Mind Walking from problem to solution

How I Created and Claimed a New Category in a Highly Profitable Niche

For the 25 years that I’ve been a personal development coach I had always struggled to find a way to precisely categorize what I do — then I found a solution.

I have noticed that moments of inspiration arrive at the end of long periods of hard work.

In this instance, I had been making a concerted effort over several weeks to define exactly where in the market I belonged as a coach and writer. I was focused on what is different about the way I think and work. To clarify my thoughts I was writing a lot of stories and articles online.

I wrote about how I don’t have set ways of coaching. How each client is a completely fresh challenge. I wrote about how I always look for new, more interesting, more creative ways to explain how human beings operate themselves. I wrote about how I encourage clients to think in different ways. I told how all coaching is in fact self-coaching because in the end, the client has to do the work on themselves.

This is how I pulled together the diverse thoughts whirring around in my head.

Jump out of your box

An early influence on my journey of self-discovery was Edward de Bono’s book Lateral Thinking or thinking outside the box.

From that starting point, I explored the other major influences on my life. I remembered my great uncle Vic who had been a paratrooper in the Second World War. When I was a small boy he used to tell me hair-raising stories about the battles he’d fought. He claimed that he always knew he’s be OK because the archangel Gabrial had sat on his shoulder to keep him safe.

Throughout his life, great uncle Vic chatted with the archangel, whom he called Gabe.

Analyze your performance

When I’m coaching someone I focus on getting them to really understand themselves and how they do what they do because this is the only starting point from which someone can improve their performance.

I was inspired by a paragraph in Drs. Newman and Berkowitz’s wonderful book How To Be Your Own Best Friend where they said:

“People will go to a lot of trouble to learn French or physics of scuba diving. They have the patience to learn to operate a car but they won’t be bothered learning how to operate themselves.”

I made it my business to find a way to teach people how they operate themselves. Then I found ways to show them how to take control of their own operating systems so that they could be in charge of their lives. My coaching methods were my own inventions.

My methods work well, but only if my clients take charge of their own minds and actually implement what they have learned.

Make friends with your alter ego

My struggles with anxiety led me to start meditating and to the teachings of The Buddha.

The greatest distraction when I’m meditating is my chattering mind. I often give up the unequal struggle for perfect calm and start talking with my imagined Buddha. As I came to enjoy these conversations more and more so the Buddha became a wise and inspiring friend. We got into the habit of chatting not just when I’m meditating but also when I’m walking with my dogs or sitting in boring meetings.

I named my friend my Buddha Buddy. He became my constant companion and guide in the same way that Gabe had been my great uncle Vic’s guardian angel.

Blend different ideas

As I thought more deeply I realized that in order to define my category I had to blend together;

• My unique way of coaching people to get them to understand how they operate themselves.
• The concept of having an alter ego buddy with whom to chat amiably to explore knowledge and create ways of solving problems.

I needed a creative way to express that I coach people to improve their performance so they overcome their frustrations i.e. solve their problems. At the same time, I needed to suggest that this was something really different.

What do you actually do?

I decided to write one clear sentence that describes what I actually do when I’m coaching and how it benefits my clients.

This is my sentence:

“I coach people to clearly define their problem, then to chat through the problem with their alter ego in a structured way that enables them to find a workable and inspiring solution so they can move forward with their careers and their lives.”

My sentence sounded longwinded, but it had all the ingredients.

Make it simple and elegant

Steve Jobs used his experience of calligraphy to drive his search for simple, elegant solutions.

When I’m walking my dogs I chat with my Buddha Buddy. We talk about the issues that are currently in my life and what I can do about them. These walks inspired the idea of Mind Walking or walking problems through my mind in a structured way so that I find solutions whilst chatting with my Buddy.

And that last sentence gave me my slogan, “from problem to solution.”

That is my new category:

Mind Walking from problem to solution.

Mind Walking is now the focal point of my coaching and my writing about how to overcome career stresses and frustrations.

I will be writing more about Mind Walking and about how you can define your own category.