Choice #3: Seeing the World in a New Way

Posted on September 3, 2010 by pdncoach

“The choices we make are driven by the choices we have.”

“Hogwash!”

The first statement came from a conference speaker heard by my friend and fellow coach, Leanne Hoagland-Smith, as described in her blog. The second exclamation was her response. As Leanne rightly observes, “Statements like this only restrict growth, be it business, sales, innovation, professional development or personal self improvement.”

Perhaps a better statement might be, “The choices we make are driven by the choices we can conceive.”

We are all observers in the world. As a result, each of us sees our world in a particular way and we have three choices.

  1. We can do nothing, allowing circumstances to restrict thinking, subjugating ourselves as victimized, reactionary “pin balls” bouncing off of life’s circumstances or minions who do what we are told, but little more. “The choices we make are driven by the choices we have.”
  2. We can take new actions based on how we see the world, or “how the world is”, with the intent of producing new results. This is how most people and organizations typically approach change on a regular basis. This is still about “The choices we make are driven by the choices we have,” just with more creative energy.
  3. We all have a third and powerful choice, although it is too seldom exercised; that is, we can see the world in a new way, which produces many new possibilities for action – choices – that did not exist before. The third choice requires a different lens through which to focus, as you say. “What else is possible before I make my choice?”

Of course, Choice #3 puts us at The Intersection of Purpose and Now, and it’s an attitude toward life – a point of view – that is available to every observer of the world.

Choice #3 is the choice of the visionary leader, the person who likes happiness and therefore chooses happiness, the person who continues to ask:

“What else is possible?”

So how do we develop the habit of Choice #3? In Why This Work, my most popular and frequently requested seminar, I describe Choice #3 as “looking at things through a different lens to see if we can discover new insights that might help us find the passion necessary to move forward with our work.”

  • Rethink HOW you do WHAT you do, and WHY you do it – go “beneath the surface”
  • Consider how your assumptions drive behavior and therefore the results you get
  • Consider how new assumptions create new possibilities, which create hope that drives your passion for what you do (and the choices you have)
  • Consider realistic but lofty goals to produce the results you want
  • Believing and Doing – the Hardest Part
Come back on Monday when I’ll write about how this Choice #3 practice of “What Else” thinking effects the leadership skills of problem-solving and decision-making.

Join me at the Intersection of Purpose & Now.
Posted in choice, choices, possibility, three choices | 1 Comment

Look, up in the sky. It’s "Influencer!"

Posted on September 1, 2010 by pdncoach

“If you could have any superpower, what would it be?”

This is a fun question we often ask team building participants to discuss in pairs as we hike them to our outdoor “team challenge course”. The answers (and the motive behind them) vary widely. Popular answers include the ability to fly, invisibility and x-ray vision.

Perhaps my favorite superpower is one from my good friend, John Schirle, who would understand and speak every language in the world.

Think of the power that holds – to understand and speak every language on earth. Consider the problems you could solve. Consider the conflicts you might prevent! Since a “common language” is one of the most powerful contributors to optimizing team performance, you would be the next best thing to a common language as a translator for the entire world.

My superpower? I want to be the super hero known as “Influencer!” I want the power to change anything.

Of course, that’s what the authors of the 2007 book Influencer: The Power to Change Anything had in mind. They teach us how to create the change we would like to see in the world using a powerfully simple framework of three principles and six basic strategies.

The key to successful influence lies in three powerful principles:

  • Identify a handful of high-leverage behaviors that lead to rapid and profound change.
  • Use personal and vicarious experience to change thoughts and actions.
  • Marshall multiple sources of influence to make change inevitable. 

The six sources of influence are:

  1. Personal Motivation – take satisfaction from the right behaviors rather than the wrong behaviors
  2. Personal Ability – have the skills and knowledge to perform what is required
  3. Social Motivation – active encouragement by others of the right behaviors and discouragement of the wrong behaviors
  4. Social Ability – others provide help and resources at critical times
  5. Structural Motivation – clear and meaningful rewards for right behaviors
  6. Structural Ability – aspects of the environment make the vital behavior convenient, easy and safe


By following this model, I gain powerful strategies to create rapid, dramatic, and permanent change in my business, my personal life, and my world.  I can change anything.

Back on the path to team building, we also ask participants, “If you could go anywhere, where would you go?” and “If you could solve any problem in the world, what would it be?”

The first question provides the opportunity to walk people through a goal achievement process that helps them as individuals make possible what at first seems impossible. Where would I go? Lechuguilla Cave. But that’s another story…

The latter question typically brings up suggestions of problems that contemporary thought considers to be impossible; thinks like ending war, poverty, hate crimes and cancer. What problem would I solve? All of them! At least all of them that stem from human behavior; I guess I might have to leave cancer to others.

That’s the superpower I would have as the super hero named Influencer! Of course, if we follow the model outlined in the book we all have access to this superpower.  We all can be Influencers! at The Intersection of Purpose and Now.

Join me at the Intersection of Purpose & Now.
Posted in ability, change, influence, motivation, power, problems, team building | Leave a comment

Priorities: Why Don’t I Do What I Say I Want to Do?

Posted on August 30, 2010 by pdncoach

Just because you WANT something to be a priority in your life doesn’t make it so.

That’s how we end up “making excuses” for not acting on what we THINK are our priorities each day.  Following is an example.

My client says he wants his number one priority to be Physical Health. This goal category includes a specific goal weight, which involves losing 100 pounds, and exercising for one hour daily.  Yet, when asked to travel and give a business presentation in Minneapolis, does this desire for health show up in his decision-making or actions?  Let’s see…

  • When he is at first asked to make the trip, he eagerly agrees (a chance to share his expertise with an audience – now that’s a priority he’ll act on).
  • When planning the itinerary with his sponsors, he never mentions or thinks about the promise he has made to himself – when and what he’ll eat or when and where he’ll exercise each day.
  • When planning his first day, he thinks “I have to get a good night’s sleep and still make my flight on time, so I’ll just grab something to eat on the way” (instead of healthy food choices). 
  • When asked to stick around a while after his scheduled seminar to further help participants, he graciously accepts; after all, his public awaits.
  • When asked to join his sponsor for dinner, of course he accepts without condition; to do anything else would be rude!
  • After dinner and drinks and several hours of engaging conversation, he’s so tired he cannot wait to get to bed…

Nowhere in the course of accepting the invitation, planning his itinerary, traveling or fulfilling professional and social obligations with his sponsor and host does he mention his Physical Health goals or even privately consider them. In fact, other than periodic moments of guilt and regret, he barely thinks about this priority – this grand intent for his life.

And all it might have taken to make Physical Health his priority with these very same circumstances is to have, from the initial request, made it known that he must allow time for an hour of exercise in his itinerary and for making healthy eating choices.

Don’t let the mood of the moment interfere with the intent of your life. 

Don’t just make a list or “decide” on your priorities:

  1. Establish specific goals to achieve that help you live out your priorities and keep them in the forefront of your thoughts, decisions, plans and actions.
  2. Make known to others that your priorities MUST take precedent for you.
  3. Schedule your priorities (instead of prioritizing your schedule) and work everything else around them.
  4. Your priorities are MUST DO; everything else is a “should do” or a “can do”.
  5. Review your priorities regularly, as well as the manner and degree to which you are acting on those priorities each day, week or month – On Purpose.
People will not be “put off” by your priorities. People of good character will see you as a person of conviction, a person who lives according to your Values, a person with the Courage to live life on Purpose in every moment, not just when when your purpose is convenient.
Join me at the Intersection of Purpose & Now.
Posted in circumstances, desire, goals, priorities, regrets | Leave a comment