Day two in the house

After a splendid feast on Monday night our housemates were all off to bed early and ready for their first full day of planning. My own day began at 6.00am with a 90-minute email catch up before heading out to the Riverside. As I have mentioned, there is no mobile phone signal or internet connection down in the Helford Estuary – so my client maintenance must be completed early and my own mobile phone messages collected on the drive to the cottage. Arriving just before 9.00am I found the housemates finishing off an English cooked breakfast (Linda working her magic again). I had decided earlier to set up my laptop and digital projector in the lounge – a strange contrast between chintzy furnishings and modern electronics – but better than a flip-chart because I can make notes, create mind-maps and show PowerPoint – keeping a permanent record for the housemates on their return to the 21st Century. So what happened on our first coaching day? 8 hours of discussion and field work on:

1. Establishing each individual’s objectives before Friday morning

2. Describing the “breakthrough” process – moving through the discomfort zone into the breakthrough zone (thank you Paul Fox)

3. Writing a limiting belief which admitted the “uncomfortable truth” about each housemate – what holds them back?

4. Re-writing the limiting belief as a liberating statement – how it would sound if they were to change

5. Introducing the concept of Personal and Professional Evolution Circles – what they are and how they work

6. Identifying 12 key limiting beliefs around 6 areas of personal and professional evolution

7. Turing each of those limiting beliefs into a liberating statement

8. “Joining up” all the liberating statements into a 3-year vision statement (much to the surprise of the housemates)

9. Introducing the concept of Strategy Circles (thank you Strategic Coach) and showing how each liberating statement can then be reversed into a 12-month plan of action

10. Introducing 90-day goal setting and showing how each 12-month planning action can be reversed into a 90-day goal

11. Identifying the key obstacles and reseources that would be necessary to achieve each 90-day goal

12. Establishing the need to build a superb support team to do all the “stuff”

Bingo! We have 3-year visions, 12-month plans and 90-day goals. Never easy – but so simple once you have a protocol. By 5.00pm everyone (including me) was truly exhausted. After a couple of hours to enjoy some relaxation and fresh air – we reconvened for yet another magnificent dinner:

1. pate

2. salmon steaks with potato and vegetables

3. the most amazing chocolate cake