Tony's Coaching Tip Build it and they will come
January 2006

Greetings!

Welcome to the January 2006 issue of Tony's coaching tip.

Thank you to those of you who sent me an e-mail suggesting an idea of how to increase my subscription list to 2,000 by the end of 2006.

I'm waiting on my order for the postcards that promote the coaching tip, to be left in interesting places like coffee shops and trains. That was certainly one of the most creative ideas. Should be fun to give it a go.

I'm still open to new and exciting ideas on the same subject, if you feel inspired.

As some of you may remember, I had an idea for a coaching tip a few months ago based on my favourite film, Field of Dreams. Well the idea wouldn't go away. This month's coaching tip is based on the first message that Ray Kinsella received from his corn field in the film. The message Ray received was "Build it and he will come".

Of course this creates the possibility of two more coaching tips based on Field of Dreams, as some of you may remember, Ray received three messages throughout the course of the film. So, next month who knows?

in this issue
  • London Marathon training progresses
  • Quote of the month
  • Feature: Build it and they will come

  • London Marathon training progresses
    Harriers 2006 New Year Hash

    My training for the London Marathon is gradually building through these shorter, colder days with help from other "slightly mad" running enthusiasts.

    Above I can be spotted 3rd from right with 13 fellow Tunbridge Wells Harriers having completed a "follow the flour trail" hash across Ashdown Forest just after Christmas for a couple of hours. It's amazing that we're all still smiling. It was freeeeeeeezing!


    Quote of the month

    "There is a point in every race when a rider encounters his real opponent and understands that it's himself. In my most painful moments on the bike, I am at my most curious, and I wonder each and every time how I will respond. Will I discover my innermost weakness, or will I seek out my innermost strength? It's an open ended question whether or not I will be able to finish the race. You might say pain is my chosen way of exploring the human heart."

    - Lance Armstrong


    Feature: Build it and they will come

    In the film Field of Dreams, Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) is just an ordinary farmer who happens to also love the game of baseball when he hears a message from his corn field saying "if you build it, he will come". Strangely enough his corn field doesn't stipulate what he should build or who will come as a result, although he does have a vision of a baseball field. I guess it's lucky that he didn't see a football pitch because I have my doubts as to whether he would have dug up his field to build a football pitch, which wouldn't have made for much of a film.

    So can you see where I might be going with this one? Well, actually this month's tip is really about intuition. Intuition is one of the core skills of the Co- Active model of coaching that I trained in. The fact that the Co-Active model majors on intuition is one of the key reasons that I selected to study this particular coaching approach. My interpretation is that it was Ray's intuition that gave him the message and also showed him his vision.

    So what is intuition? If you look at dictionary definitions, it is "instinctive knowing" or "the act or faculty of knowing or sensing without the use of rational processes", and it's "knowledge gained by the use of the faculty". Intuition is derived from the Latin word "intueri", which means to see within. It is also what a lot of us know as our gut instinct.

    We all have intuition. We were born with it and used our instinct and gut feel as young children. But as we grew older our rational thinking processes developed and were encouraged through our formal and informal education. Gradually our intuition and gut feel were pushed further and further back into areas of our brain that received little use and we started to forget how to use them. I would exclude those artists, writers and other creatives among you who resisted the stagnation of their intuition.

    My launch into my coaching career was a Field of Dreams moment for me. I had a sense that I still had a creative, intuitive side that had lain dormant for many years and I wanted to test my theory. However I can assure you that I had a number of conversations with friends and family (similar to the conversations Ray Kinsella had) about the rationality of my thinking process, where my clients would come from and how I thought I could possibly make a living doing this weird coaching thing.

    Like Ray, I didn't actually know how things would unfold, but for the first time in many years I allowed myself to listen to my intuition and trust that I had the answers somewhere. After all, coaching is founded on the premise that clients always have the answers. We coaches are purely experts in posing challenging and stimulating questions that allow clients to look inside in different ways from normal, and allow them to uncover hidden truths and/or solutions for themselves.

    Now I realise that a number of people (coaches are possibly among some of the worst culprits I have met) have taken the "Build it and they will come" philosophy, created something (such as coaching skills through training) and sat back and waited for clients to come. The film Field of Dreams delivered Ray with two other messages - "Ease his pain" and "Go the distance". Without these additional philosophies, I believe that you only have a third of the formula and you are likely to fail. But the other messages are a subject for a future coaching tip.

    I firmly believe that our intuition is one of our most underused, yet powerful skills and it's another flavour of listening, which most of us are so poor at. But it's not really surprising that intuition has been discouraged in a society where proof and logic are kings. As I said earlier we were all born with intuition, and I also believe that intuition has the potential to lead us towards the life to which we really aspire.

    It has certainly been the case for me. Without intuition, I wouldn't be where I am today (apologies to Reggie Perrin fans) and I can honestly say that I feel grateful almost every day when I wake up. That's not something I could have said hand on heart just over three years ago. And the beauty of it for me is that I have chosen a life that encourages me to regularly exercise this muscle of intuition, and the more I use it, the stronger it gets.

    So, my challenge for you this month to stimulate your intuition is to sit down with a pen and a blank sheet of paper and write down something that you're wrestling with at the moment in terms of a decision that could influence the direction you are taking with your life. Having written the question or dilemma, keep writing until you have filled the paper. No pauses, stopping for thought or breaks. Just keep going, no matter what comes from your pen. It doesn't have to make sense to anyone else after all.

    Alternatively, find someone else to bounce ideas off and agree to remove all restrictions in terms of reality checking your ideas. Then both blurt whatever comes up, no matter how non-sensical it might at first seem. Then review the ideas and see where your gut feel leads you.

    Have fun and see what you want to build from your ideas. Thanks for reading and forward this to a friend if you think it could be of interest. Next issue on February 22nd.

    Until next time,


    Tony

    Tony's Coaching Tip is published on the last Wednesday of each month to challenge, stimulate and inspire people who want to unlock their own potential and learn in the process. It is written by Tony Phillips, who coaches dynamic individuals and teams to swing out and play a bigger game. Worldwide.

    The names of coaching tip subscribers will never be shared or sold.

    You are free to use material from Tony's Coaching Tip in whole or in part, as long as you include the complete attribution, including e-mail link. Also, please notify me where and when the material will appear. Thanks.

    � 2006 Tony Phillips - All Rights Reserved


    Tony (cropped)


    Join our mailing list!
    phone: +44 7747 036573