Coaching students have been asking us about the Astro Tools for Coaching that we use. So we’ve listened, and the Astro Coach Academy eCourse is coming up soon.

There’s a lot of ways we can use an astrological chart. Most people think of astrology as fortune telling, which it’s NOT. A little known fact: Karl Jung used to draw a chart for each of his clients. Used skillfully, a chart will indicate a lot of hidden potentials and possible challenges, it’s a very powerful tool to know oneself better, and for a coach, to assist and empower their clients, especially in moments of change of direction. An Astro Coach does not predict but questions, does not impose but propose.

The website in online, taking up contact details before the eCourse goes online later in the year. Registered users will receive emails with articles and tips.

So if you are interested, go to the website (or copy and paste www.astrocoachacademy.com in your browser) and enter your full name and email address to subscribe to the email list. We will also have some live and online free presentations for registered users. Oh! And one more thing, please visit our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/TheMasterMindsGroup?ref=sgm#!/pages/Astro-Coach-Academy/144565975577483?ref=sgm and click the like button (we need 25 users to be able to get a DECENT web address for the page!) Or you can also click the LIKE button on the Astro Coaching Academy website.

Astrologically Yours!

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It is now official; the newspapers have announced that the world has entered one of the worst recessions in history. In actual facts, whether this is actually true or not is irrelevant, because what really matters is our perception of the economic downturn.

A few days ago, I was facilitating a round table at a Chamber of Commerce on the subject of “How to grow your business in an economic downturn”. We had fascinating input from the managers and CEOs who attended. And guess what the conclusion was? For most attendees, the actual impact of the economic downturn on their activity was relatively mild, HOWEVER, almost ALL of them said they were preparing for the worst in the future, and focusing all efforts on boosting their effectiveness ratio, by setting extremely stringent requirements for results with their employees, but also in their dealings with outsiders as well.

So what does this mean? Well, to start with, it means that we often forget the positive effects of going through tough times, but that’s not the point.

The point is

1. BAD NEWS: Companies are not willing to spend freely on stuff that does not deliver measurable, tangible and immediate, rock solid results. Individuals are also expecting better results for each dollar spent. In a word, people want real RESULTS.

2. GOOD NEWS: The other side of the coin of course is that if you’re REALLY good, if you can deliver liquid gold, you’ll make a killing in this environment.

So what’s new?

Well, bottom line is… if you do not have a consistent, reliable, steel-tough method and the accompanying techniques to make a MASSIVE and palpable difference, you’re dead!

So here’s 3 tips that will make a major difference FAST:

1. Meet people where THEY are, not where you want them to be.

Put yourself in other people’s shoes to understand how they see the world, then lead them where you want them to go.

This is a basic starting point, but often overlooked.

Once, I had a lady come to me whose presenting problem was smoking, she wanted to stop. I started to question her about her smoking habits and realized she smoked 2 cigarettes a day, sometimes less; she could stop anytime for any amount of time she wanted, like when she was on holidays. She kept smoking because she found it relaxed her.

Somehow, I couldn’t really grasp how smoking was a genuine problem. So I questioned further, and eventually realised that smoking was not the real problem. What really had brought her to me was the constant anxiety she was suffering from when she was at work.

2. Look for lack of clarity

This is THE factor that will determine success when dealing with someone. 90% of the time,people have problems because of blurry thinking about the matter. Trust me on that one! I had SEVERAL experiences when a prospective client called me to ask whether I could do something for them, I asked them ONE question, they thought for 5 minutes, and the problem was solved.

In fact, about a month ago, a corporate client was complaining that he could not find any good salesperson in Hong Kong; he had to let go the last 3 after a few weeks. I asked him “what are the qualities you are looking for to fill this position?” “enthusiasm!” he blurted out. “Good, and what else” I asked. He looked at me blankly, not knowing what to say. In less than an hour, he had a crystal clear, coherent, unambiguous job description. He found his dream salesman 5 days later.

This is also often true with students as well.

3. Don’t solely rely on the words people say…

A study on communication at the University of Pennsylvania in 1970 by an anthropologist called Ray Birdwhistell (don’t you love the name?) determined that only 7% of what we communicate is done through words, and a whooping 93% is done through non-verbal means (tone of voice, body posture, breathing etc). The match between our verbal and non-verbal communication indicates our level of congruency, and the more congruent, the more we achieve what we want.

Messages are sent mostly through non-verbal means. So, when dealing with people (clients, students, other parties in a negotiation process, staff etc…) look as much as you listen to establish the level of congruency.

Want to learn more?

The NLP Coach day course (in one day, learn the most effective NLP techniques that will boost your results when dealing with people)

The NLP Coach Certification (Become a Certified NLP Coach, and start coaching people right away!)

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A Rabbi teaches his disciple. “Two men go down a chimney at the same time. One comes out completely clean, the other one dirty. Which one goes to wash himself?” The disciple looks at the Rabbi, thinks for a minute, then says: “the dirty one.” “Not at all!” says the Rabbi. “The dirty one, looking at his clean friend, thinks he is clean as well. The clean one, seeing that his friend is so dirty, concludes that he must be dirty as well and goes to wash.”

“Let me ask you another question” says the Rabbi. “Two men go down a chimney at the same time. One gets to the bottom completely clean, the other one dirty. Which one goes to wash himself?” The disciple looks at the Rabbi, totally puzzled: “You just told me! The clean one!” “Not at all!” replies the Rabbi. “The two men look t themselves, and the dirty one goes to wash.”

“Now one more question” says the Rabbi. “Two men go down a chimney at the same time. One gets to the bottom completely clean, the other one dirty. Which one goes to wash himself?” The disciple is lost: “I do not know, depending on your point of view, either or?” “Of course not!” says the Rabbi, “how can two men go down a chimney at the same time and only one of them remain clean? They are both dirty and go to wash themselves.”

Often, the solution to problems depends on the point of view we adopt. A problem-solving coaching style will promote the client’s ability to get out of his/her usual model of the world.

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What are reframes? The process of reframing is shedding a new, positive light on a behaviour or pattern that is understood as negative.

For example, to a father who was complaining to him about his headstrong daughter, Erickson said that this was a quality which will be extremely useful when she grows up and can fend for herself.

How can you reframe how you consider some of your own behaviours?

Want to know more about the art of reframing? Contact us!

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This is a vast question, and many answers have been proposed. In 1957 Karl Jung hinted one possible answer in his book “The Undiscovered Self”. The Conscious Mind (that part of us which is rational, speaks in words and which we are aware of) takes us away from experience. The dissociation between the Conscious Mind and the Unconscious Mind (that vast, symbolic part of us which … you are not conscious of right now, but which contains the programmes behind our behaviours) is at the root of many human problems.

The logic of the Conscious Mind dissociates us from reality itself. The Conscious Mind attaches labels to reality and we become identified to labels, by the same token, restricting our flexibility and emotional and mental freedom. Example: I hate my job, but it pays well. Rationally, there is no reason to feel miserable, but I do. All the rational reasons (Conscious Mind) are here to be happy but emotionally, spiritually, (Unconscious Mind) I am not.

Hypnosis bypasses the critical faculty of the Conscious Mind to work directly at the unconscious, symbolic level by giving suggestions to the Unconscious Mind; if the Conscious Mind is the goal setter, the Unconscious Mind is the goal getter; when the two are aligned, we function at top performance; hence the effectiveness of Hypnotic suggestion in times of stress and confusion.

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