Coaching Corner: What was your grade?
By "Coach" Marilou Butcher Roth
Today, I am going to take a little trip down memory lane, and some of you will be able to go right along with me. The others will get the idea pretty quickly, so no worries there! In grade school, there was a section of our report cards that said “is/is not working to his/her full potential.†Inevitably, each of my report cards, although filled with lovely high letter grades, would always indicate that I was not (!) working to my full potential!!! What?? This did not really make sense to me, and consequently, since there was never a discussion about it, I remained silent (imagine!) and confused for many years to come.
As an adult, and more specifically in my coaching work, I finally have a strong sense of the importance of this statement. It is one of the foundations of my practice -- to live your life, run your business and BE full potential! Yesterday, in a coaching session, one of my clients asked how you knew if you were or were not optimizing your full potential. Interestingly, I did not have a clear answer for him and strongly considered bagging my idea for this week, and choosing another topic. Later in the day, I realized that there really wasn't a clear answer to this question that I could give him, so the blog topic remains.
To answer for me, when I am moving beyond what was my “norm†to new territory, I often feel some discomfort, although it is a different type of discomfort than when I don't want to do something. When something is a “no†for me, most often I will experience either a heaviness in my chest or a knot in my stomach. When it is something new and in a direction that is a “yes,†I feel excited and sometimes exhilarated at the same time that I am feeling discomfort. I may feel some tingling in my extremities or a sense of lightness, an almost bubbly feeling in my chest. Your experience will undoubtedly be your own, the key here is to know what you are feeling. As you take more and more steps into living your fullest life, you will begin to notice more -- it may be an emotion or perhaps you will identify a body sensation. These will assist you on your journey.
So here are my questions for you -- are you experiencing places in your life where you still play small? Is there something that you dream about doing but put the brakes on because _________? What does the most expansive version of you look like?
Take some time this week to play with these questions and really allow yourself to get curious, noticing what comes up for you! Here's to a good grade for all of you!
Marilou Butcher Roth
Marilou Butcher Roth is the owner of The MBR Group, a coaching and training company working primarily with REALTORS who have a desire to work and live from a more inspired place. She is also the Broker/Owner of Group REALTORS in Cincinnati.
Marilou is a member of the Ohio REALTORS Board of Directors and past chairman of the organization’s Communications Committee.
