Career Coach Blind-Sided by Lack of Focus
Little did I know that I would have to bale myself out of an embarrassing situation when I began my career talk that evening.
There were about 40 people in the audience, including another presenter and a coach associate in the back of the room, as I walked to the front of the room. My co-presenter had warmed up the participants well with her opening story and I continued by talking about ways in which we sabotage our own effectiveness towards goal achievement. I shared a distinction about focus
that had been taught to me years ago in a workshop.
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But first I needed a volunteer from the audience to help me out with my demonstration. I needed someone who believed they could not catch a ball and I was about to demonstrate how that wasn’t actually true if they shifted what they focused on. I looked around and saw a few folks staring back at me, but nobody raised their hand. After a minute I thought I saw a woman put her arm up and I said, “the woman in the pink there, yes, will you please come up to the front?” A woman moved slowly to the aisle and began to make her way up front.
I told the woman to stop when she was about six yards away from me. Then I brought out a tennis ball. “You can’t catch this you say? Well don’t try. In fact, just put your attention on the seam of the ball as the ball spins towards you and tell me which way the ball is spinning. In other words, notice if the seam is coming towards you horizontally or vertically, okay”? She seemed to nod that she understood. So I proceeded to throw the ball to her and she didn’t catch it and didn’t appear to be trying to catch it. She was also vague about which way the seam of the ball was coming towards her. I repeated my instructions and tossed the ball not once, but two more times! I told her to focus more on the seam of the ball!
It was at this point that I noticed a little uncomfortable shifting in the audience, a few whispers and a coach associate in the back of the room waving her hands at me to STOP, as if she was flagging down a plane.
It was then that reality hit. My “volunteer” was BLIND.
I quickly thanked her for her effort and awkwardly escorted to her seat, telling the audience, “well, this didn’t go quite as planned…but what I was attempting to demonstrate was…” and I could have easily added about myself, “‘um…that’s what happens when you’re not focused” (cough-cough). Later I shared much laughter over this with my associate coach friend and I learned to let go of it in terms of self-blame, but it has still stood the test of time as a good reminder to me over the years to be not so focused on what I have to say, but more to who I am saying it to.
Life Coaching, Career Strategizing @positivethinkingway.com and @creatingatwill.com 310.645.2874
Tags: career coach, coaching, goal, goal focus, lessons on the job
July 1st, 2009 at 8:07 pm
That is a great story and so like you to be so open to tell the tale on yourself. Besides being a good example of being unfocused, it makes all of us feel better to know we’re not the only ones who make gaffes.
Lynd Malerstein
http://powerjourneys.com
Feel the Freedom of Letting Go!