Freedomway.ca
Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of having dinner with Shawn Shewchuk, Author of "Change Your Mind, Change Your Results" and the #1 results coach in the country (when measured by results and speed of results.)
I was introduced to Shawn because he is currently coaching one of my real estate mentors on his personal growth and business.
Shawn mostly works with high achievers, entrepreneurs and executives to take their "game" to the next level.
Coaching can be a very nebulous thing to many people, it can be viewed as extremely expensive (Often $5000 to $25,000+) and (to the average person) can be viewed as a "rip-off" or a "liability". What I find to be fascinating about coaching is that the world's most successful people have multiple coaches and the more successful a person is, generally, the more coaches they have.
What I have learned in my short time from working with a paid coach and mentor is that an unsuccessful person will view a coach as a liability, while a successful person will view a coach as an asset.
Of course, not all coaches are created equal; there are good coaches and awful coaches. You must discriminate with extreme prejudice. The best way to choose a coach is to find successful people and gather referrals, ask who is coaching them in their success.
Many coaches focus on one topic such as; business, investment, health, life, and success. What I found intriguing about Shawn was that he has built his coaching practice, business and life around a holistic approach to success. He believes that success must be achieved in all areas of life - not just one.
Shawn believes that "Success is not available without balance".
As an entrepreneur, shawn has built businesses, sold businesses and has made very good money in his life, but understands that personal, relationship, health and career all have to work together because "money is important, but (it's) not everything."
As a young, driven, aggressive, male entrepreneur, I asked Shawn about balance. I often find myself too focused on business, goals and success. I will sacrifice anything for success (whatever that means) and I challenged Shawn's idea of balance or holistic coaching by asking him about the Dragon's on CBC's hit venture capital show Dragon's Den.
I have studied many of the successful Canadian entrepreneurs on Dragon's Den and have noticed that three of them have stated on television that "balance does not exist" in their lives. The Dragons are all very driven and successful business people who have sacrificed immensely for their success. When I asked Shawn about his opinion on balance when compared to the Dragon's on balance he replied "There is no such thing as balance; balance is what you make it".
A profound answer indeed. I have always thought of balance as being an subjective pursuit. Never did I imagine that balance could be different for everyone. This really challenged my thinking.
While we were exploring balance, Shawn pointed out that one of the Dragon's had lost his family in pursuit of financial success. Family, no matter how difficult they can be are a priceless once-in-a-lifetime experience. Family members are irreplaceable and trading primary and secondary relationships for a few extra dollars is unacceptable in hindsight.
The #1 concept I am learning from my current coach and from talking to Shawn has been that Coaches get you results and collapse time frames.
What may take a person 5 years to achieve alone, may take 6 months with the help of a qualified coach. I have seen results similar to this in my own business just from a single coaching call and a few emails, my growth has gone from linear to exponential and geometric. I used to do one deal a month and now I'm getting bombarded with opportunities and have achieved 3 deals in a week.
Most people are procrastinators, but what is the opposite of procrastination?
Sometimes it can make sense to define a word by it's opposite.
Shawn defines Strategic accountability as the opposite of procrastination. Where the average person will sit on the couch and eat potato chips, Shawn builds strategies with his clients and holds them accountable to their goals and plans.
Procrastination is an absolute killer for most people because it kills ideas, kills actions and ultimately kills dreams. "Most people don't think, they float through life" All ships that float without a navigator end up smashing up on the rocks eventually.
Shawn has worked with over 6000 people in his career and only 3 have not been successful in their pursuits after working with him. What was their key to failure? People who fail with coaches think that they are going to get a magic bullet to solve their problems over night. I used to experience this years ago when I used to teach guitar lessons to young people. Too many of these young people wanted to be sprinkled with a magic pixie dust instead of taking the REAL steps towards success.
After speaking with Shawn for 30 minutes about coaching and the benefits of hiring one, I asked Shawn the $1,000,000 question:
"How many coaches do you have?"
This is the million dollar questions because whenever someone is in a business or industry, I always want to know how much of their own product they consume. It shows integrity and congruence.
Shawn's reply was very good: "I have three." Although Shawn is located in Calgary, his coaches are scattered across North America on the east coast USA, Toronto and Western USA. I was impressed to learn that Shawn's first coach was Bob Proctor; the man behind the hit movie/book The Secret.
I personally have two coaches at the moment and the strategic planning and goal setting alone has made my business explode in the last 30 days. If you want to speed up your rate of success, begin to search for a coach, and don't hesitate to spend some money. Nothing is free in this life and you get what you pay for. Free advice, although attractive at the beginning, is ALWAYS the most expensive of all in the long term.
Thanks for reading,
Stefan Aarnio
Freedomway.ca
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