How To Get Me To Follow You on Twitter and Keep Me Following

Everyone's well, you know, all a twitter about Twitter these days.

Definitely it's the hottest social media for 2008. Why? Because it's quick and easy to participate in this massive online cocktail party, especially if you like accessing social media via you smart phone. Twitter works with SMS (text) in a way that email and Facebook just don't. It's a very very cool way to connect with your peeps, er Tweeps! 

Sorry, Twitter engenders lots of word play! Read entire post at the Coaching Blog.

The Rise of the Machines: How the philosophies of a physicist, a wizard and a serial killer warned us of this financial crisis

Is intuition the only tool we have with which to transcend machines? Read this NY Times Op Ed piece by RICHARD DOOLING: The Rise of the Machines

Being or having a coach without training is like flying a plane without flight school.

I don't usually promote other people's coach training, but Mattison is in a category by herself and the manifesto, below, is worth considering for any one who uses coaching skills. Or anyone thinking of hiring a coach.

Begins Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Coaching Tools at Work
Professional coaching tools for results driven professionals

Coaching in the workplace is all the rage, that is for sure. But do you know what you are doing? Is the person who is coaching you trained? Being or having a coach without training is like flying a plane without flight school. You wouldn't do that would you? Of course not. You wouldn't even consider it. So why are you coaching without any formal training? 20 years of experience in anything does not qualify you to coach. Get the tools you need so you know what you are doing. I promise, if you think you know what you are doing, you are exhibiting non-coach thinking. Coaching is not managing, accountability, telling, advising, mentoring, fixing people, solving problems, persuading or influencing. If you are doing these things and calling it coaching that is akin to trying to take off or land a plane without training. Coaching Tools at Work is the premier coaching skills training in the country and is the same curriculum that is taught at the University of Houston. This program will give you the professional coaching skills you need to really know what you are doing and move your career forward.

Want to do it? Click here to register
Register before October 7 at NOON at recieve $75 off.
Use coupon code 75offctaw

The Ant and the Grasshopper: Post-Modern Version

POST-MODERN VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the grasshopper is out in the cold and the ant's mortgage company has announced that due to ants not paying their mortgages, the company is about the go bankrupt and needs the government to use ant-taxpayer's money to bail it out. CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, ABC and FOX provide pictures of foreclosure signs in front of homes across America and trigger a nationwide financial panic that causes the ant to lose its job. Now the ant's home is foreclosed and ant's family is out shivering in the cold along side all those shiftless grasshoppers. To pay for the bailout, the government moves to slash assistance for the homeless, which warms the ant's little heart, until he remembers he's homeless, too. America is stunned by this development. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor hardworking ant is allowed to suffer so? Where will this crisis end? What will our leaders do?

President Bush spends 2 minutes on TV announcing that there is a crisis. John McCain insists the economy is strong and deregulation is still the way to go. Both (along with Democrats) sign a bill to give nearly a trillion dollars of tax-payers' money to bailout all those "unregulated" banks and mortgage companies.

MORAL OF THE STORY:

Emails like this can be slanted to mean anything the writer wants you to believe. This one may look familiar to you. It's simply been edited away from its original Republican-slanted view. These stories have circulated snail mail for decades and now make the rounds of email inboxes with the same old recycled stories, like the Democrats will raise your taxes and the Republicans will burn your books. Sound familiar?

Don't be stupid enough to base your vote on rumors. Take the time to get the facts.

In the United States in 2008, it is critical for you from be a well-informed voter.

And there's no excuse for you be an ill-informed voter.

Open Copyright, Julia Stewart, 2008

Anyone may use this text in its original, un-edited form with full attribution.

How are Coaches Responding to the Major Problems of the World?

A few days ago, I asked the Ad Hoc Committee at School of Coaching Mastery, If You Had Only 4 Years to Save the World, How Would You Coach Differently?

Read entire article at the Coaching Blog.

Al Gore: We Can Solve It 7-17-08

If You Had Only 4 Years to Save the World, How Would You Coach Differently?

If you had only 4 years to save the world, how would you coach differently?

I’ve been asking myself this lately. Why? Well, apparently some very smart people think we really DO only have four years. So I’m passing this question on to coaches with a sense of urgency.

If the window of opportunity to save the world from disaster is only 4 years, what does that mean for coaches? What would you do differently? What ARE you doing differently?

Okay, you’ve probably read, heard or watched movies about 2012 predictions. Some come from ancient wisdom traditions. But did you know that leading scientists agree that we have reached the tipping point with the environment and that we must take drastic action now? And that mass starvation, drought, killer hurricanes and tornadoes, massive wild fires and “500 year floods” are just the early warning signs.

Trust me, I’m not going into a panic over this, but I’m also not foolish enough to pretend it isn’t calling to me. But exactly HOW are coaches being called? What unique gifts do we have to offer? What will it take to mobilize us?

I’m asking, because these questions impact the choices that I make for School of Coaching Mastery.

As you probably know, I believe coaching has emerged at this time for good reason. That we’ve here to help facilitate a transformation among humans. Did the time line just get a whole lot shorter?

If so, then how can SCM turn out coaches who are ready to have the necessary transformative conversations with people who need to change – and do it a LOT more quickly?

Your thoughts, please: As a talented coach and a responsible human being, what and how would you change what you do as a coach, if you had only 4 years to help save the world? What and how would you change if you were a coaching school?

Please post your comments below.

We Need a New Word for Art

In the 70's to the 90's, I considered myself an "artist". Occasionally, I would overhear complaints that art was degenerate. Eventually, unhappy with the lifestyle, I left the world of art. Happily, I discovered "coaching", which is far more fulfilling!

Since then, I've grown increasingly disinterested in the art world. It seems to have little to say or add to my life.

Today, I got an email plea to sign a petition to prevent an "artist" from starving a dog to death as part of a gallery show. The email stated that the "art" had already been presented before, with the medium, a stray dog that was tied-up in a gallery without food or water until it died. Even though the email contained several convincing pics of an emaciated dog with well-dressed patrons sympathetically looking on, I checked www.snopes.com to see if it was real.

Snopes calls this story, "Undetermined", because those connected with the show now claim the dog was well-fed at night, but ran away. Sounds like, "We lied before, but let's see if you're dumb enough to believe us now." Either way, they're lying.

Degenerate doesn't describe it. Pathetic? Depraved? Sociopathic?

Whatever it is, today, I'm done with "art".

I still have friends who do beautiful work, but if I were them, I don't think I'd want to be associated with much that passes for art. These are creative people, why not call what they do something else? (I'm half-serious, here) For me today, Too-crappy-to-care-about sums it up. Sorry!

I admit to indulging in a fantasy of Tony Soprano (a fellow animal lover) getting his mitts on this guy. Funny, how one act of cruelty makes us want to be a little cruel, too. All the more reason to ignore.

Remembering something about how the art world works, I suspect the artist and gallery owners were cynically hoping the notoriety they got from this would ultimately make them rich and famous. "All press is good press." But who they are is irrelevant.

Please do sign the petition here. Then go shake off the crappy energy of this story by doing something good for an animal.

The Biggest Opportunity in the World

How do I know I am blessed and wealthy? Because I can afford to believe that climate change is our Number 1 problem in the world. In the long-run, the larger scheme, etc., it is way bigger and potentially more devastating than the economy, the war, human rights, health care and all else combined (as huge as all of those really are). If I were out of work or fighting in Iraq, no doubt, my point of view would be different. Lucky me.

However, Climate Change is discussed less than 1% of the time in presidential politics. Not good. (Can you say, Armageddon?)

Is this the end or is it just a really big opportunity? Did greatness end with the Greatest Generation, or are we up to a really great challenge?

To find out more, visit: wecansolveit.org, view Al Gore's New Thinking on the Climate Crisis or watch the following brief clip:

If I Were Coaching Hillary She'd Win in a Heartbeat

It occurred to me a few weeks ago, that if I were coaching Hillary she'd win easily, but I didn't really get it until I heard myself say it out loud.

It's really true. I know what the crucial ingredient is that she's missing (And Barack seems to have it in abundance) and it's really something we all have (including Hillary) and it's quite easy to express - but only if you know how.

It's one of the key things I do for clients with my coaching and if Hillary asked me to help her with it, I could bring it out of her in minutes (this is not my ego talking). And it would be available every time she speaks. Imagine Hillary making speeches that are as moving as Barack's.

There would be a seismic shift.

I don't know if Barack always had this ability, or if a coach helped him with it, but what I'm talking about is the same quality that Reagan had and Oprah has. It's sometimes called 'charisma' and I used to think it was something only the lucky few possessed. It's not.

You were born with it and so was I.

This is the real reason people flock to Barack's rallies. Maybe they like his message, but his message is not really new. In fact, it's pretty similar to Hillary's message. It's just so much more inspiring when he says it. There's a very specific reason for that.

The reason I'm so confident that this is the crucial ingredient is that Hillary expressed it right before the New Hampshire primary (when rumors of her demise were a bit premature) and the voters immediately swung back her way.

Remember the infamous "crying" scene? Cynics accused her of manufacturing tears to get the sympathy vote, but tears had nothing to do with it. In that one moment, Hillary spoke from the heart about why she wanted to serve. She expressed her passion for making a difference and her lifelong career as a servant leader. She wasn't manufacturing anything. She was expressing her Personal Greatness. New Hampshire voters got it and voted for her overwhelmingly and thereby embarrassed virtually every political pundit in America.

That's Greatness.

The difference between me and the average voter is that I not only feel Greatness, I know what it is, where it comes from and how to elicit it from my clients. It's actually quite easy.

If you're a good coach, you know how to do it, too.

Now the election is complicated, of course. But Hillary's biggest threat is that Barack expresses his Greatness via the spoken word. We don't really know if he expresses it by doing great work, because he really hasn't done anything, yet. Hillary has and that's why she would win if she could just get past those frozen smiles, carefully crafted statements and those dratted 5-Point Plans.

Hillary also suffers from Good Girl Syndrome, but that's another post.

And of course we are at the stage of the election where mud slinging reigns. Today, the day of the Mississippi primary, the NY Times ran a piece that compared Hillary's red phone ad to the Ku Klux Klan. Talk about fear mongering. So much for the new clean politics we were promised by Barack.

And prejudice is an issue on both sides. Bill Maher, whenever he makes fun of Hillary, says, "I'm not sexist." (Me thinks he doth protest too much.) But it was on his show that I first heard of the poll that says twice as many Americans would refuse to vote for a woman than for a black man. Most of us are past this, but not all of us. Greatness however, overcomes prejudice.

Seth Godin says Hillary will damage her brand if she doesn't give up quick. What brand is that? Surely it's not her Comeback Queen brand.

If both sides keep getting dirty, both will suffer, but Barack more than Hillary, because his brand is specifically based on a new clean approach to politics. (Just watch what's happening to another politician who ran on a "clean politics" platform, Elliot Spitzer. Once you say it, you'd better live up to it.) Hers is based on being a smart, tough broad who just keeps coming. (Jon Stewart calls her the Terminator!)

If Hillary learns to express her inner Greatness, there's no stopping her, because it takes a lot of time to develop experience and Greatness, as important as it is, can be had just in an instant.

The reason people are so attracted to someone who's expressing their Personal Greatness is because they start to slip into their own Greatness, as well. It's contagious and it's intoxicating and it helps us be better people. We DO want a President who inspires us to Greatness!

Anyhow, that's just how powerful masterful coaching can be. It can change world history in a moment by shifting just one client. Cool, huh?

So Hillary: I'm available. Want to win an election?

Coaches Have Ultra True Fans

Kevin Kelly's blog, The Technium, gets referenced a fair amount on the blogosphere and for good reason, he's quite insightful. Today, Seth Godin directed me to Kevin's latest, True Fans, about how a good solid living can be made with just about 1,000 people who really believe in your work. Now Kevin is writing about how artists make it, but what he says is rather familiar.

Most coaches thrive and prosper with perhaps an even smaller number of fans. I'd call them Ultra True Fans...Read entire article at the Coaching Blog.

Should Coaching be Free?

Notice how certain memes seem to be on everyone's mind at the same time? Makes you wonder. I read the Wired article on Chris Anderson's book FREE! last night and in my inbox this morning was TrendWatch's Free Love article. None of the ideas in either article were really new to me, but they did spark several new inspirations, so that's pretty cool.

Learned a couple of new words: Freevertising and Freeconomics (not the book, the phenomenon)

Basic idea: Business is quickly moving toward $0.00 for everything. Great news for consumers, eh? So how do you make any money?

Read entire article at the Coaching Blog.

If Your Coaching Business is a Little Slow, Follow Seth Godin's Advice

I'm a subscriber to Seth Godin's Blog, because he's a great writer and really "gets" the whole "marketing with integrity" thing that is the only way to become a successful coach. I wish I had written the following post that he wrote for real estate agents. Only I would have written it for whiny coaches during the last recession, when a lot of them needed to hear it...

Read entire post at the Coaching Blog. 

Should You Become a Coach In an Economic Downturn?

Is it or isn't it? A recession, I mean? How many thousands of hours of airtime have "pundits" used up analyzing our economy and still we don't know if it's the Big R or not?

All that professional fretting can sure make a new business person nervous! And those of us who've been at it for a while are concerned, too. On the other hand, any time there is a shake up of any sort, new opportunities pop up. The fun of being in business is watching the landscape change and noticing the next big windows of opportunity before everyone else does.

A freaky economy brings plenty of opportunity. So call me perverse, but I'm having fun ;-)

Read entire post at the Coaching Blog.

International Coaching Week: World's First Coach-a-thon

2008 Coach-a-thon
FREE Professional Coaching

In Celebration of International Coaching Week Greystone Guides is sponsoring a 24 hour Coach-a-thon. 12 coaches from Houston and around the country will provide free coaching for 24 hours straight from February 15 at 9am-February 16 at 9am.
For more information and to register click here:
Greystone Guides Coach-a-thon

Please share this event as you see fit. We want to coach people from all over the world and need your help to get the word out.

Useful & Timely

Coaching to Clarity on
Great Day Houston

On January 11, 2008 Mattison and two of her clients appeared on the morning television show Great Day Houston. The topic was How to Have an Amazing Life. Whitney talks with Laurie and Tandy about their amazing businesses. Mattison does a live coaching demonstration with Jo Sue and shows you what creating clarity means.
Watch the Show Here

Healing Rhythms

Can computer software give you a spiritual experience? Strangely, yes!

You probably know all the benefits. Research shows meditation promotes greater physical, mental and emotional health, as well as happiness, better concentration, less stress, etc. It even helps to eliminate disorders such as hypertension, asthma, insomnia and Alzheimer’s. In fact, some studies show it can help your mind evolve up to two levels, according to Integral Philosopher, Ken Wilber.

And I haven’t even mentioned the spiritual benefits!

All this in mind, I tend to regard meditation as just as vital to wellbeing as going to the gym, so when my lifestyle changed recently in a way that seems to have wiped out my meditation practice, I started hunting for new ways to bring it back into my life…

But it still wasn’t happening!

I finally settled on a choice that may seem a little ridiculous: I bought a computer program to help me meditate ~ and it works! Created by the Wild Divine Project in partnership with Sounds True, there actually are multiple products, but the one I bought and use daily is called Healing Rhythms. The program combines meditation exercises (and some intriguing games) led by several luminaries including Deepak Chopra, Andrew Weil and Dean Ornish; with a biofeedback connection to help you learn to relax, focus, energize, etc. You can use it in 5-minute chunks or sit for longer periods. For me, it means I can quickly shift into a more coherent state rapidly as needed. Very handy if I’ve just been though a stressful event and need to shift into greatness for a coaching session or teleclass.

Healing Rhythms also claims to heal various conditions. I’m using it to overcome my post-holiday sugar cravings and it has virtually eliminated them. Losing weight is suddenly easy for me.

I believe in this product enough to become an affiliate. If you want more meditation in your life and you need a tool to help you maintain your practice, this could be it! Find out more here:

Healing Rhythms: Biofeedback Training for a Happy Mind & Healthy Body )