Lead your ultimate life

What is abundance?

petramartin — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:37:12 +0000

“Not what we have but what we enjoy constitutes our abundance.”

John Petit-Senn

The habit of excellence

petramartin — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 04:59:42 +0000

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore is not an act but a habit.”

Aristotle

On reaching our potential

petramartin — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:46:02 +0000

“I believe that people, unless coached, never reach their maximum capabilities.”

Bob Nardelli, CEO of Home Depot

When dreams get back-burnered

petramartin — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 19:34:57 +0000

Sometimes you discover a passion and know it’s what you were born to do. Then Life happens. Military service, an unplanned pregnancy, a divorce, a layoff, caring for a loved one with a long-term illness–any one of a number of things–causes you to put our dream on the back burner and do what needs to be done.

As you shoulder your responsibilities, your dreams get shoved farther and farther back on the stove top of your life. Until one day, likely in mid-life, you realize you feel empty, unhappy, and have no sense of purpose. Then what?

Then you check behind the stove.

You didn’t notice the day your dream fell back there, and for a while, you actually forgot about it. But the hollowness and dissatisfaction you feel reminds you that it’s there–dusty, a bit greasy, but still pulsing with possibility and waiting to be reclaimed.

What’s fallen behind your stove? Dare to look. Then give me a call.

The people I love to coach

petramartin — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:51:05 +0000

Do you:

believe that you have the power to direct your life’s journey and determine its outcome?
want to realize more of your potential?
have the courage to roll up your sleeves, get your hands dirty, and really engage in life?
find it difficult to be inauthentic?
see opportunities and challenges where others see problems?
enjoy collaborating with others?
laugh at your mistakes and invite others to join you?
think your life is worth investing in?

If so, you’re the kind of person I enjoy coaching most. Let’s get to work and realize your dreams.

A professional organizer for your brain

petramartin — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:56:41 +0000

As I was working with a client today, I realized that hiring a coach is much like hiring a professional organizer. All the stuff that’s in your brain belongs to you when you begin, and it all still belongs to you when you’re done. But in talking with a coach, you sort through what you have, rearrange it, store similar things in the same place, identify what you need but don’t have, and get rid of stuff you have but don’t need.

The result is clarity.

The abundance problem

petramartin — Thu, 28 May 2009 05:04:35 +0000

Some people have what I call an “abundance problem,” or too many good choices. They want it all (who wouldn’t) but “all” overwhelms them. These people stand at a dessert buffet and wonder, “If I say yes to the raspberry tart, do I have to say no to the crème brûlée?”

I don’t think so–I believe you can have it all. Just say yes to the raspberry tart now and when you’ve savored every moment of that, say yes to the crème brûlée. When you’ve thoroughly enjoyed the crème brûlée, say yes to the chocolate mousse, and so on.

“But it’s all-you-can-eat, and the buffet closes at nine.”

Really? Is it all-you-can-eat or all-you-can-enjoy? Because if you can’t enjoy it, I say leave it on the buffet.

Forests and trees

petramartin — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:24:24 +0000

The secret to coaching clients may not lie in who I am (or what I have to offer), but in the fact that I am not them. Because I stand outside their forest, I can see the trees and let them know how things look from my perspective.