LIFE IS AN ENDLESS SERIES OF TRANSITIONS. ALL OF WHICH ARE FROM THE KNOWN TO THE UNKNOWN. THIS IS WHY COACHING EXISTS

CHRIS “THE ANTI GURU GURU” WALKER

There are seven areas of life. None are stable. Jobs change, people change, life changes, health changes, finances change and family changes. We are in a constant state of flux between where we are and the future. This frightens the crap out of some people. Others jump in boots and all with reckless abandon. The question we have is “how do we DE-RISK” the future?

Transitions are time sensitive. Even if someone dies and we are in the transition called grief, there is a time sensitive aspect of it. How long we wallow in grief is important because it stops us living life. How long we take to transition to full speed in a new job is also important. But these are the simple transitions.

What if we find ourselves dealing with menopause or lost libido or in some form of emotional or mental distress? These are sensitive transitions and the choices we make to remedy them can be confusing at best.

Rule 1. Benchmark where you currently are and where you want to end up. This requires an honest 360 degree coaching session.

Rule 2. Try to find gratitude for where you are. Running away from a “bad” space to a “good” space is not a healthy transition. It will lead to disaster.

Rule 3. Take a holistic view of where you are at and where you are going. This prevents blind siding or even underestimating the cost benefit of the transition process.

Rule 4. Avoid engaging third party stakeholders in the transition planning who might benefit or not from the transition as they will surely make the process take longer.

Rule 5. Give yourself no option. We call it burn the boats, after the Viking armies once would invade a new land and burn their boats to prevent retreat.

Rule 6. Avoid excuses. This is the kind of stuff that can keep people in the wrong job, wrong relationship, even wrong career for years.

Rule 7. Build stepping stones not Tarzan rope swings. Remember there’s crocodiles in the water so, build the steps clearly.

Rule 8. Kill emotion. Although emotion plays a key role in ego gratification and is a joyous engagement in life, it can bite you and make your journey through transition unnecessarily hard. Better to save the emotion for movies and romantic dinners.

Rule 9. Eat for life. What we consume during a serious transition, impacts us more than any other singe variable. Avoid sugars, fruit, alcohol, fast carbs, dairy. Focus on easy to digest proteins.

Rule 10. Be affirmative……..

As we’ve noted, transitions are not as hard as we think when we follow these rules.