Newsletter

And another one gone and another one gone, another one bites the dust (yeah)…

I’m not referring to Queen’s shootout here, but to the years, and how fast they’re rolling in.

Typing ‘Airborne Tips January 2025’ on a blank page just now, with no idea of where to go with the script, I looked at the numbers 2025 and wondered…when did these newsletters all begin?

After a bit of file searching, I soon discovered that my earliest record goes back to March 2011, nigh on 14 years ago. Well blow me down…

Needless to say, I was curious to know what I’d written. How would it read today, with 14 more years of life under my belt? What would my inner critic say? Would I cringe? Would it still be relevant? Would I be bold enough to re-share it as is?

Thinking that time was now ticking and that this would be an easy solution, I said, just do it!

So here it is, unplugged and without digital remastering. I’ll let you be the judge…

Exercising the Coach Within

By Caroline Crosbie

“The coach within? I’m no coach” I hear you say! “I don’t run up and down sidelines roaring instructions at a team!”

What exactly came to your mind when you read the word coach in the title above? Did you think AFL, luxury buses or Cinderella by any stretch of the imagination? Now supposing you instantly thought footy or sport in some form or fashion, let’s hold the same thought while we check out 3 responses to a simple question below:

When asked “What are you doing?” the first AFL team player replied, “pushups”; the second answered, “20 more than I did yesterday”; while the third said, “I’m putting us in the top 8”.

Those varied responses give us some clues as to how the mind works in a myriad of ways and how differently we all process information. They highlight how some of us are focused on tasks, others on details, yet others on the big picture. How we think relates directly to how we behave, which directly impacts our results.

Have you ever given any thought to how you think, how you communicate or what your personal DISC behavioural style is (whether you are Dominant, Influencing, Stable or Conscientious) and how it affects those around you?

How would you have answered that same question if posed to you (if you are of the Conscientious ‘C’ style, you may have trumped up with “predominantly working my pectorals and biceps” or words to that effect!) and by the same token, what kind of results are you getting in your life? Are you happy with where you are at, and what’s all this got to do with the word ‘coach’ anyway?

Well, if we look at the original definition of a coach being a horse-drawn carriage, it suggests a vehicle that takes us on a journey from where we are now to where we want to go. So, the question is this, what vehicle is currently taking you on the journey through your life, towards goal posts, destinations and results? The answer is most definitely YOU. In the same way that you catch a taxi and tell the driver where you wish to go to, so too are you deciding the course of your life journey on a moment-to-moment basis, telling yourself where to go, either consciously or subconsciously. Like it or not, you are a leader! Leadership starts from within.

Now whilst there are those (not many….it’s estimated only 3%) who have a clear, well-documented and time-lined plan of where they wish to go (i.e. they are self-directed), given that at least 90% of our thinking works within the subconscious realm, there’s a strong possibility that you may be one of those 97% meandering along pathways without any real direction or purpose. What’s more, you may be living proof of Einstein’s definition of insanity in that you are doing the same things over but expecting different results. Chances are that there may be some inhibitors and barriers lurking in the shadows sabotaging your success. Perhaps you haven’t even given the meaning of success a thought.

You are unique and perfectly equipped with an infinite number of resources to help you on your journey. However, it may pay for you at some stage to employ the services of a Professional Personal Development Coach to help you navigate roads along the way that may be full of potholes and cracks or dangerous bends and steep slopes, not to mention blind alleys! Such a coach will facilitate you on a journey of self-awareness in which you begin to live the well-known dictum of the ancient Greek philosophers, “Know thyself”.

Once you begin to understand yourself and those around you better, you’ll come to agree with the famous NLP* presupposition that the element in a system with the most flexibility is the greatest catalyst for change, i.e. that person has the best chance of achieving what they want.

Seek therefore to exercise and flex the coach within. It’s ready and waiting. There’s no such thing as failure – only feedback!

* Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), a form of applied psychology, is a widely applied modality used by coaches to effect personal change.

PS – Consider working with me directly if you are interested in some wellbeing coaching. Hit the reply button to this email with “yes, more information please”.

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