How You Do One Thing is How You Do Everything

By Action Coach Dave Beam

Physical health and fitness.  Maintenance of your automobile and house.  Organization of your office and desk.  Consistent learning and reading.  Making value based choices.  Paying your taxes on time.  Meeting regularly with your team members.  Regular savings.  Sending thank you notes.  Scheduled date nights with your spouse.  Your personal learning and education. Quality conversations with your children.

No, I am not trying to create a guilt trip!!!  When you beat yourself up, all you get are scrapes and bruises.  What I am illustrating is that all of life’s issues and activities are related.  When you improve one, all the others tend to get better.  When you neglect one, the others suffer as well.  It is just a fact.  How you do one thing is how you do everything.

Coaching is all about improvement and excellence.  I work with people who want to create a great life and business.  I get the question, “Dave, are you a life coach, or a business coach?”  I just smile and say “yes”.  The most efficient and effective way to improve your business is to improve you.   

Physical health is certainly one of those priorities.  Folks with multiple roles and responsibilities often neglect this foundation.  You know where I am going.  Consistent physical activity, a sufficient amount of rest and sleep, a nutritional balanced diet that creates fitness, choosing a healthy mental outlook and attitude by addressing negative emotions like worry, anger, and resentment; all of this keeps your body renewed and ready to serve.  Healthy people who feel good perform better.  People who perform well feel better.

Relationships.  Your relationship to your Creator is priority number one.  How are you seeking to get to know God?  Your family is so important.  Think about that coming day when you will leave this life.  What will matter?  Relationships are likely at the top of your list.

Your financial health will mirror your relationships and physical well being.  Budgeting and saving are a lot like dieting and exercise!  A great, profitable business is created and led by a great leader.  Great leaders are people of integrity.  How they do one thing is how they do everything!  What you see is what you get!  They also are abundant givers as well.  As a result, they attract and retain great team members, and have a great business that financially prospers. 

So why don’t you grab a coffee, or some tea, or a glass of ice water, and invest some time thinking about all the different roles you play, and all of the responsibilities you carry, and notice how they all reflect one another.  Then choose an area that may be a bit neglected, and make some positive changes.  It will benefit your whole life.  You will feel better, think better, act better, and be better.    

Intention and Attention

By Action Coach Dave Beam

Here are two powerful words that sound much alike, and they are related.

INTENTION: It’s my stated purpose. It’s what I affirm I want. It includes my goals and my aspirations. Intention come from INside and it is created. It doesn’t just happen, but it is a choice.

ATTENTION: It’s where I put my focus. It’s what has my presence and my energy in a given moment. It’s where I invest my activity. Attention is outside. It is where I am and what I am with. It is what I do.

I'll Get My Accountant to Do That

By Action Coach Dave Beam

I was working with my new client, Tom, who had some organizational and financial challenges. One of the first things I ask clients like Tom to do is develop a cash flow budget. I asked him to organize a picture of the cash flow in his business on a simple spreadsheet showing historically where the cash comes from and where it goes.

An Attitude of Gratitude

By Action Coach Dave Beam

Have you ever woke up and felt a little blah! Maybe there are some unresolved aggravations, or even some major ongoing challenges that are just bringing you down. I have noticed that when I start to give way to these thoughts and feelings, it is like a downward spiral. I start to think about what’s not pleasant, or of good report, and this negative focus produces further down feelings. Those negative feelings feed my negative thinking, which leads to even more bad feelings. I’m sure you get the picture and can likely relate.

Proactivity – Living Life Inside-Out

By Action Coach Dave Beam

People engage my coaching services because they want change.  They typically want a change in their cash flow, a change in their customers, a change in their employees, or a change in their discretionary time.  The good news is that all of this is possible.  The interesting news is you really can’t directly change any of those things.  To affect sustainable change, you must accept the fact that you can really only change yourself.  When you change, you become more effective in influencing your environment.  It is an inside-out process.

The Power of Routine

By Action Coach Dave Beam

I would like to address an issue that used to make me groan – discipline.  The picture that comes to my mind when I think of that word is sweat, toil, deprivation, and pain.  No pain, no gain, as the saying goes.  If you have similar feelings and pictures when the word discipline is mentioned, it may be why you avoid or resist any changes in your life associated with the concept.

Well, you can lower your resistance to making positive changes by dropping the word “discipline” from your mind and replacing it with a milder, friendlier concept and term – routine.

Do You Have a Happy Business?

By Action Coach Dave Beam

I was referred to an oral surgeon a couple of years ago to address some issues beyond the scope of my regular dentist.  As with many people, going to doctors and dentists is not one of my favorite things to do.  As a business coach, I often observe business attitudes and practices as a part of my practical education.  I learn so much just by watching what others do.

Do You Really Have a Time Management Problem?

By Action Coach Dave Beam

One of the most common challenges presented to me as a coach is how to find more time to spend with family and friends.  Many “successful” business owners and executives complain that they are so busy that they have little time available to be with their wives, husbands, children, grandchildren, and friends.  They feel that there is just too much to do, and that if they just “had more time” they would be with their loved ones more often.  Some express a deep regret and sense of loss.  I really believe that they are confused, and therefore are looking for answers in all the wrong places.

Ownership

By Certified Action Coach Dave Beam

Ownership is ActionCOACH’s second point of culture.  It  is stated as follows:

OWNERSHIP:

“I am truly responsible for my actions and outcomes and own everything that takes place in my work and my life. I am accountable for my results and I know that for things to change, first I must change.”

The essence of the Action Coach culture is “Living Above the Line”.  Above the line, I take OWNERSHIP, ACCOUNTABILITY, and RESPONSIBILITY.  Below the line, there is BLAME, EXCUSE, and DENIAL.

Ownership is my choice to live life to the fullest; to seize each and every opportunity and participate; to take risk and live without fear; to fully participate; to give it a go; to embrace and welcome; to care; to respond; to lead and serve; to have fun and enjoy; to celebrate; to be thankful and filled with gratitude.

A Simple Personal Organization System

(adapted from David Allen’s “Getting Things Done”)By Certified Action Coach Dave Beam

One of my greatest “mentors” when it comes to Self-Management and Personal Organization has been David Allen. Based upon his widely read book, “Getting Things Done,” I have put together a simple system for personal organization that I use for myself and I share with my clients. What follows is an “A-La-Carte” set of straightforward instructions on what to do with ALL of the “stuff” that comes into your life on a daily basis. If you put a system like this in place and use it religiously, it quite literally will change your life.

Commitment – A Simple but Powerful Tool

By Certified Action Coach Dave Beam

ActionCOACH has 14 points of culture.  These 14 words define who we are and our “rules of the game”.  Our very first point of culture is Commitment.  Here it is as defined by our founder, Brad Sugars:

Commitment

“I give myself and everything I commit to 100% until I succeed. I am committed to the Vision, Mission, Culture and success of ActionCOACH, its current and future team, and its clients at all times.“

How to Deal With a Bad Habit - What You Resist Persists!

By Certified Action Coach Dave Beam

All of us have successfully (or unsuccessfully) tried to rid ourselves of a bad habit.  People often ask me why it is so difficult to change a bad habit.  There are probably as many answers and theories to answer that question as there are bad habits!  Often folks hide behind the story or excuse that “if I just knew why I did this, then I could quit”.  Not true!

Time to Take Out the Head Trash!

By Certified Action Coach Dave Beam

Has there ever been a time in your life when you lived somewhere and let the trash accumulate?  I’m not just talking about garbage, but also clutter – old newspapers, broken devices, expired coupons, stuff, junk, and debris.  And did you finally clean it all out, and create some clean new space?  How did that make you feel?  Probably energized and ready to work.

In business today, if you want to be your best, you need to learn to regularly remove the trash not only from your workplace, but from your head!  The mind is like a garden.  We plant seeds, cultivate those seeds as they grow and eventually reap a harvest.  Your mind is a field ready to produce a harvest.  Your creative ideas are the seeds that are sewn that can produce a crop.  And then come the weeds – the head trash – the worries, and fears, and doubts, and overwhelm, and frustration, and discouragements.  What must you do with this garden clutter if you want to reap a healthy crop?  You must relentlessly pull it up and throw it out!

Emotion – Friend or Foe?

By Certified Action Coach Dave Beam

Elation, sadness, frustration, anger, contentment, humor; human emotions.  Are they your friends, and welcomed and encouraged, or are they your enemies, lurking to bring you trouble?

They can be both!  Human emotion is not the problem or the answer.  It is what it is, and it is definitely a part of the human experience.  In my coaching and counseling experience, emotion is wonderful when it is in its place!  Emotion enables us to connect with life and other people. 

FEAR – It’s not real, but you think it is!

By Certified Action Coach Dave Beam

One of the great joys that I experience as a business coach is helping people unravel and dispel their fears.  Today, I will help you do that as you read and understand.

We have a simple flip chart concerning fear.  False Expectations Appearing Real.  Here is an astonishing reality.  You can be a fearless person.  Being fearless is not being some kind of super hero.  It is in reality just being who you really are.  I hope I have your attention.

How to Be a Positive Influence in Other’s Lives - Part 3

By Certified Action Coach Dave Beam

We have been considering how to increase our influence in others lives.  We initially focused on the fact that to increase our influence we must focus our efforts on the things that we can truly change and stop wasting our mental energy worrying about things that fall only into our “circle of concern.” Following this paradigm, the one area over which we have the most control is ourselves. Hence, we must become better leaders and improve ourselves first if we ever wish to affect others. The first topic we considered was practicing good listening skills which help build a high mutual respect. Today we are looking at another quality of effective leadership, consistency.

How to Be a Positive Influence in Other’s Lives - Part 2

By Certified Action Coach Dave Beam

Listening.  Most people think that they do it well.  Most people really don’t do it well at all.  And if you want to have influence as a leader, it is essential.

Listening to understand is one of the most powerful ways to express respect for another human being.  You are giving your attention and care to someone else.  You are setting aside YOUR opinions, judgments, reactions, and conclusions, and engaging your mental energy for one purpose, to understand that person. 

How to Be a Positive Influence in Other’s Lives - Part 1

By Certified Action Coach Dave Beam

One question that I get quite often from business owners is “How can I change my employees and help them take ownership so that they will care about their work, customers, and the business as much as I do?”  It is a great question, and is worthy of consideration.

First, I usually start by telling them that they really can’t “change” anyone.  They can likely change their environment, compensation, job, and comfort.  But my question is can anyone really change the motives, desires, values, and identity of another person?

One Big Problem With Your Business Is That You Expect Too Much From Your Employees

By Certified Action Coach Dave Beam

If you are a business owner or manager, I’m sure that title caught your attention.  You did read it correctly – what you expect of your employees is causing lots of problems in your business.  You may be thinking, “What kind of angle is this!!!  If anything, I don’t expect ENOUGH out of my employees.  In fact, some of them only scrape by on the bare minimum activity, and try their hardest to get out of even doing the bare minimum!”

The problem IS expectation.

The Joy of Discipline

By Certified Action Coach Dave Beam

I hope the title of this article caught your attention.  My guess is that many readers don’t typically put joy and discipline together.  I really think all of us could use a shift of thinking so that these two concepts are joined in our minds.

When you hear or read the word “discipline”, what comes to mind?  For many, it’s forcing yourself do all of the stuff that you really hate because you “should” do it, or “shouldn’t” do that; it is motivated by the feelings of guilt, compulsion, and condemnation.  Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t jump out of bed in the morning ready to jump into a lot of activity that I “have to do”, and that “I’d better do” and “shame on me if I don’t do”.  Who among us pursues such misery and pain consistently?