By Dr. Nathan Baxter, Executive Leadership Coach
I work hard every week to create margin just for thinking. For a natural doer, I have found that my thinking can become dulled throughout the year as a result of my exposure to the media monsters: real news, fake news, blogs, marketing machines, and my social networks.
Sometimes I spend all my thinking power reacting to what others are trying to get me to think about. I have to find the reset button and more often than not.
The practice of self-examination is healthy. This year I discovered that I had subtly drifted into believing and thus behaving as if I were my own customer. Meaning that all of my business growth strategies were based on making sure I was happy and being serviced. A friend warned me that if I drilled down into my true motivation for coaching I might not like what I found. He was right.
Somewhere along the path, I took a subtle detour and ended up as the customer. This is not what I set out to do when I started this coaching enterprise. I started coaching to come along side leaders and help them move their stories forward.
Therefore, I have made the following note to self: “You are not the customer!” It pops up twice a week and helps me do a quick check on my motivators.