Tiger

Sports’ coaching is a natural, Tiger Woods has a swing coach, and it’s an obvious connection. Life coaching is as natural as the flow of Tiger’s great game; focus and balance are critical, and Tiger is a master at adjusting to change. He transcends the hazards of the fairway; performs at his best under pressure and is in harmony with his life destiny.

Life coaching is a new trend with as many different interpretations as there are new age healing modalities. One branch of coaching originated with financial advisors who in consultation with clients found that personal life styles were often incongruent with financial health.

The advisors were money experts, not life experts. Joseph Campbell said, “Money is congealed energy, and releasing it releases life’s possibilities.” The coaching model that I work with helps clients develop a conscious and powerful relationship with money. Making good money doing what you love is not “woo-woo,” it’s part of being effective. Being paid what you are worth, working effectively (hours on the job ratio compared with what you bring home after expenses) and exploring where you are leaking money, (energy) are all parts of the paradigm. When we become conscious with money it affects every aspect of our lives.

We may be very busy in the pursuit of financial freedom, we may be very efficient, but are we being truly effective?

In “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” Steven Covey’s story about a company working in a jungle illustrates the importance of clarity and focus. In his example the managers are busy keeping the machete’s sharp, making sure the employees are happy and healthy so they can hack away and make great progress. There are safety people to look after any cuts or scrapes or snake bites that the machete wielders may suffer. Covey tells us, “The leader is the one who climbs the tallest tree, surveys the entire situation, and yells, “Wrong jungle!” The busy producers and managers often respond, “Shut up! We’re making progress.”

Progress is only one aspect. The clarity of purpose and focus exemplified by Tiger is needed. Are you performing in the arena where you excel? Are you at your best, being as creative as you would like to be?

The world is changing so fast that modern businesses are generating a constant demand for creativity and innovation. Leaders of world companies, small business owners and each of us as individuals are being challenged to come up with plans that not only will continue to be creative and successful but will be of benefit to the planet and its people.

Recognizing that brilliant insights need to be effectively communicated for action to take place, the corporate world was the first to embrace coaching. Sometimes in the jungle of our own lives we lose sight of the vision, of authenticity and heart and mind congruence. Coaching brings the focus to leveraging energy and using it to your best advantage.

In benefiting yourself, you bring meaning and purpose to life.

Tiger is very successful financially and is a model of powerful alignment of body and mind. I am in awe of the focus he brings to the moment when the challenge is the greatest. All the aspects of his support system come together when he fires out of the rough and sinks an eighteen foot putt for birdie in the pouring rain. The strength of family, friends and fans; his physical and mental game are all built step by step. He has developed an ease, a gratitude for the journey and his ability to be on it.

The coaching model that I work with has its foundation in empowerment. Life purpose and meaning are aligned with where we make our greatest contribution to others and the health of the planet. George Bernard Shaw said, “This is the true joy in life: being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one.”

The framework of the coaching relationship is built on the foundation of who we are at our best. The coach and the client explore exciting destinations and develop a blueprint or inner compass (a set of principles) to provide direction on how to get there. In the process we take care to balance the areas of Creativity, Support, Time, Money, Physical Vitality and Enjoyment. We build your “authentic swing” in harmony with these primary energies of life. Aligned to a life purpose that gives you the “juice,” you move forward and take advantage of the natural ability that is yours alone.

The courage to grow in the unknown is our oldest North American freedom. Marianne Williamson said, “It is not our darkness that we most fear, but our light.” She also said that as Americans we are “less complacent than others when told our dreams will not come true.” She says that we were told we have a right to have them and were literally born into the promise.

Everybody in the world knows Tiger and his accomplishments. Kids and grandmothers love him; men and women respect what he’s done and continues to do. The natural tiger in all of us, that place of “potential” has its root in “potent;” that which is vigorous, capable, powerful and effective. I talked about “unfulfilled” potential with Maria Nemeth, author of “The Energy of Money.” She explained to me that potential is not something that is fulfilled; it exists at the core of who we are in our hearts.

In coaching we create an exciting game plan, a natural step by step process that is pragmatic and based on a successful model that allows you to star not on television on Saturday afternoon but in the greatest show of all, your life.