The Impact of Good Intentions

Recently, a participant from a program that I delivered several years ago emailed me, saying how much she enjoyed my ezine.  In the process of re-connecting, I asked her how she had fared in the recession as a small business owner. 

What she told me not only surprised me, it delighted me.

While financially it had not been a good year, she had a breakthrough in a long-standing dispute with an ex-husband. She attributed her ability to deal with her ex in a more effective way to what she had learned in my program. In her words, "Your classes helped make me strong so that I could do what I needed to do and what no lawyer had been able to do." Photo by greg westfall.

Here's the interesting part. The classes were designed to help small business owners operate with more ease and create greater wealth. This participant reported her best year ever in terms of revenues after taking the program.  However, I never imagined it helping her deal with a nasty ex. 

The nature of coaching is that working on one part of your life can't help but spill over to your entire life. Working with someone on how they show up in business gets to the core of who they are. 

Sometimes we don't like what we see. If you can accept what you see in the mirror, you have an opportunity to choose consciously, to get different results. This is the whack on the side of the head that can be the beginning of living a more authentic life. Photo by NightRPStar

While I used to blog a lot more about my experience being a coach, I've taken the "coaching life" for granted over the last few years. I forget that the impact of our good intentions (as well as our expertise) exists, even if we never have the benefit of hearing about it. In other words, our work, our best work, matters.  How we show up in large and small ways matters. How we interact with our family, colleagues, and clients matters. 

When have you been reminded of the impact you had on others?  And how do you keep yourself from forgetting, when the impact isn't immediately visible? 

Comments

[Sally Spencer-Thomas]

Carol -- I love your quote "the whack on the side of the head can be the beginning of living a more authentic life -- ain't that the truth! Thank you for your mentoring and coaching of me!

[carolross]

Sally--believe me, that quote comes from having been on the receiving end, many times over! The whack on the side of the head comes in many forms--a layoff, a friend's honest words, and yes, a coaching session. One of my coaching friends likes to call it the frozen fish to the side of the head. It's a good visual....

[Debbie @ Happy Maker]

I find that when my grown daughters do certain thing it reminds me of the impacked I had on them. I have to say that sometimes I just OOPS!! they learned that from me. Not so good. The moral of the story is you may be surprised who is learning from you. Keep close watch over your actions!
Debbie

[carolross]

Thanks, Debbie, for your perspective on how our impact can cut both ways! It reminds me of the story of my nephew and niece, who are 17 years apart. When my niece was a baby, she watched her teenage brother drink milk straight from the carton and thought that was the normal way of getting a drink. Yes, we never know who is learning from us....