Between now and the New Year, the next nine weeks are likely to be a blurry rush through the holiday season. During this busy period of the year, when personal and professional commitments ramp up, I plan to slow down the pace of my blog. You’ve done a lot of hard work this year learning about your Life Code and formulating a vision for your life that will move you toward your dreams. You should feel proud of this progress and celebrate all the big and small success of your year so far. Congratulations and good work!

In the coming days, I plan to share with you stories from my own life and experience that will help put all our work on personality preferences, life plans and relationships in perspective. I hope these stories will offer a bit of real-life inspiration to keep you focused on your dreams and plans during the holiday season – a time when financial and relationship stresses can be distracting and sometimes seem overwhelming. So stop by my blog a couple of times a week to take a breather with one of my tales.

Although the pace of my blog will slow down – with one or two new posts a week – I’m still here for you, so feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you have. And as inspiration comes your way this holiday season, please share your stories with me, too.

What do you think?

Coach Paul
www.lifechangingcoaching.com

“And if your home is just another place where you’re a stranger, and far away is just somewhere you’ve never been. I hope that you’ll remember, I am your friend.” – Rich Mullins

I was recently browsing back through this blog, trying to get a sense of just how much ground we’ve covered together this year – and I discovered that it’s a lot. I’m amazed at the journey that this blog has mapped, and I’d like to take today to reflect on the road behind us.

I began the year talking about the people in your life: your relationships, your community, your fan club and the groups to which you belong. My approach to life coaching is an “others-help” rather than “self-help” approach. In other words, we all need people to support and encourage us if we are to achieve real, lasting success in life. To move forward, you need a healthy mix of the three different relationship types in your life – giving, receiving and mutual – and you need to curb or eliminate those relationships that are limiting. Balancing your relationships is one of the tougher tasks of moving forward – and striking a balance can be particularly tough during the holiday season. As we move into the final stretch of the year, return to February’s blogs on relationships and community whenever you feel you need inspiration or a new strategy to handle a challenging relationship.

I spent the next few months covering your Life Code: the five personality preferences that inform how you reenergize, make decisions and communicate with others. Understanding your Life Code, and living a life that is in-sync with your preferences, is the key to getting unstuck and moving forward. As a review, here are the five preferences:

Reenergizing preference: Extrovert (E) or Introvert (I)

Three decision-making preferences…
Information-Gathering: Sensory (S) or Intuitive (N)
Information-Evaluating: Thinking (T) or Feeling (F)
Information-Action: Judging (J) or Perceiving (P)

Communications preference: Direct (D) or Indirect (R)

Remember that you are born with your Life Code in tact. It’s inalterable. When your identity – made up of your behaviors, beliefs and belongings – aligns with your Life Code, you will be living in-sync with your true nature and preparing yourself to achieve your full potential. If you are unsure about any of your personality preferences, scroll back to that particular section of this blog and review the coaching provided here. The process of discovering and understanding your Life Code can take time, so return to these pages as often as you need.

From this groundwork of understanding, we were able to move into talking about your dreams – the goals you have for each of the domains of your life (personal, professional, community and spiritual). And I coached you through the process of developing a life plan to make those dreams a reality. If you weren’t ready then, or you have discovered new dreams for your life now, return to the August and September blogs to refresh your memory about how to create a coherent, realistic plan to accomplish your goals.

All of this year’s blogs are conveniently archived month by month, so that you can return to any period that you’d like to review. My blog is a resource for you to use whenever you need motivation, innovative strategy or inspiration. And remember that I’m here for you, too, whenever you need coaching or a little extra support.

What do you think?

Coach Paul
www.lifechangingcoaching.com

“And if your home is just another place where you’re a stranger, and far away is just somewhere you’ve never been. I hope that you’ll remember, I am your friend.” – Rich Mullins

October is coming to a close, along with this month’s spotlight on careers, but your focus on improving your satisfaction level with your work shouldn’t end here. If one of your life goals is to love what you do, then you – as much as anyone else – deserve to feel passionate about your profession.

If you have discovered your avocation this month, you may already be feeling like a new you. Try to remember the sense of purpose and enjoyment you feel today when you practice your avocation; as challenges present themselves this sense of fulfillment will help you solidify your resolve to continue your avocation even when life tosses obstacles your way.

If you are still wrestling with what you want to “do” with your life, take a breather. To start, discovering your life’s work, or even finding a satisfying job, can take a lot of time and patience. If you are searching for a new job, consider each contact you make a possible new addition to your professional network – even if a particular job doesn’t pan out. You have the power to make a potentially frustrating process more rewarding by focusing on the positive elements. Meanwhile, if you are exploring a possible avocation, try to enjoy the journey while you do. Each new activity may teach you more about your likes and dislikes, and along the way you may discover a passion you didn’t know you had.

Above all, be patient with yourself. Even once you discover your true avocation, you may find that the pursuit of your passion isn’t always easy. In fact, if you read this blog regularly, you know how frustrating my passion for riding my motorcycle has been at times. For a while there, if it wasn’t one thing wrong with my bike, it was another. But whenever I’ve been at the breaking point with my bike (and thinking about trading it in), I remember the great feeling I get riding at full speed on the open highway, how all the frustrations just melt away and the world rushes by in a blur.

The fulfillment your true passion can provide – whether it’s a full-time career, hobby or avocation – should outweigh all the challenges. Your effort will be worth your while.

What do you think?

Coach Paul
www.lifechangingcoaching.com

“And if your home is just another place where you’re a stranger, and far away is just somewhere you’ve never been. I hope that you’ll remember, I am your friend.” – Rich Mullins