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FAQ's and More
View from our 3rd-floor balcony overlooking 1st & 18th fairways of the Old Course at Saint Andrews
Frequently Asked Questions
FAQs (in the Coach's own words)
Q - What is Self-Awareness?
A - It is an awareness of one's own personality and individuality, including strengths and weaknesses, blind spots (baggage), personal brand, reputation, mindset, visibility and where one is in thier life's journey. We gain self-awareness via comprehensive, timely and actionable feedback via a mastery series of deep-dive, anonymous, assessments of those that know us well. IT WILL BECOME YOUR X-FACTOR! And, it works for your company as well.
Q - What is Feedback, in the context of self-awareness, professional development and advancement?
A - Per Dictionary.com, Feedback is "knowledge of the results of any behavior, considered as influencing or modifying future performance. Synonyms here are key and include: assessment, observation, comment, reaction, criticism and evaluation. Comprehensive and timely feedback identifies any blind spots that may be impacting a person's personal and/or professional life. Feedback can expose good, neutral or bad information. It can confirm leverageable positives, expose additional, under-untilized positives and/or expose negatives, those needed to be addressed.
Q - What is a Blind Spot, in the context of professional development and advancement?
A - Per Dictionary.com, a blind spot is an area or subject about which one is uninformed, prejudiced or unappreciated and generally seen as a weakness or baggage in terms of a career and its deveopment.
Q - What is Baggage - in the context of professional development and advancement?
A - Things that encumber one's progress, development, freedom, or adaptability; impediments:
intellectual baggage that keeps one from thinking clearly; neurotic conflicts that arise from struggling with too much emotional baggage. All of which can negatively impact career development and advancement.
Q - Not sure I understand the idea that Aha Moments can somehow create an Unstoppable state of mind thus causing a life-changing journey to continue. Is the formula "aha moments = unstoppable state = sustained journey? Can Coach Steve explain that?
A – Sure. Let's look at an entrepreneur that is tasked with finding some new way to do something, that's never been done before. There’s obviously a lot of trial and error going on. Let's look at the Aha concept that “there’s no such thing as failure and that there are only results" (T Robbins). So, "if you don’t like the result, you can change your approach and simply try it again". By referring to an outcome as a result rather than a failure, there can be a rather euphoric realization that outcomes can be bad, but that’s to be expected and simply what occurs on the path to the right outcome. It’s kind of like the Edison story of him trying to invent the light bulb and having 1,000 unsuccessful attempts. He obviously was unaffected by the number of bad outcomes (failures as some would call them), so he simply marched on until he got the result he wanted. So, it’s very likely that our entrepreneur is relieved of the mental burden of failure and this sudden realization (aha moment) can create a rather uplifting moment and a feeling of being unstoppable. It also begs the question, “what could you accomplish if you knew you could not fail?” It's easy to see how this could extend the dream of a new company or any other journey as they proceed with greater confidence of their eventual success.
Q - What was a big aha moment for the Coach?
A - One of my biggest aha’s in business (actually an epiphany as it was so big), was discovering my brain type in Myers Briggs MBTI terms, an INTJ. I had been looking at personality tests to help me match "talent to task" (picking people) in my tech consulting business. I was basically in the people matching business, let's call it human resource management. When I discovered that the INTJ profile was "wired for success" in human resource management, I had a moment I’ll never forget. I had always thought I was good on this topic, but when you go from “thinking to knowing” you're good, to knowing you’re wired for success, it’s an amazing and empowering feeling. I had become “Unstoppable” and it was obvious to me and to others around me. I was hooked on such aha moments and wanted more. Also, when I found out I was wired the same as Abraham Lincoln, a hero to me, it blew my mind. I read everything I could on Honest Abe and got goosebumps thinking about his life and huge decisions and what I might have thought of doing back then. There is no better feeling that knowing you are wired for success in your endeavors and that great people in history that you admire are wired just like you. Off the chart!
Q - Is one aha moment enough to keep me Unstoppable?
A - No. One is often enough to help you become unstoppable at that moment, but you'll likely need a steady and timely flow of such moments (and periodic reminders) to sustain an unstoppable state of mind. Thats why I started my weekly newsletter, to provide you with these ongoing aha insights. I saw this recurring need during my many years of coaching.
Q - Who are those that Coach Steve looks to for inspiration?
A - Here's a list of great teachers that have been an inspiration to Coach Steve. Tony Robbins, Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra, Ken Wilber, Rick Warren, Carl Jung, Malcolm Galdwell, Wayne Dyer, Tom Rath, John Niednagel, Abraham Lincoln, …
Q- What’s the difference between an Aha Moment and an Epiphany as used in this blog?
A - Both are sudden, all-at-once moments of “insight”, but differ in significance. Both start with an rapid and often unexpected moment of inspiration, discovery, realization or clarity (collectively “Enlightenment”), that can instantly lead to greater consciousness, determination, energy, confidence and an improved “state of mind”, often making you “Unstoppable” at that a moment. But, while an aha is a sudden moment of insight, an epiphany is a sudden moment of “life-changing”, almost supernatural insight. For example, an aha moment might come when you find out that “there’s no such thing as failure, only results, so just try again” (T Robbins). That’s great insight, but when you discover that you have a natural giftedness that makes you “wired for success” in certain of life’s pursuits, now that’s an epiphany. Per Smith and Kounios 1996, these insight-like moments differ in contrast to other cognitive tasks, which yield solutions in an incremental fashion.
Q - Does Coach Steve have a recommended reading list?
A - Yes and this will be added soon.
Q - How did Coach Steve get into coaching?
A - As a successful entrepreneur and businessman, I decided long ago to be a seeker of inspiration and motivation and when he found it, I shared it will others to drive home (master) those lessons and to prove they were effective in helping others during their journeys. I didn't start out wanting to be a coach, but others began to call me "coach" as I taught them many lessons in self actualization and surviving major journeys of transformation.
Q - What's the #1 piece of advice Coach Steve gives those he coaches?
A - That's a tough question as the topics are so diverse. But one thought comes to mind. I often provide insights that people have heard before (as older, proven lessons are just as good and some times better than new ones) and they will sometimes say, "Oh, I already know that.". Then, after I look at what they're doing, I often say, "yep, you know that, but you don't do that". Knowing and doing are very different things. You may know the best way to proceed, but if you don't implement that knowledge, it's worthless to you and potentially destructive (as the mind will remind you often of all the effort you went to to learn something that you choose not to use). Good points to keep in mind as we proceed.
Q - Coach Steve mentions high energy music a lot. How does that fit in?
A - A steady dose of hIgh-energy, motivational music is a key component of "obtaining and sustaining" the unstoppable state of mind. If you've ever been to a Tony Robbins live event, you know what I mean. So, I will have a "song of the week" with each "Aha Moment" email I send so after you read what I present, you can blast away with some really upbeat music.
Q - Who should not look to Coach Steve for journey answers?
A - I not trained or prepared for dealing with alcohol, drug and mental health issues so I really can't be offering this group advice. I also look for simple to understand and easy to implement aha insights "for the masses" that may not be consistent with the deep thinkers in the one-on-one world of psychology and psychiatry.
Q - If I follow Coach Steve's advice will I be successful?
A - I can't guarantee success for anyone. Each person and journey are different and there are endless variables that can impact the results. The goal of this website and what I teach others is to improve your chances of success and help you "stay the course" in your journey. But, the advice given is for each person to interpret and decide for themselves how to proceed in their unique journey and their unique circumstances.
Q – Is personality testing (typing) important to Coach Steve’s process?
A – Yes, Personality Type (or Psychological Type, as it’s often called) is important, but slightly more so in the Q&A forum than the general “aha moment” process. That’s because I can provide more precise answers to questions if he knows a person's Type. I use a hybrid of the Myer Briggs MBTI and Big Five mental models and I have used them for many yeras. There are others, like Strength Finders, DISC, MBS, AVA, Enneagram, and more. They all provide some value, but they don't go nearly as deep as the MBTI-Big Five hyrid model I use. Also, I have become an expert on MBTI typing and have developed a computer metaphor for easily determining one’s MBTI Type. And, it doesn’t require that I use a questionnaire on online test (but I have one just in case). Being able to quickly type another person is very powerful and I will be posting in the blog on that subject. It’s called “Fast or Quick Typing” and can be used to quickly spot behavioral preferences in ourselves and others and allow for more effective communications and better working relationships with your team and your customers. I teach a course on “Personality Type in the Workplace" and I'm authoring an article on that soon. Note, many people believe that you need all four functions in MBTI to “understand" another person, but any one or two of the four can provide insights to better communications and I'll post more on typing and its value later as well. So for now, yes, personality testing is important to get the most out the Aha Moment and Q&A processes. Note - there are numerous MBTI testing sites available online on this subject. But, these test sites have a fairly high error rate for a variety of reasons and the one Coach Steve uses has a more thorough validation process to insure the correct Type has been identified.