The Problem With Being Self Motivated

"You'd like Thom. Everyone likes Thom. #Thom Porro is a funny, good natured, candid, authentic and the man at the top of his game. A CEO in Seattle, he is part of an executives group there.

A few years ago #Don Aubrey, also part of the executives group,  and Thom started #mountain climbing together. At first they did just day trips, then came a few weeks trip to Alaska.

This day a four man team was mounting their most ambitious attempt yet - #Mount Rainier. The four person party had split up into two two's. Don had paired up with JJ - an experienced female climber - to go ahead and make base camp first. Thom joined Mike, the climb leader, to follow four hours later.

Half way to base camp Don and JJ came to a glacier where #bamboo poles marked the recommended path around a deep #crevasse. A snow bridge offered an enticingly more direct route.

It seemed solid but after Don carefully examined the crevasse, they decided against it and went the longer path. They arrived at base camp later that day and began preparations for the rest of the team.

Meanwhile Thom and Mike arrived at the glacier at 2 in the afternoon. They sat down to eat some lunch and reviewed the situation. They also discussed route options - the snow bridge or the bamboo poles. Thom was leading this next section of the climb.

"I vote for the snow bridge," Thom declared, shouldering his pack.

Thom moved quickly, without roping up to Mike.

Mike stood quickly, in time to see Thom's head disappear as the snow bridge collapsed beneath him.

As Thom fell, nearly seven stories, he glanced off the ice walls. Each hit broke something - a rib, an ankle, a cheekbone, his eye socket and then slam - an ice shelf.

It took hours to extract him from the narrow icebox and evacuated to hospital. Don and JJ could not return down the mountain at such a late hour of the day. The next day they retreated to the city, getting their photos developed before visiting Thom in hospital.

When they walked into the ward the first thing Thom said was, "That crevasse came out of nowhere!"

Don swallowed. This was a moment of truth. The executive group in Seattle had many robust conversations during their time together, and this would be no exception.

Don took a deep breath and said, "You look like hell buddy. I'm awful glad you're alive. But that crevasse didn't come out of nowhere. It was risky enough at ten in the morning. Look at this photo. You got there four hours later, four hours later under the melting full sun. 'What were you pretending not to know?'"

This is an excerpt from the Susan Scott book, Fierce Conversations.

I was reminded of it yesterday when I saw a tweet to a client of mine.

Someone on twitter had asked, why she has a coach. Why can't she do it on her own?

The response to justify why she didn't need a coach, "Maybe I'm just a self-starter, #self motivated, goal achieving girl. No one has to #push me to next level."

This sounds #dangerously #arrogant to me. But hey...whatever floats your boat!

Many people think coaching is just about accountability and pushing people.

If your idea of coaching is being in prison, then I guess this idea of coaching is right.

A great coach, will not just give you accountability, but also help you build a bigger vision than what you have for your business and world.

Don't believe me?

Try me. Call me and I bet my vision of what you can achieve is bigger than the current vision you have.

A great coach does this by getting you to lift your head up once awhile and take a look at where you are and make sure where you are going is the right track.

Being a #self starter and self motivated doesn't equal success. It could be dangerous. It almost killed Thom.

Back to that story about Thom for a second.

In the book it goes on to share the rest of the story.

A couple months later he is able to get back to work and shared a story with the executive group.

"Lying in the hospital forced me to lie still and think about some things I see that they way I approach that crevasse is pretty much the way I live my life. One foot after the other. Head down. Don't look up. No time. Just move. Now, now, now. What's coming next? Sorry, too busy. Got things to do. It almost cost me my life."

See...a good coach doesn't just push you. I've seen some coaches that do the pushing style and they would have been pushing Thom right into the crevasse. How does that serve anyone?

It doesn't. A good coach helps you

• lift your head up,
• look around,
• get perspective,
• create a vision and
• then move in the right direction at the right speed.

As one of my clients said recently about working with me,

"You’re a true blessing and are helping us like no other coach to make impactful changes within our business, at a pace that makes sense. And you ‘GET’ technology, too! Coach D, you’re a dream come true. “ - Julia Fishel

What are you pretending not to know? Stay Productive | Keep Focused | Be Consistent