Essay on
Coaching for Breakthrough Success
By Jack Canfield, Peter Chee
Jack Canfield wrote a book about how to become successful with the help of coaching. He starts off with why it's important to have a clear vision. This has been a hot topic throughout my work on different projects because I found out that not having a vision, not knowing where we are going, is often detrimental to our work. I believe that we have to have vision and know where we are going in personal life and work life because when we wake up everyday only with a vision and goals we can know what activities to do that lead us closer to where we want to be in the future.
Jack also discusses the importance of taking responsibility, another topic that has been discussed within our community over and over again. I actually find these two first points crucial in order to be successful working on any project. Vision is the direction and taking our own responsibility is crucial for us to do the right activities that get us closer to that vision.
Building a support system is another one that the author discusses. He points out how important it is to have a structure of family and friends that can help us get closer to our goals and that are our support system throughout the worst times and who we can celebrate with throughout the best times. I think this is very very important.
Focusing on strength is another point that I found resonating with myself, and that is because I see around me that we often tend to focus on what we are not good at and how to make that better instead of focusing on what we are already good at and how to become even better at it. Resilience and positive attitude are another two points that he speaks about, and I think they are interlinked.
I find when I have some crucial moments that it's a lot about perspective. Do I want to look at the bad side of it? Do I want to see how much time it takes, how difficult it is, how long the journey is, or do I want to look at how I can make it more enjoyable, what other amazing things I have around me? And just the act of looking at the little things that make my life better and being grateful is what does it for me. Resilience is based on the author, one of the most important differentiators between successful and unsuccessful people. Are you able to jump back from setbacks, or do you stay in that place and think that you are not good enough?
Another point that he discusses is emotional intelligence. From the point of learning how to recognize and control our own emotions and navigate them and from the side of other people and our ability to be empathetic. This can help us navigate difficult situations and it is also a big topic for me because I often get swept up with my own emotions and it takes me a while to stabilize myself, and I am working on managing to do that throughout experiencing the emotion, and not only afterwards.
Jack recommends practicing active listening to others and their views and perspectives. Also, mindfulness, which is something that I have come across multiple times recently while reading other books, and something I personally believe that is the key element to becoming emotionally aware and conscious.
For the practice of resilience, he speaks about the importance of a growth mindset and how crucial it is to view challenges and problems as opportunities for us to grow. I personally think that it's an important aspect to not only have the ability to come back from setbacks but also for knowing when and how to become active and when to take action because when we don't have a growth mindset, I believe that we often get stuck even before starting anything out in the first place.
I would like to close this with self-care, which is one aspect that he also speaks about. I believe that many of these points could be described as self-care because the practice of mindfulness, the practice of emotional intelligence, the practice of reaching a growth mindset, having visions, I believe all of that is self-care. Also, part of self-care is how we treat our physical body. So that means getting enough sleep, eating healthy, and having some kind of work-life balance is also very crucial. And I believe all of these aspects combined are our own self-care.
