It just occurred to me that I started my little company, Performance High, waaaaaaaay back in 2001!  So this year is my 20yr coaching anniversary!  My…the time flies.  The beauty of time is that it gives you the opportunity to make mistakes &, hopefully, learn from those mistakes.  In thinking back over the past 20yrs of working with people, here are 10 things that I’ve learned (in no particular order):

1. You can’t help someone until they are ready for help.
2. Find 30 ways to say the same things because you never know what will resonate with someone.
3. Keep saying the same things over & over because we often don’t “hear” things the 1st time, the 5th time, or even the 50th time!
4. Learning doesn’t happen in a linear progression. Rather it a “1 step forward, 3 steps backward” process.
5. A person’s emotional & mental state is SO more important than their physical performance.
6. What works for me probably won’t work for you. We are all unique!
7. Patience & empathy are my most helpful coaching tools.
8. Seeing yourself as “an athlete” is critical to improving your performance…guaranteed you’ll treat yourself differently.
9. The things we avoid the most are the things we need the most.
10. Quality training is a long, slow process…it takes so much longer than most people have patience for.