When business owners and leaders come to me looking for a coach, it’s usually because their pursuit of success doesn’t feel good right now and they don’t know why.
The thing that high achievers do remarkably well is succeed. It’s a gravitational pull that feels normal to them and when it’s not there it’s extremely disorienting.
To get them the help they’re desperate for, the most simplistic goal for our coaching relationship is really twofold:
Find some energy.
Redefine the rules of the game
A high achiever has the ability to narrow in on a finish line and cross it, sometimes at the expense of everything else, even themselves. So if the only measure of success that they’re chasing is revenue, profits, or annual income it’s no wonder that a point will be reached where this isn’t working.
Redefining the rules of the game though can be REALLY SCARY.
But one thing I’ve found that high achievers do really well…they adapt and learn how to succeed even when the rules of the game have changed!
Professional athletes provide a perfect example of this:
My former mentor’s son is Wyndham Clark, a professional golfer who has recently won a few on the PGA tour. In an interview after his Pebble Beach win, he talked about changing his putting technique, where in my brother’s words, he was “putting on a clinic” with this change. Wyndham changed his approach…he changed a method or rule to how he personally plays the game in an effort to impact his success…and it did!
The other is found in the NFL and the NBA. Every year these leagues make updates to the game rules, most recently surrounding how overtimes are handled, what constitutes a foul, and calls corresponding to player safety. When new rules are introduced, coaches adjust, new strategies are devised and players adapt. They all find ways to win with the new rules.
Sometimes high achievers need to change their own rules, like prioritizing personal health alongside the revenue they’re chasing or balancing both keeping the computer closed on the weekends and getting that next promotion.
You only need to look at their track record of success in the past as evidence that they can succeed at these new rules...once they know what they are.
I get super excited (and so do my clients) when they open up their definition of success to include both traditional and non-traditional metrics like joy, peace, or shutting their computer down by 5:30 pm each day. You can feel the exhale when they give themselves permission to change their own rules and include these priorities in their success metrics.
It may not feel like smooth sailing immediately, but give it a little time and maybe a little tweaking…if it’s the path they’re meant to be on, I’m willing to bet on the high achiever figuring it out.
Until next time,
Halle
Plus a few other links of interest:
1. Could your team benefit from upgrading their leadership? Inquire about Leadership Essentials Academy, a 6-month leadership training & coaching cohort for new and emerging leaders.
2. Time for a new journal? Pick up a new copy of my Know Thyself Journal for daily support towards your most important intentions for the next 90 days.
3. Are you into individual assessments? Here is a link to take a free Core Values Assessment (CVI). It only takes 10 minutes and measures your innate, unchanging nature. Take it yourself and feel free to forward it to a friend, too.