I have a few things I want to talk about today, but none of them really warrant a post of their own, so I hope you’ll forgive me if I tie up a few loose ends.
The Negative Life Coach
After publishing my ‘Is Apple Screwing Its Customers?” post I got a somewhat irate e-mail from a subscriber. It was from another life coach (who shall remain nameless) telling me it was wrong of me as a life coach to spread such negativity.
If you want to read the entire e-mail and my response, I published it in the comments section of the post in question and don’t intend to do so again here.
The belief in some quarters that life coaches need to be permanently happy smiley people is quite honestly, bollocks. It smacks (to me at least) of being inauthentic and even dishonest.
More importantly than that though, is it serves nobody, because people think there’s something wrong with them if they’re not walking around with a big cheesy grin on their face all the time.
Newsflash: There is nothing wrong with you because you have some days that suck, we all do, including amazingly enough, Life Coaches.
My situation with my iPhone sucks at the moment and I’m not afraid to tell anybody prepared to listen. Not because I love whining, but because I don’t want them to get screwed in a similar fashion and because I think huge corporations should be held accountable to their customers.
On the flip side, when I get great service or buy a great product like the book I mention below, I want to tell you about that too.
If that upsets you like it did the lady that e-mailed then you’re probably reading the wrong blog.
The Primal Experiment
I am still on the primal diet (I know, I know, it’s not a diet but I can’t think what else to call it). I haven’t eaten any grains, pasta, rice, bread, milk, butter or confectionery in a month. I did eat a small amount of fries when we were out on a celebration meal with some friends this weekend, but that is really my only transgression.
I had planned to post in detail about my results today, but I feel this is still work in progress and don’t really have any results per se. So I’m holding off for another couple of weeks on blogging about it and hopefully then I have something more concrete to tell you.
Life Coaching Packages
My packages for life coaching have been much the same for the last 5 years. My base package has always been 4 sessions with most clients choosing 6. Over the last 6 months or so though I’ve started to see things change.
Most people that have been booking 4 sessions have been getting done in 3 and people that have booked 6 have tended to get where they want after 5. On top of that I had some great results really quickly with my Kick Ass Life Coaching series that was limited to just 3 sessions.
Taking all of that into consideration I’ve rejigged my life coaching packages to reflect these changes and now offer a base package of 3 sessions and the next level up to be 5 that are priced accordingly.
Your Brain At Work
In Septembers newsletter as well as giving away my new free ebook ‘Don’t Panic’ I also reviewed David Rocks exceptional book ‘Your Brain At Work” Unfortunately for me and much to the amusement of a load of people that couldn’t wait to e-mail me, I gave the credit for writing the book to Chris Rock. Oops!
I’m not going to throw a huge review at you, but I did want to give you the heads up on the best book I have read since ‘How We Decide’ by Jonah Lehrer and it’s equally as accessible and easy to read as Lehrer’s.
If you’re interested in knowing why you act like you do under certain circumstances and more importantly how you can use your brain far more effectively, then this book is a no-brainer!
A.O.B.
The response to my idea of running a random Any Other Business post every Friday/Saturday seems to appeal to a lot of people so I definitely will stick with it for the foreseeable future.
I want to make one post a month dedicated to laughing so I’m keen to hear any great jokes, stories, websites, video clips etc you may be keen to share. I also want to open up for some random guest posts that don’t necessarily fit my normal gust post guidelines.
If you’re interested send me the post. Please don’t pitch an idea to me, I just want to read finished posts!
any ideas can be sent to tim at a daring adventure dot com
How To Be Rich and Happy
I have done a lot of interviews talking about How To Be Rich and Happy, but I wanted to share this one with you because I it enjoyed so much. James Rick is a cool and very astute guy with lots of energy and enthusiasm. Oh and my niece thinks he’s hot too!
Oh and by the way, we went past the $60,000 barrier of copies of How To Be Rich and Happy given away last week, so if you have bought a copy, thanks, because you made it happen!
Tim Brownson: “How to Be Rich and Happy” from James Rick on Vimeo.
Tim Brownson is a Certified Life Coach and has been unsticking people and helping them reach their true potential since 2005. If you would like to know how he can help you
Congratulations on passing the 60K mark with R&H. I gave my extra copy away to someone in need this week so really you are at 60,001!
And technically, you are using the word ‘diet’ correctly. It is a word that has just been confused in common usage with calorie controlling and weightloss. I looked it up on dictionary.com. I also learned that a cat fancier is an ailurophile while I was there, more than you needed to know I’m sure but there you are…
Brilliant we’re almost there then! ;-)
Thanks for sharing that interview with James Rick, Tim. I need all the refreshers on being Rich and Happy that I can get. ;) Loved the “would you be a doctor if it paid minimum wage” question… very cool.
Lyman Reed recently posted..What is Personal Development
Thanks Lyman! I have a good friend who is a doctor and let me tell you, no way would she be going what she does for $40k per annum!
I have had the luxury of my partner earning enough money, so I could just do everyday what I do best and not truly think about money….now that has all changed and I am finding no one wants to pay me for the work that I do…after 40 years of service to the people of this community, I am discovering if they have to pay for it they think they can do without it…
So I guess to get us out of the hole we are in I will just need to dig some ditches for minimum wage…
My partner loves his work, and his GREEN contributions to the world so he is hoping some more of it will come his way
I liked this post….I was eating vegan-raw all last spring and think next week I will return to my purist ways…I let go of the regime about a week ago for my birthday and am now exploring why I want to eat these things that don’t make me feel great?
Patricia recently posted..SMILING ON A BEAUTIFUL MORNING
You have just nailed what annoys me when people talk about “If you deliver value, people will pay you” Tell that to nurses, teachers, social workers etc.
No idea what that has to do with this post but it kind of jumped out at me!
Wow Tim, interesting email you got. I’m with you though, we all have crap days, and that’s ok. I’ve even written about that in the past.
I think as a consumer, you have a right to say anything that is true. Conveying your experience with the iPhone is perfectly fine. You didn’t make anything up, it’s just what happened.
Cheers!
Joshua Noerr recently posted..5 Kick Ass Blogs I’m Reading- August 2010
Interesting indeed. It’s the first one I’ve had in some while it has to be said and it did get me to think, but if anything it made me more certain I’d done the right thing.
Hey Tim,
I think you’re spot on about the positivity stuff. The really insidiously nasty thing about Life Coaches who attempt to remain positive all the time (or to look like it) is the presupposed expectation that their clients (innocent people) should be doing the same.
Negative emotions are gifts – they super relevant early warning signals that things need to change in our life. Rob yourself of that gift by attempting “always-on positivity” and you lose, big time!
100% agree, and maybe that’s why we have twice as many words in the English language to describe negative emotions as positive ones.
I see myself as a Meerkat telling his mates there’s a snake hiding being the big rock and they may want to consider taking a detour.
My wife cam back from work a short while ago and told me one of the people that she works with is having similar issues and she also thought it was her fault.
Helen put her right and of course I castigated her for being so negative ;-)
I don’t think you were being negative, but I’m not sure that the person meant to say that life coaches should be happy all the time. I didn’t read the entire post (I don’t have time to sit around and read your posts all day) but I think you were saying that your intention was to help people avoid that problem. That person, however, may have misinterpreted it, and thought, well why is he ranting and raving at us about his personal problems? How is that helping anyone?
I hope you didn’t let the comment upset you. And I wish that person would’ve discussed it openly. There’s nothing wrong with *respectfully* disagreeing with someone. Anyway, I don’t have time to comment on your blog either, so I’m out. :-)
Aja Trinidad recently posted..How to be Rich and Happy – Book Review
Stuff like this never upsets me. At the time I was more conscious of trying to explain myself, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought I had nothing to defend.
If that attitude loses me a few subscribers that’s fine because I want to challenge people and if they are offended by that then there are 1,001 other blogs they can read.
In fairness I was being negative, but sometimes that’s necessary.
A while ago I attacked the worst 10 companies I have ever dealt with including, DirecTv, SunTrust bank here in the US and the Bank of Scotland in the UK. Weirdly not one person thought to complain and tell me I was wrong to do so.
Apple tends to elicit strange reactions from people, it seems to get personal when it’s Apple. Me having a shit phone that’s costing me a fortune feels fairly personal ;-)
Love and loyalty to certain products always seems to bring out an almost religious-like fervor when you say something negative about them. As a former professional photographer it was always fun to stir the Canon versus Nikon pot if you wanted to see people lose all sense of fact.
Apple customers tend to become disciples. But, the fact is you and many other people are having a problem with the upgraded software and you received really crap customer service from the company that sold you the product and sent you the upgrade.
To listen to some people on the blog you’d think you were spreading lies attacking their favorite politician, religion or brand of cereal.
Bob Poole recently posted..Thriving on Responsibility and Freedom
Agree 100% Bob, it’s weird that a huge corporation can generate such blind loyalty.
I still like Apple products, but I no longer love them with my previous intensity.
FYI
My IT Girl has a great many iphones to care for at the help desk at the University she works at….she has just found a fix for the new upgrade problems…I will email you her address…
Thanks!
The best thing ive learned as a life is how flawed and imperfect i am. whats more interesting is that it has come as a relief.
I think life coaches need to be brutally honest but keep everything positive, and put positive spins on negative things.