365 Coaching Tips: 307th, 308th & 309th

November 3rd Coaching Tip: Be Advanced.

When you quit learning, you’re dying. The coaching tip for today and these next three days all weave together: are you advanced and want to stay advanced in a skill that you have? Do you want to attain mastery and become elite? How are you continuing to learn?

This week I was able to be around the best talent in our financial industry, learn from them as well as share tips that we felt were relevant for their teams and the practices. The talent was advanced; they showed up at 630am in the morning, and were learning/sharing over dinners that went to 9pm. Choosing to be advanced is an intentional decision to be better than average. That takes dedication and discipline. Be advanced!

November 4th Coaching Tip: Be Elite.

Alot of people want to be elite, yet don’t take the time to be elite. Say what? Yes that’s right. To be elite, it takes time to be elite. I worked with two leaders today who are taking time on Fridays to focus on what they want to become as leaders, and how they want to lead their high-functioning teams. It will take time for both of them to think, then write down their thoughts on what they want to become elite at and why is it so important, then clarify it more by sharing it with trusted colleagues, which typically results in further improving it. Most importantly, role modeling what you want to be elite is crucial. Actions speak much louder than words. It will take work, commitment, habits that are stacked for your benefit to become elite, etc. To be elite, be ready to spend time on what it will take to be elite. And then do it…daily.

November 5th Coaching Tip: Want To Learn.

My mother continues to learn, nearly every day. She’s pushing 85 years old, and watching PBS about the Revolutionary War, Finding Your Roots, and Rick Steves travel documentaries on places that she’s never visited. She has the desire to learn; this keeps her relevant and her mind engaged. When someone in our family or her friends group mentions something about going to Scotland or Italy, although my mom has never been to either country, she can be a part of the discussion because she probably just watched a show or educational series on it.

I am wanting to learn more and more about AI; there is so much money and focus on AI right now, and I want to be on the leading edge of learning how to use it and understand the benefits that it can provide. Want to learn, whether it is a new technology, about a new person, or a new location on our beautiful planet.

Struggle with your Mother Daughter Relationship?

For a decade or more, my mother (Barbara Janice Hughes Wilfong) and I have realized that we have something really special. We get along really, really well. A true lifelong blessing. And many of my friends, all of them from now all the way back to grade school friends, just love my “Mom Barb.” They ask about her, want to see her, admire her fashion and jewelry, want to receive a hand-written note with her lovely hand-writing, spend time with her, listen to her, share their story or issue with her, eat her delicious home-cooking, hug her, ride in the car and talk with her…the list goes on. You get the point!

During the COVID pandemic, Mom Barb and I took the opportunity to do a few projects, intentionally. The first project was pulling together all of my old t-shirts, and some of her t-shirts, and we then designed a t-shirt quilt. Mom Barb found an online group of quiltmakers, and got it done and delivered in August 2020. Then Mom Barb went thru her jewelry, and her mother’s jewelry, and she shared some pieces with me that she knew that I would willingly wear now. Today, I’m wearing some pearl studs. The third project had been started, stood in standstill, and then renewed itself again after we both were vaccinated in Spring 2021: drafting a book, highlighting the A-Zs on having an outstanding Mother Daughter Relationship.

So get ready to laugh, to cry, to think, to reflect, to take action, to love, to forgive, to make the extra effort, to stay quiet, to be supportive, to listen, to learn from, to help, to teach, to support, and on and on. And we will deliver it in an easy to grasp, from “A to Z” format.

Stay tuned. If you have a great story about your mother daughter relationship, please share it. If you’re struggling with this important relationship, I pray that our series of blogs/articles will help you and others.

Jen Wilfong, Sept 21, 2021