Blaze Your Trail

When’s the right time to ignore the voices and do it anyway?

"What you offer isn't really traditional business coaching"

I was told this on last week, and it stopped me in my tracks.

I was having a chat with a client (a coach himself) after what I'd thought had been a really good session, and as I heard the words, I prepared myself to hear that he was expecting more, it wasn't really helping, etc., etc. (it's funny where the mind can go sometimes)

But instead he told me about how much value he found in being able to go far deeper on stuff, explore seemingly tangental topics (which, in my defence, intentionally all led back to the core of what was really going on), which only then helped him to make the actual decisions he needed to make to move forwards.

Three things struck me:

1 This is just what business coaching was - I didn’t know there was a surface level version

A couple of things that experience has taught me:

First: Outdoor Sessions genuinely do allow us to so easily access such a greater level of depth, and face challening convesations that people would never open up to in a room.

Second: Fixating on the outcome and plan to get there is only part of the story. Understanding why you’re not doing it is the key.

Granted, for the first point, we have something very special when we head outside - even a comparison between our own indoor and outdoor sessions show up the difference here. And it’s huge.

For the second… We are suckers for a framework. Or a step-by-step method. Or a plan. So it’s very easy to give your symptom to someone, and for them to hand you a solution.

But we’re not short of solutions. Solutions are everywhere, bombarding our inboxes, interrupting our TV shows, spouted by gurus on YouTube channels, and offered in good faith by people we meet. The solutions aren’t the problem. What’s holding you back is.

A solution that you follow without understanding why you need it will last just about as long as your attention span.

2 It was nice to hear two out of our three values (intention, depth) being played back to me.

Have you done any work defining your values? I mean, actually going deep on what you and your company hold dear, above everything else?

If you have, you’ll notice with pride when you hear those values played back to you by clients, supporters and friends.

(the other one is ‘Adventure’, by the way. Of course it is).

3 It's so easy to feel like an imposter, or that you're doing it 'wrong' when you're doing something very differently to everyone else.

Throughout the journey of building WildEdge Worx and Mountain Boardroom before it, I've come across voices that have told me that it won't work, people don't have time (kinda the point), and that Business Coaching has to be fast action rather than deep thinking (why can't it be both?).

In those tough days early on, when you’re building awareness and seemingly not gaining any traction, they can be deafening, casting doubt on everything you’re doing, and whether it will ever work.

So, for everyone out there that's breaking the mould:

It's very easy to give in to the voices (including the one in your head), follow the existing path and do what is expected.

But if you've got something that's different, that you know that works, and really helps people, it's your job to keep telling the world about it, rather than let the world tell you to get back in your box.

Ant on a Trailblazer Day in the Yorkshire Dales, photo courtesy of my client on the day!