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If someone were to ask me, as a life coach, to give them the secret to a happy existence in four words, they would be these.

Stay connected to Source.

Source … by whatever name you choose to call it – God, Spirit, Universe – is just what it sounds like … that from which a constant stream of well-being and all blessings flow.

Allow it to flow to you and through you and do your level best to never pinch off that flow. It created you. Allow it to nurture you.

Think of maintaining your connection with source as the prime directive … as your spiritual … biological … and psycho-emotional imperative.

To drop some Latin on ya, it’s the sine qua non of a happy and fulfilled life. Without which, it’s not gonna happen.

So how do you stay connected to Source? How does the prime directive translate into everyday behavior?

I’m a business coach, and I can’t help but observe business owners and how they operate.

I’m always looking at what works and what doesn’t, so I can pass best practices on to you! And recently, I got slapped upside my head with yet another example of how business owners can be shortsighted in how they treat their customers and clients.

If you’ve been reading my newsletter, you know we got married in the Cayman Islands recently.

We hired a wedding planner to help with the legalities and facilitate the details for us, since we live 1,100 miles away.

There’s something she did … or rather didn’t do … that can provide a major learning for you and your business.

I’ve learned something pretty valuable both from living life and being a life coach to a lot of other folks.

I just got married in the Cayman Islands a couple of weeks ago! Here are the photos in case you missed them.

Most of you know I’m a planner. That’s what I used to do for a living. And that’s my winning formula. Be prepared. Plan carefully … and then wrangle the details.

Well, I did all the planning many months ahead. I had our beach picked out and I’d worked with my wedding planner in the Caymans to put all the arrangements in place.

But part of the wrangling of the details involves following up as we get closer to the date to make sure everything’s still on track and there are no surprises.

Surprise number one. When I called a week before, my wedding planner informed me she wouldn’t be there for our wedding! No solid reason … but supposedly unavoidable.

There are a lot of great things about running your own business. But the best thing?

You’re your own boss. You can decide when to work and when to take time off.

What if I told you I had a magical daily practice that’d significantly change your life? Well, if you’re anything like me, you’d be at least a little suspect … wondering what I might be trying to sell you! I get it. But, I’m not trying to sell you anything! Because of the life and business coaching I do, I’m just always on the prowl for ways to make my clients’ lives better. And when I find something, guess who else benefits?

You do! And I do, too.

What I want to give you today is absolutely free and you can use it immediately.

As a business coach and speaker coach, I’ve long stressed the importance of just being your genuine, authentic self, But I’ve mostly underscored this in relation to meeting folks before your talk and in terms of how you’re “being” in front of the room during your presentation.

But what about after … when you’re done speaking and you’re interacting with the folks as they leave, especially the ones who hang around to get a little bit of more personal time with you?

The message doesn’t change. You’re the same person … before … during … after … always.

I’m sure that seems pretty self-evident and you probably wouldn’t expect anything different from me in terms of advice, so why do I bring it up?

When you do life coaching, sometimes you have to venture down deep … all the way to how someone “sees” the world, because how you see your world conditions your beliefs and your attitudes, which affect how you act in the world.

And when I say “act,” I’m not talking about just your consciously chosen actions. I’m including your subconscious responses and beyond … all the way down to the behavior of the 70 trillion cells in your body.

Albert Einstein was a really smart guy … and not just when it came to physics. Here’s what he had to say about how we see the world?

As a life and business coach, I don’t talk about myself and what’s going on in my world in my coaching sessions … unless somebody asks. And they often do.

At the beginning of our recent call, my client asked me, “What are you up to this week?”

“I’m leaving Friday for a speaking engagement.”

“You must be so excited! I know how much you like speaking!”

“Uh, no … I’m not excited at all.”

Many of you know me as a life coach and business coach, but I also do a lot of training.

We conducted some presentation skills training recently with 14 senior executives at a well-known tech firm.

Great folks, and it went extremely well.

Part of what made it a good training was they’d done a good job of familiarizing themselves with their material ahead of time.

But there were still some stumbles out of the gate … as there always are.

After all, we had them on camera. They were nervous.

And people want to get it just right. They want to be perfect. And so, a couple of folks stopped speaking and asked if they could start all over again.

Of course.
But in an actual presentation, you don’t get to start again. You have to make the best of it when things go awry.

And if that isn’t a metaphor for life, I don’t know what is.

You got that new client. She looks like a great fit. You send off your welcome package and make the initial charge to her credit card as you agreed. Yea!

Later that day, she replies, “I’m not totally comfortable with that 6-month commitment to coaching we discussed. I’d be willing to contract for three months and then reevaluate.”

You know it doesn’t actually serve most clients to expect to see full results in less than six months, but you want to accommodate her needs, so you reply …

“I want you to feel comfortable with me and confident in the process. So, I’ve changed the paperwork to reflect a three-month commitment. We can reevaluate where you are then. I want you to feel delighted with our work together!”

A few hours later, you’re totally surprised to hear: “I’ve changed my mind and have decided not to pursue coaching. I’m not ready at this time. Please refund my fee.”

Wait! … What?