Ann Badillo Coaching

Thought for the Day

Choose one dream and guide its flight! - Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Thought for the Day

Stop the words now. Open the window in the center of your chest And let the spirits fly in and out.

~Rumi

Thought for the Day

"The path of the heart, takes you out of your mind." - Ram Dass

Keeping Our Minds Supple

*Keeping Our Minds Supple* *Questioning Everything*

A lot of people feel threatened if they feel they are being asked to question their cherished beliefs or their perception of reality. Yet questioning is what keeps our minds supple and strong. Simply settling on one way of seeing things and refusing to be open to other possibilities makes the mind rigid and generally creates a restrictive and uncomfortable atmosphere. We all know someone who refuses to budge on one or more issues, and we may have our own sacred cows that could use a little prodding. Being open-minded means that we are willing to question everything, including those things we take for granted.

A willingness to question everything, even things we are sure we are right about, can shake us out of complacency and reinvigorate our minds, opening us up to understanding people and perspectives that were alien to us before. This alone is good reason to remain inquisitive, no matter how much experience we have or how old we get. In the Zen tradition, this willingness to question is known as beginner’s mind, and it has a way of generating possibilities we couldn’t have seen from the point of view of knowing something with certainty. The willingness to question everything doesn’t necessarily mean we don’t believe in anything at all, and it doesn’t mean we have to question every single thing in the world every minute of the day. It just means that we are humble enough to acknowledge how little we actually know about the mysterious universe we call home.

Nearly every revolutionary change in the history of human progress came about because someone questioned some time-honored belief or tradition and in doing so revealed a new truth, a new way of doing things, or a new standard for ethical and moral behavior. Just so, a commitment to staying open and inquisitive in our own individual lives can lead us to new personal revolutions and truths, truths that we will hopefully, for the sake of our growth, remain open to questioning.

Learning to Walk

* **Walked out this morning*

*
into a broad green garden*

*
with the rising sun in my eyes*

*
and the first hint of the day's heat
*

*touching my face,*

*
feeling as broad as the garden
*

*and young as the day
*

*and soaking up the heat*

*
in my black tee-shirt,
*

*walked straight forward*

*
out of the gate,
*

*through the wood,
*

*along the river,*

*
toward the mountain
*

*and thought of the future*

*
I could make in the world*

*
if I walked toward it*

*
like this,
*

*with my face toward the hills
*

*and my eyes full of light
*

*and the earth sure
*

*and solid beneath me,
*

*walking on*

*
with a fierce anticipation,*

*
and a faithful expectation,
*

*with the sun and the rain
*

*and the wind on my skin
*

*and the old sense*

*
I remember at twenty
*

*of many paths
*

*breaking from one path...*

* *

* *

*David Whyte from River Flow: New & Selected *

Thought for the Day

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” -Proust

Thought for the Day

"I very strongly agree with the notion that you have to be the leader you are seeking." Dr. Nadine Burke

Thought

"Revealing vulnerability is the most awesome and inspiring demonstration of personal power."

Ed santana

Thought for the Day

There is no light without shadow and no psychic wholeness without imperfection. - Carl Jung

Five Questions Every Mentor Must Ask

*Tags:*Entrepreneurship , Managing people , Managing yourself

These five questions, when asked in the order presented, form an effective diagnostic tool that can provide better guidance to mentees, employees, or generally anyone with whom you are playing the role of a counselor. Additionally, they can serve as a self-diagnosis of one's own capabilities and opportunities.

Here are the questions:

1. What is it that you really want to be and do? 2. What are you doing really well that is helping you get there? 3. What are you not doing well that is preventing you from getting there? 4. What will you do differently tomorrow to meet those challenges? 5. How can I help / where do you need the most help?

Let's briefly look at each question:

*1. What is it that you really want to be and do? *This question is about aspiration and purpose. The reason why someone is doing what they are doing should come out here. The question is also meant to get at the business goals and broader aspirations of an individual - someone wishing to be successful in business so that they can do more to help others, for example. The answer to question one should surface the driving passion of individuals - what is it they do or wish they could be great at doing?

*2. What are you doing really well that is helping you get there? *This question helps spotlight a core strength and the person's ability to execute towards his/her goal. What is someone naturally good at doing? Detailed and standardized operations? Leading and motivating staff? Numbers? What is it that someone does better than the average person that can help her achieve her aspiration?

*3. What are you not doing well that is preventing you from getting there?* This is about facilitating an honest and critical assessment of the roadblocks, challenges or weaknesses in a person or company that is slowing their ability to win the game; to meet the goal from question one.

*4. What will you do different tomorrow to meet those challenges?* Questions two and three help determine whether people are spending the right time on the right things. Progress cannot be measured just by hard work. Someone may have a great work ethic, but if he is not focused on the right priorities, then "you're making good time, but you're lost," as another one of my partners likes to say. People also have a tendency to practice and repeat what they are already good at doing. It is human nature to show off your best side and hide weaknesses. As a kid playing racquet sports, I remember being asked once why I kept practicing my forehand when my backhand sucked. Use this question to probe whether the person has the aptitude to change behavior. Will the person practice start practicing his backhand?

*5. How can I help / where do you need the most help?* The answers to the first four questions matched against areas where you as a mentor have particular strengths, relationships, or learning resources - should help determine how you can best help someone achieve the goal.

These questions will help you assess where you can really help an individual or a company. Try these five critical questions the next time you are interviewing a mentee candidate, the next time you have a mentoring session, or answer them yourself as a self-diagnostic. The answers can help you or your mentees put together a sensible game plan for forward progress.