The Right Questions

The Right Questions

By

Steven L. Keough a.k.a. Coach Steve (MC², MBA)


Who is challenging you with the "right" questions?

With a Life Coach (Personal Coaching) or Business Coach (Executive Coaching) on your side, I guarantee that you would be challenged by the "RIGHT" questions that a personal coach would be asking you. If I, Steve Keough, were your coach, as in my Top Gun Program, you would be extremely challenged! Top Guns are the top 1% of the people in our coach program.

The "right" questions concern me when it comes to people achieving "ALL" that they want from life. The reason for that is because most people, a full 90%, under-achieve. It's not intentional for most of us, it's just a proven fact (by the scientific community) that we only produce about 10% of what we are capable of producing, but why is that? It's because of the questions we ask. They demand answers that don't really stretch us to be all we can be.

Most of us are "playing to small", meaning there are both bigger and better things we could be achieving, but because we self govern in our freedom based society we play it safe and shoot for comfortable little accomplishments. And the worst part is that your very own brain plays a part in this. Your brain is hard-wired to protect you and keep you right where you are - in your comfort zone. So the brain panics when it thinks about stretching, especially really big stretches.

It's easy to play is safe and let your centurion (your brain) talk you out of certain things. For instance bungee jumping. That's a huge stretch for most, but you may first think either a. that is exciting or b. that's friggin nuts! In either case, you are willing to entertain the possibility of doing the jump. This is very significant too. Because how you do anything is how you do everything, so if you are completely shut off to doing it, that tells me you are limiting yourself in other areas too. And the part of your brain that rationalizes, right now is saying "He is nuts."

Perhaps I am, but I am very happy, very healthy and financially free, how about you? Now I'm not being sarcastic or braggadocios, because I wasn't always H,H&FF. There were many stretches over my eight year working on self span that I said "No way I'm doing that" then did every one. I wasn't crazy about all of them either, but I grew immensely from them all.

So what's this really about this questions trickery? It's about YOU being all you can be and YOU getting EVERYTHING you want from life, realizing nobody is going to hand it to you, YOU are going to have to do the work. And that work starts with the RIGHT questions. Now these questions are different for everyone, because each person is their own individual, so we put people through a series of steps (curriculum) of training-coaching, that opens them up to something different, something bigger, something bolder, something that will stretch YOU!

A "Stretch" as they are called is meaningless if it is too small. A stretch is designed to get you out of your comfort zone (or death zone as I call it) and have you play at a different level. You see once you stretch yourself, however you stretch, you can't go back to the old you because know YOU KNOW you are capable of more, so the trick is to find the next stretch.

We should always be stretching, but that's a challenge too, because again your centurion wants you to stay on the coach in comfort (and watch the world go by). So you may have to "Trick Yourself into Success." My good friend and fellow coach Peter Kraus (he coached me for a while too) explained why this brain trickery was so necessary. In short, because we are hard-wired to stay small and protected, we have to fake our brain out in order to move past most mediocrity. We have to conciously beat the system, by taking bold and courageous steps.

Because the brain cannot tell the different between the truth or a lie, you can lie to it as a measure of getting what you want, or trickery. But it will mess with you - that protective brain.

For instance, you think well I don't really want to Bungee Jump, but I've played it safe my whole life, so damn it, I'm gonna jump. The night before the jump you might not sleep because your brain is working overtime to stop (limit) you. The morning of, the brain involves the body and you shake nervously a little bit, then when you pull in to the Bungee site your stomach sinks and you think I must be nuts to do this. And trust me, when you look down from that platform your brain will want you to crap a coconut! But your at a critical point in your life then, jump or don't?

Will you back down like you always have, the centurion wins, and you are jailed to a life of 10% and mediocrity or jump, scare the shat out of your brain and grow like never before? Your choice! Use it wisely. I use an extreme example like a bungee jump to get you to understand and see what I mean, but the brain does not know the difference between the stretch of jumping or the stretch of leaving a boring, uninspiring job (but the centurion still wants no changes for you).

Because we "Self-Govern" in this free world (other than breaking laws) we have "choices" so the only thing that can hold us back in this world is us. We are too smart for ourselves sometimes. The brain always sees everything as a risk and tolerates low level risks like crossing the street and messes with your head on supposed high level risks such as airplane travel. But the brain doesn't have all the facts in its irrational limiting of your life. For instance, on a typical long (3-day) weekend 50 people are killed in motor vehicle accidents, EVERY long weekend. In that same long weekend, airplanes have crashed only ONCE ever. But your brain worries more about a flight, or worse, creates FEAR (false evidence appearing real) where some wont even get on the plane at all. Yes I've had to go on a flight with some of my clients as life skills coaching!

You brain thinks it's better to keep going to your lousy job and paying the existing bills (which data shows 60% of people are over their heads in debt). Is that a trap or what? To me that is jail! But it is jail with bars only right in front of you, there is nothing to either side or the back, yet you sit imprisoned by your brain (doubts, worries & fears). As my good friend Cliff Yaguchi would say "Step Left." Yes, step around it and continue your life, or sit in prison indefinitely.

What are the best questions? Well too many for a blog for sure, but I can tell you this, we know that anyone and everyone who goes though our system has to navigate what I can the "21 Building Blocks of Success" and if you would like a copy of the handout for this, simply email me for a complimentary copy. When you have navigated all 21 building blocks, you will have asked yourselves hundreds of questions, the right questions, and some many times over. But at the end of the day, you are a step closer to the life of your dreams rather than behind the self-imposed bars or brain imposed bars. It's tough to do without help and support.

It is not easy to trick yourself into success because it takes a whole new level of discipline and many people who come into our coaching programs don't have any level of discipline, never mind a whole new, stronger level of conviction, designed to trick their brains into shattering the limits.

You may need an action coach, or a career coach or a life skills coach for this. Perhaps a free coaching session could help you? Or maybe a few coaching products or self help books to get that straight forward coaching you desire. I'd be remiss if I didn't remind you that Grants are available for businesses and Rebates are available for individuals and families. It's not likely you get rich quick, an executive business coaching program may be needed or life coaching may be needed to help you break through to the next level and leave the jail bars behind. Choose!

Imagine all the ways that you could benefit if you were able to control your brain in such a way that you could shut it off on demand as needed, not permanently, because there are times when you need it to protect you and you don't want to lose that safety. But at certain times, such as when you are making promises to yourself, making commitments to others and setting stretch goals for your life, those would be the ideal to put the brain machinery into neutral.

So I ask you again. "Who will ask you the RIGHT questions?" You see the way you are going now, you may answer all the wrong questions correctly rather than asking all the right (more difficult) questions of yourself. It's not likely you'll do that by yourself at all, and even if you did, you likely wont get it right as this is a practice that requires guidance and familiarity to get it right. So who will help you? Who will stretch you to the NEXT level? Who knows the right questions to ask? Who will hold you to the answers after you are questioned, especially when your brain gets involved and starts making everything safe and secure, limiting the heck out of everything you want from life. Are you capable of more? I'd venture to say yes. Do you care? Who will hold you 100% Accountable and not tolreate excuses or BS?

That only you can answer, However, if you answered YES, then you realize there is more to life than you have experienced and there is more to life that you desire. How will you get all that? You may benefit from coaching, but if you answered yes, you must try something different. The last thing you want to be haunted with is a life of regrets. That is a jail sentence.

We all have "life-long intentions", things we have always wanted to do and if you have done ALL of them great, but if you haven't you may regret that later. If you are living a life of happiness, health and financial freedom and that is your result CONSISTENTLY, you may have unlocked these lessons and are applying them to you life. Congratulations! If you haven't yet and your result is a mediocre existence, a little bit of money and infrequent moments of happiness, or worse a memory of happiness, not such great health and you are still pretty far away from financial freedom you absolutely must take action, then I would encourage you to now "step left!"

To Your Greater Success!

All the Best to YOU and your families…Coach SLK

ps.... Visit my website at www.stevekeough.com to request your copy of the 21 Building Blocks of Success.