A lever and a place to stand

Had a coaching call yesterday with someone who wants to build a ten million dollar a year business in four years.    I was a little wary about this until I found that up until now his best year had been 700k.  That means that at a 50% growth rate, he’d reach his goal in about 6.5 years.   And that’s only about a 1% improvement per week.  Very close.  

What I wanted to see is if he actually believed he could do it, or was he setting himself up for failure to validate some internal map of failure.   The “there are no unrealistic goals, only unrealistic time frames” perspective found it plausible.

And possible, if he had real confidence in his earning potential.  Poking around, I discovered that he had a weight issue that could be resolved in a year, and a marriage that was strong, even if he had some beliefs from childhood that positive change could cause loss of friends.  Nothing seriously out of whack.   Very nice.  A challenge, but he seemed the kind of person who relishes a good challenge.  

Starting with believing that he COULD make such a shift, the trick was helping him see how he SHOULD: why it was the expression of childhood dreams and ultimate values.   Why it would be a sign of the amount of value he is adding to the lives of those around him.  How much good he could do if he could be that kind of role model. 

The next step was to show him a route to HOW he could do it.  Now, I’ve never earned ten million a year.      I never had that kind of goal, but honor and celebrate those who are willing to aim at such massive success.  And I DO know  how people organize their internal and external resources to achieve dreams beyond their ordinary levels.

And a core means is the “mastermind”: two or more people aligned in a spirit of perfect harmony working toward a specific end.   The alignment of external human resources with your internal drives.    This is elegant, because not only is this man adding direct resources, but he is also calming the part of him that says “I will be alone.”

He must start with his wife.  If he loves her, and is committed to her, then if there is any part of him that believes success will damage his marriage, THAT PART WILL SLAM ON THE BRAKES.  And to create a new future he is going to have to be willing to
1) Believe the new goals are a deeper, truer expression of who and what he really is.
2) Believe that working for his goal will bring more pleasure to his life than pain.
3) Believe that NOT achieving his goal will bring him pain (which means that he must define “success” as the ACTIONS and ATTITUDES he adopts, not specifically the external results, which are out of direct control)
4) Be willing to destroy any illusions about himself, and step forward into his truth.
5) Be TOTALLY aligned internally, not fighting himself. 
6) Seek at least ONE person with  whom he can externally align.  In this case, a loving wife.  Someone willing to share his vision.   Someone to reality-check him, and with whom to share tears and laughter.
7) Believe that he sees a path that requires only his constant, rising action and insight.  Not looking for “luck” to help him.  Oddly, the people who take such full responsibility find “luck” aiding them at every turn.
8) Raise his energy level, prepare for a marathon not a sprint, and go for it.
9) When failure inevitably occurs, learn the lesson, have faith that he can overcome, get back up and hit it again.

Recognize the “Secret Formula” here?   Goals times Faith times Constant Action times Gratitude equals Results?

Simple, powerful, direct.  It suggests that we have within us the resources we need to heal, to grow.  That if we look into our pasts, we can find positive things, a “rock” to stand on.   Our tactical grasp of methods of approach give us the “lever.”  Archimedes famously said “give me a lever and a place to stand, and I will change the world.”   Give a human being a place to make and emotional “stand”, and a tactical “lever” and they’ll do more than move the world.  They’ll MAKE their world.

Namaste,
Steve