A Coaching Power Tool Created by Chris Accornero
(Transformational Coach, UNITED STATES)
Everyone has inside themselves a piece of good news! The good news is that you really don’t know how great you can be, how much you can love, what you can accomplish and what your potential is! [1] ~ Anne Frank ~
Limiting Beliefs – those beliefs that have formed in our minds that stop us from making progress and becoming our truest self.
Emerging Potential – the process of coming into being – in any moment, in any situation, there is an emerging potential waiting to happen.
We have one body and one life to live, so why spend it boxed in by limitations when we can it focused on abundant possibilities? Thinking about what we are NOT isn’t a good strategy for a fulfilled, healthy life, where we are a blessing to the people around us. What is needed is for us to exchange old, self-doubting and limiting beliefs for ones that actually move us forward toward the person we dream of being. The person that we were created to be and the person that we really are is waiting to be released. We must remember who we are. The power inside of each of us is mind-boggling – we are creative, healing, amazing beings.
Do you have beliefs that limit you?
If you said yes to any of these questions, then you have a limiting belief. What has formed in your mind that caused you to answer yes? Did someone convince you, when you were very young, that you “could do that because….”?
What, if instead, you were to see yourself as someone who was born with potential, a potential that emerges and evolves over a lifetime? This potential is inside of each of us, in our DNA, in the essence of who we are and who we are designed to be. This potential is ours, alone, and for us to embrace and develop. It is only limited by what we will or will not do – by the limiting beliefs that we take in and own. So who will you become and what will you do with your potential?
Remember, a real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken new action. If there is no action, you haven’t really decided. [2] ~ Anthony Robbins ~
Case – Appreciative Intelligence or Seeing the Mighty Oak in the Acorn
A story from Thatchenkery and Metzker (2009)
Appreciative intelligence is the ability to perceive the positive potential in something right now, in the present. An easy way to say it is that this type of intelligence is the ability to see a large, mighty oak tree before you when you only have an acorn in your hand. Potential!
This ability allows people to take new or challenging circumstances and turn them into amazing opportunities and experiences. The components of appreciative intelligence are reframing, appreciating the positive, and seeing how the future unfolds from the present.
Coaching Application
This power tool helps to start the coaching relationship on a very strong, solid foundation. It helps to ask powerful questions about how the potential client values themselves, hears their own voice and how easily they can envision a positive, healthy future. The introductory questions that would be sent with the contract or even earlier might be:
- What are your most important goals (short and/or long term) right now?
- What resources do you have to accomplish your goals?
- Who are the most important people and biggest fans in your life?
- Who are your biggest bullies (invalidators)?
- What are the top three frustrations in your life?
- Share one (or more) of your favorite strategies for managing yourself.
- Is there an area of your life right now where you feel stuck? If so, what is it?
- Do you have a dream? If so, what is it? (Or, if you could accomplish only one thing in life, what would it be?) – You can answer either question.
- If you had three wishes, what personal things would you wish for?
- What would you like to accomplish through coaching?
Reflection
- What beliefs are limiting you, stopping your forward movement?
- What are your dreams for the future?
- What do you imagine or visualize that you will be doing in the next 5 years?
- As a coach, how do you help your client look at all aspects of life, avoid limiting beliefs and reach their full potential?
Remember, if a person has a big enough “WHY”, they can endure almost any “how”!
[1] “Famous Quotes from Frank…” Biographical Dictionary, .
[2] www.tonyrobbins.com/…/Mike%20Koenigs%20MM%20Workbook.pdf