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A beautiful soul has left us.  Thich Nhat Hanh was a Buddhist monk and a revered teacher.  I just learned of his passing at age 95 on January 22 of this year in the place of his birth … Hue, Vietnam.  He wouldn’t have referred to himself this way, but I like to think of him as the ultimate life coach, and so I was very drawn to him.

His wisdom, his kindness, his compassion, his calm appreciation of the world around him in every moment presents us all with a wonderful example of what it means to be truly mindful and connected to what really matters during our time here on earth.

“They tell us not to give away too much.  Honey, you just gave away the farm.”  That’s a verbatim quote from a woman who’d just heard my talk on marketing to a group in Minnesota a few years back.  Guilty as charged!   As a business coach, I was doing exactly what many business experts warned them NOT to do. 

“We incur suffering, but we create unhappiness.” ~Matthieu Ricard

Matthieu Ricard is often called the world’s happiest person.  Why?  Because they hooked him up to sensors monitoring brain activity and the happiness centers in his brain lit up like a fireworks display.

Does that prove he’s the world’s happiest person?  No. It tells you the media love a good headline. 

But it also tells ya the guy’s really happy and, indeed, he’s the happiest person the researchers have ever tested.

Why is knowing this significant?  Because if “the world’s happiest man” tells you something about happiness, he’s probably on to something, and it’s probably well worth listening to.

So, what gives with the quotation?

My husband Tom and I just completed a two-day presentation skills training for seven corporate executives.  It was transformative! 

And the transformation was a pleasure to witness.

Here’s a testimonial from the team leader:

“All I can say is outstanding!  We wanted to have our leadership team go through a Presentation Skills Workshop.  We had a desire to have everyone be a bit more comfortable and confident on stage.  We were all nervous and unsure of what to expect.  Denise and Tom throw you into the deep-end pretty quickly. 

But it is so worth it to truly “see” where you start and where you end up after 2 days of being together.  It is absolutely remarkable!  Now, all our leaders have tricks and tips and much more confidence to speak to groups and answer questions on the fly from an audience.  The time away and the expense associated with this top-notch training is absolutely worth every penny.” 

Laura Schield, Chief Operating Officer
Bank Director | DirectorCorps

So why am I telling you this and how does it pertain to your business? 

“Whoa!  Huh?  Where’d that come from?”

Let me explain.

I always get comments on our newsletters.  I love getting them.  Lets me know how the message resonated with people and keeps me in touch with folks.  I’ve gotten hundreds of wonderful, encouraging notes over the years.

In nearly 20 years of writing newsIetters, I can remember only one comment you’d call mildly negative and a couple others that politely questioned some aspect of what I’d said.  That’s it for the other side of the ledger.

In the last Life Lessons newsletter, I talked about decision fatigue and the things you can do to mitigate its negative effects.  Pretty neutral subject.

I got three nice responses, and then one that told me the message was “incredibly condescending.”  The person went on to criticize me personally, but you don’t need those details.

I’ve been working with business owners for 20 years, helping them streamline their processes and procedures, so they bring in more clients and continue to serve existing ones to the best of their ability. It’s my job as a business coach to see the things my clients may not be seeing.

And what I’m seeing quite often is entrepreneurs who aren’t making it easy to hire them … or not as easy as it could be. They unwittingly put up barriers or roadblocks.

Let’s look at what some of those might be.

As a life coach and business coach, I often help people get unstuck in areas of their lives that aren’t working or aren’t working as well as they’d like them to.  And, as a coach, it’s critically important I walk the talk with respect to the advice I offer them.

Lately, I’ve noticed I haven’t been making decisions about some personal health issues as quickly and decisively as I normally would … and, at first, I couldn’t figure out why.

I needed to find some trusted health professionals to help me sort through some minor health issues I’ve been facing and just couldn’t seem to get started.  I was stuck in the swirl of things … not taking action.

So, what to do coach?

I’m a business coach, so when a highly successful CEO tells me the biggest lesson he’s learned as a leader, I’m tuned in and listening. 

And maybe it’s just serendipity … or maybe it’s the Universe sending me a message I need to hear … but it’s a theme that’s been smacking me upside the head multiple times in the last couple of months. 

We’re just over a week away from Groundhog Day.  It’s a day that carries special significance to me, as my late husband and I were married on February 2nd.

Day after day has gone by since then, and that milestone event now seems like a couple of lifetimes ago.

Day after day goes by, like pages being turned in a book, and once that page is read, it makes way for the rest of the story, however it’s to unfold.  That’s just how life is.

It’s a New Year.  Great, but … so what?   New beginnings … resolutions … yada yada yada.  I promise this letter isn’t more of that.

It’s about cutting loose the albatross around your neck.  And the start of a new year is a great time to unload that baggage.

Let me tell you a short story that highlights the point I want to make.