William “Bud” Hart, of Haverhill, shares “Success Principles”—ideas for living a greater, better and more accomplished life, and building habits that stick. He also coaches clients to incorporate strategies for boosting their mental and physical performance during everyday living.
I had a conversation recently with an individual who is thinking about hiring a coach. This person recently experienced what so many other people have, that knock on the office door and that conversation with the boss that the company was letting you go. In the conversation this person’s manager suggested retaining the services of a coach to help transition to something new.
I listened as the individual described the actual conversation, their feelings about it and the many worst-case scenarios that may need to be confronted down the road. My response was that we have all been lied to, we’ve been betrayed and we’ve been taken advantage of at some point. We can either label these “good for us” or “bad for us.” It’s how we see things that happen to us that determines what they become for us and what we become as a result. The question I posed is what do you see?
Not long ago I came across an article on the creativity of children. The gist of the piece was that children have the benefit of not knowing what is not possible. For them everything is feasible. A child’s day is filled with curiosity, wonder and joy. What’s more young children get praise and encouragement from their parents and teachers for almost any work they do, especially when they use their imagination. Unfortunately, it doesn’t carry on
As adults we all know only to well what we cannot achieve and what we cannot do. We experience rejections, failures and humiliations. At some stage we begin to fail to listen and trust our intuition and imagination and we start to think about every possibility with all the obstacles in clear view. Not a good thing.
The truth is good things do emerge from even the hardest of times when we believe they will. As Buddha puts it in the Samadhirajasutra, “Know all things to be like this: A mirage, a cloud castle, a dream, an apparition, without essence, but with qualities that can be seen…nothing is as it appears.”
I am not sure what the next step will be for the person I spoke with, but if you are experiencing anything similar yourself consider this. Be truly creative, think like a child again. You need to imagine an ideal solution and then ask ‘Why not?’
William “Bud” Hart is a certified “Mindset” Coach, Accountability Partner and Business Consultant. Founder of Hart Group, www.hartgroupma.com.