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Questioning Strategy
by Judy Irving MCC
(MMC guest master coach and blogger)
What’s the strategy for your life’s work? The word ‘work’ can be replaced with any such as career, life, marriage, the current project, or perhaps retirement? Have you defined your strategy? Is it working? How do you know? Do you actually have a plan in place or do you live life in default mode?
Many people will say my strategy is to earn enough money to pay my bills, educate my kids and someday retire. What if money is a side effect of doing valued work? What if educating your kids is a side effect of being a loving parent? What if retirement is a side effect of self-discipline? What if a life well lived means having a dependable strategy? What if the foundation for all of these is finding meaning in life?
As an leadership coach, I watch smart, educated, and skilled people with the potential to be great leaders and yet they are so focused on ‘doing’, staying busy, checking things off their list that they don’t stop and look at the bigger picture. Exactly where are all these actions leading me? Is being busy or getting things done enough?
I think the bigger question is what is the desired outcome and what is the real value of that outcome? What difference will it make to me, my life, my company, my family, my team, etc? How do I get my team or my family on board with this desired outcome? Is it clear enough and important enough that I can engage them in my vision? Can they get excited about it too? What choices and actions will lead to that outcome? What do we need – people, skills, training, resources? How much time will it take? How much time do we have?
If you are not taking the time to think through these questions – I call this executive think time and you should take this time daily – then you will continue to be Dolly or Darin Doer. Staying busy doing everything on your checklist, going to bed each night with a sense of accomplishment but rarely a sense of fulfillment. I suggest you begin by observing what gives you a sense of fulfillment. What does it feel like, where did it come from and how can you find more of it? Yes, coaches ask a lot of questions – try asking yourself a few.
@ Judy Irving 2017
Judy Irving is an Executive and Leadership Coach and owner of Moving On Coaching and Consulting, located in Las Vegas, NV. As a credential master coach by the International Coach Federation, she is among the top 2% of coaches internationally.
Visit her at http://www.movingon.net
Read more of her "transformativethoughts's" blog posts at www.judyirving.com