one I would have struggled to pick an answer for some years ago. We had just been talking about the Goliath of a man, Anthony Robins, a man who has done so much work in the field of personal development. A couple of eager students are very taken by him and with good reason.

So what do you look for in a muse, someone who inspires you? And in what way? Inspires you to action towards your dreams, the bigger house, the better job, the more exotic vacation, all of the above? What qualities does this person have? Perhaps it's an amalgam of various people?

My answer was simple, "Me". There was silence for a minute. It's not an answer you hear in everyday conversation, not even from people that you may view as top of the heap. Indeed people that I had previously placed on a dais have turned out to be "not all that". What this meant to me was that my heroes were made of sand, great now but prone to crumble.

But there is a person that we can create that is impervious to the ravages of time, a person that will always be in our lives, a person who will always make the right decisions and a person on whom we can depend, ourselves. More specifically, our 'future self'.

We, unlike anything else in this world, CAN CHOOSE WHAT WE WANT TO BE. A giraffe can only become a giraffe, a fish will only ever be a fish it can't grow up to be a ring tailed lemur. We have the choice to take what we see good in others or what we would like to make better in ourselves and create and work towards being this inspirational person that we choose to be. How exciting is that?

In this day and age where self confidence is one of the highest ranking things that people would like to work on, here is a doorway that allows people to take the first tentative steps towards how they would like to see themselves and for others to see them.

So the next time you are looking for inspiration, to quote a 'help wanted' sign from the very funny Earthworm Jim... Help wanted? Apply within.

What If My Best Isn't Good Enough?

It's a common question at the root of many people not even trying. They have a goal or a dream, their heart races and they have images of what it would be like to succeed, what it would look like if their dream came true. It's beautiful. Doing something that you love, your passion, for the rest of your life. AND you get paid for it. Then they take the first tentative steps and then someone laughs. "YOU'RE GOING TO WHAT? BUT YOU'RE...." And suddenly the first unplanned obstacle rears its head. And you question yourself. What if my best just isn't good enough?

Indeed, many 'reality' TV shows thrive on this. Sitting there mocking and gawking as some person gives it their all because they believe in their talent but it falls wickedly short of what we think. Then there's the transformation shows, of people and houses. "We took this dumpy hausfrau that we transformed physically and mentally in to something unrecognisable..." For the better? Perhaps. I don't feel comfortable with the message the children receive when they don't recogise their own mother. "What about this house? We've taken it and changed it in 24 hours. What do you think?" Yes, the shows seem to indicate that unless your undertaking is nothing short of Herculean in time and scale, why bother? (His original Greek name is Heracles, by the way.)

So let me give you this quote from Maryanne WIlliamson from "A Course In Miracles": “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

To you, your best will always be good enough provided you can put your hand on your heart and say "Yes, I gave it my best at the time." I say at the time because new knowledge and circumstances will arrive that may change your perception of the event. If you are doing something that you love, do it because you love it and be your own judge. If you hand over judgement to someone else, listen without prejudice and make sure that the judge is someone that you respect. “Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you believe that you too can become great.” Mark Twain. Say this may not be the path that everyone walks but this is The Path I Choose