The Blog

My Intentional Creation Journey

by John Stein on April 22, 2010

A number of you have been asking about my Intentional Creation journey…how I heard about it, what I did to follow up, that kind of thing.

It all began on November 19, 2009 when I attended a monthly networking meeting for the Central Iowa Chapter of the Project Management Institute. That month our guest speaker was Tracy Duez from Break Free Consulting in the Houston Texas area. At the time, I was in the throes of my own inner turmoil. Business was suffering from the ravages of the year that was 2009, my brain was fully engaged in the destructive practice of catastrophizing – and I had no idea that was even happening. I was plagued with uncertainty about what to do next and which move I should make to pull out of the free fall. My analytical mind was in perpetual motion trying to “think” my way out of my conundrum. I was, however, putting on a very good face. After all, I am Director of Programs for the chapter – scheduled to introduce Tracy as our speaker. I had never heard of the study of “axiology” that our speaker was about to enlighten us on.

In the one hour presentation, we learned that our thoughts could be measured by an assessment called the Hartman Value Profile. Furthermore, invariably it is our thoughts that limit us. Most of us have heard that many times throughout our lives. Not sure how many of us truly understand how it works. By the end of the present, while I still wasn’t clear WHICH thoughts were limiting me, I had a much better understanding of how that might indeed be the case.

The fact that we have the ability to measure thoughts has profound implications for the coaching industry. Instead of relying on a client to self-report their current status and thought processes, we can now have them take a 20 minute assessment and get a highly scientific and validated reading of which thoughts were supporting them and which thoughts were sabbotaging them.

After spending about a month pondering and researching this tool, I was inspired to take action in early January of 2010. In the next post I will provide an overview of the coaching I participated in with Dave Blanchard of the Og Mandino Group, as well as some details about the training that I along with a select group of coaches participated in during the first week of March.

To take the assessment yourself, click here. Upon completion, you will receive your personalized website including a breakdown of the 36 thought processes on three levels: balanced, over-focused and under-focused. The assessment is free and includes a one hour debrief to assist you in interpreting the results.

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Top 10 Reasons to Live in Iowa

by John Stein on April 11, 2010

Mel Wildermuth recently posted this question on linked in: Soon moving to Des Moines (this summer). What are some reasons why we will be happy in Des Moines?

This was my off-the-cuff reply:

1. If you have kids it is the best place in the world to raise and educate your kids.
2. If you don’t have kids, you know you are a part of a family-centered, education-focused culture.
3. You are the center of the political universe every 4 years.
4. Traffic Traffic Traffic – no small thing to be able to get to where you are going.
5. Clean air!!
6. Clean water
7. If you want a day trip to the big city, take your pick in terms of the direction you want to go.
8. GREAT (and reasonably priced) golfing!
9. Strong work ethic. If you can somehow plug into the old-fashioned farm ethic, you’ll be inspired.
10. They aren’t kidding when they say the people are different. Make a small effort to connect and you’ll be surrounded with friendly people ready to pitch in and help with anything.

This list is merely a start, but just a few of the things that immediately come to my mind. Iowa is a fantastic place to call home, and one of the world’s best kept secrets. Iowans (at least this Iowan) do not really object when some folks laugh and tell us the last time they drove through the state. Their response comes after I say something like “I’m from Iowa – somebody’s gotta be.”

Iowa is the best kept secret folks. We like it that way. Keeps traffic manageable - at least until the next political season.

What would your response be to Mel’s question?? Post below and respond to Mel here.

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The Journey

by John Stein on April 1, 2010

Well, it’s been quite a first month on the Intentional Creation circuit. The assessment, the calls, the clients have been nothing short of amazing. The process works – it MORE THAN works. When I first saw the presentation in November ’09 I was blown away that there was a way to measure one’s thoughts. I’m even more in awe that we can use that as a starting point, a springboard for where someone wants to go in a coaching engagement. What a much more productive place to start than relying on a client to self-report where they are and where they want to go. That’s the equivalent of looking in the mirror and seeing the lion, know what I mean??

One of the greatest paradoxes of our physical senses, is that our eyes actually show you what you believe, not what you see.

 Some clients come to the coaching program for a new life and begin the process of intentionally creating their lives. Others begin awkwardly, hanging on to old thoughts and habits, not realizing they are clinging to old ways. Prospects show up looking for a guarantee. The only one I can give them is that “I guarantee you currently have no clue what is possible for your life.” Prospects come to the call well conditioned in systemic and extrinsic thinking. Only when the intrinsic world enters and blows the seams apart are inward eyes illumined.

So as March turns into April, I want to share a progress report. The process most vividly reminds me of my favorite poem by my favorite poet, David Whyte. The youtube link is below, but it’s worth spending time with the words as well:

THE JOURNEY

by David Whyte

Above the mountains

the geese turn into

the light again

painting their

black silhouettes

on an open sky.

Sometimes everything

has to be

enscribed across

the heavens

so you can find

the one line

already written

inside you.

Sometimes it takes

a great sky

to find that

small, bright

and indescribable

wedge of freedom

in your own heart.

Sometimes with

the bones of the black

sticks left when the fire

has gone out

someone has written

something new

in the ashes

of your life.

You are not leaving

you are arriving.

 

 

 

Sometimes everything has to be enscribed across the heavens so you can find the one line already written inside you…….

You are not leaving – you are arriving. 

Here’s David doing the reading:

YouTube Preview Image

Wonder what April will bring.

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What’s Your Dream?

by John Stein on March 10, 2010

Just in time for March Madness, here’s a clip you’ve probably seen before. See if you can watch it again without being moved to tears! Then spend some time thinking about what’s possible for you…even when the odds seem stacked against you.

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Early Adopter

February 24, 2010

Got this in my inbox the other day from my dear niece Hannah. It seems something or someone has turned her on to Skype, and I don’t know if she will ever be the same. I encounter so many people out there who are afraid to just dive in. This post is meant to inspire [...]

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People are buying skating lessons — in -20 degree weather!!!

January 2, 2010

So the Ames Figure Skating Club gets it! They get free, free, free, free, fee! They get the fact that people love to buy, but they hate to be sold. The EVEN get that people are crazy enough to come out at 8 a.m. in 20 below weather to buy. How crazy is that?

So again I ask you: what part of your offerings could you give away to bring em out at 8 a.m. in minus 20 and still have them lining up?

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Free Free Free Free…..Fee!

December 29, 2009

The essence of this post is that people WILL buy in this environment. They just won’t buy the farm, the whole chalupa in this environment. You must chunk it down for them in bite sized pieces. And if that’s not enough, you must give them free tasters as part of your marketing efforts. (Recall our last post on the difference between marketing and sales.) Giving away free value (bite sized pieces, not the whole sandwich) is the hallmark of your marketing efforts.

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Season’s Greetings

December 21, 2009

This was in my inbox this morning from Creativille, specialists in design and brand building for anyone in need of a unique voice. Based on their holiday message, I’d hire them. I’m not sure I’ve ever read a better holiday message: It’s not the gifts, it’s the giving. It’s not the singing, it’s what you say. It’s [...]

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Sales and Marketing OR Sales vs. Marketing?

December 21, 2009

“I work in sales & marketing.”

“Give it to the gang in sales & marketing.”

People WILL buy – even in our current economic climate. You can help them with their purchasing decisions. But you must first distinguish your marketing efforts from your sales efforts.

What might happen to your sales if you began to market merely to develop a reservoir of potential customers rather than market to make the sale???

“That’s a sales & marketing thing.”

We tend to compress the two functions of ‘sales’ and ‘marketing’ together in both our words and our thinking as illustrated in the above few examples. In my opinion, they are anything but the same function.

Marketing is the process by which you accumulate a reservoir of people who may, one day, be interested in buying.

When you market, you are not at all interested in an exchange of money. You are interested in gaining someone’s interest and attention. The goal is to get them interested in you, your product, your service, ultimately your value proposition. You want them to think of you first thing when they wake up in the morning. THAT’S what you’re interested in when marketing.

Selling is the process by which you help a person who is in the reservoir make an informed and well-timed decision to buy.

This is more of a ‘pull’ approach than a ‘push’ approach. If you’ve done your marketing properly, selling becomes almost effortless. They have been in your reservoir, or pipeline, for sometime, learning about YOU and how you will make their life better. Then one morning they wake up and realize, “Life has become such that I’ve got to get a hold of that person/product/company.”

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Coming soon: three part series on “People will not buy in this environment.”

December 17, 2009
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