The Right Questions Podcast

So, what is a life coach and what do they do?

A good coach can do many things but commonly a life coach helps people with:

·      Clarity and Direction

·      Personal Growth and Self-Improvement

·      Work-Life Balance and Stress Management

·      Relationship Improvement

·      Career and Professional Development

·      Health and Well-being

·      Motivation and Accountability

·      Transition and Change Management

·      Financial Success

This episode talks about who coaching is for and how to choose the right coach for you. You can find out more details by following this link to the website: https://therightquestions.co/find-the-best-life-coach-and-guide-for-you/

How to Build a Personal Network or Team and the Key Roles 

You want to start a grand venture. You are in the driving seat ready to go. But, who do you want on the bus with you? Organisations expert Jim Collins poses this question in the bestselling book Good to Great.  

I love this analogy as it is a picture we can all identify with. For instance, whether we are off on a family holiday, a team excursion or an expedition, we can empathise with checking off to see that we have the right people in the vehicle.

The same goes for whatever goal we want to achieve. 

There are various approaches to building a team or network and this episode introduces 10 key roles that are crucial to an effective group. You can also find out more details by following this link to the website: https://therightquestions.co/how-to-create-a-powerful-personal-network/

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (or MBTI®) is a popular psychometric questionnaire for helping to understand personality types.

The MBTI approach is largely based upon the work of Psychologist Carl Jung (1875-1961). Jung’s research was developed into the MBTI model by Isabel Briggs Myers, alongside her mother Katherine Briggs. 

They sought to apply Jung’s theories to understanding normal behaviour, not just the psychiatric disorders which were of primary interest to psychiatrists such as Jung. Thus, the tool aims to identify and clarify individual behavioural preferences in everyday life.

This episode gives an introduction to Jung's model and the MBTI test and you can find out more by following this link to the website: https://therightquestions.co/personality-types-carl-jung-and-limits-of-the-myers-briggs-test/

Deliberate Practise: The 5 Elements

Don’t underestimate the cumulative effect of applied time. Investors understand the power of compound interest when it comes to money. The same applies to the time we invest in something, including our personal development. If we continue to invest our time wisely and with focus then we can achieve great things.

Malcolm Gladwell in Outliers: The Story of Success did a study that explored the lives of many of the world’s most successful people and looked at the patterns behind their achievements.  One large theme prevails: that it takes a concerted application of time to achieve anything truly great.  Gladwell estimated that it requires 10,000 hours of quality practise to become an expert at one given thing or become world-class in a particular field.  

The key point here is not so much the 10,000 hours but the idea of effective or deliberate practise, something explained in detail by Robert Pool and Anders Ericsson in Peak: Secrets from the new science of expertise. 

This episode outlines the 5 elements of deliberate practice and you can find out more by following this link to the website: https://therightquestions.co/deliberate-practise-how-to-master-skills-and-achieve-goals/

How to Apply the 4 Principles from Atomic Habits (by James Clear)

Starting towards any goal means changing our behaviour and changing behaviour means developing new habits. 

The key to instilling new habits is knowing a bit about the psychology of behaviour. With this knowledge, we can craft new habits to give us the best chance of success. This is where the work of Charles Duhigg and James Clear can help us. 

This episode introduces the habit loop and the four stages of James Clear's Atomic Habits. You can find more detail on the website by following this link: https://therightquestions.co/stop-procrastination-and-start-succeeding-with-good-habits/

Breaking Down a Goal or Mission to Create an Action Plan

To take a mission statement and turn it into something actionable we need to break down the overall mission into constituent parts. We then end up with a hierarchy of larger down to smaller activities. 

These various elements can be called different things, but I think about the overall vision and mission, and then break this down into various goals. Each goal is then broken down into key tasks, activities, and milestones. This then becomes the basis for the overall plan.

We might not achieve every single goal or task. We may need to adapt our plan along the way. But having targets to aim for is important as it inspires action, builds confidence and helps us gain momentum. Once we have a goal we can consider what tasks and milestones will help us achieve our aim.

This episode how you can break down your goal into tasks and milestones, and you can find out more, including templates for making your plan, by following this link to the website: https://therightquestions.co/how-to-chunk-down-goals-into-tasks-and-milestones-to-succeed/

Neuroscience research has proven that slow breathing techniques have positive effects on our central nervous system and psychological state. 

Using effective breathing techniques to slow respiration increases comfort, relaxation and alertness while reducing negatives such as anxiety, stress, depression, anger, or confusion.

The simplified science behind breathing techniques is that changing the rate of your breathing changes your heart rate; if you increase your breaths, your heart rate increases; slow your breathing and your pulse rate will also go down.

This episode introduces a simple breathing technique and you can find out more by following this link to the website: https://therightquestions.co/the-best-breathing-techniques-to-reduce-anxiety/

The Fight or Flight Response and What Happens During Amygdala Hijack 

Can you remember the last time you were nervous or angry? Perhaps you felt red-faced or that your pulse was racing? What you were feeling was a psychological threat state, known as the fight or flight response. 

Whether it was a physical, social or emotional threat, the physiological symptoms and psychological response would have been similar.

Physiologically, when feeling in a threat state, it is common to experience an increased heart rate, shortness of breath, faintness, a dry mouth, sweating and hot flushes, an upset stomach and tense or trembling muscles. 

These changes in our bodies, created by the fight-or-flight response, can help us when we face a physical threat as they are preparing the body to do exactly that – to face and combat the risk or to run away as fast as possible.

This episode explains more about fight or flight and amygdala hijack. You can also find out more by following this link to the website: https://therightquestions.co/how-to-overcome-fear-and-achieve-your-goals/

Everything we do has an element of risk. 

We might decide to act or to do nothing but both options carry risk. Therefore assessing, and managing risk is an important part of completing our goals.

This is how you can use this tool to identify, assess and manage the key risks that you face.

Risk management can become very detailed and complex but the essentials are simple. We need to:

·      Identify the risks

·      Assess the risks 

·      And mitigate the risks.

 By doing this we can create a basic risk management strategy for any task. 

This podcast talks through these steps and you can find out more on the website by following this link: https://therightquestions.co/risk-assessment-a-simple-approach-when-making-life-goals/

Which brainstorming technique do you use to get new ideas? How do you improve your creative thinking? What do we mean by brainstorming?

What is brainstorming and why should we do it?

Brainstorming is about thinking creatively and generating new ideas to start initiatives or solve problems. Effective brainstorming encourages lateral and divergent thinking, allowing us to explore ideas beyond the expected approaches to challenges.

By forcing our brains to think divergently or laterally about something we can come up with new ways, and often multiple ideas, for tackling a problem. 

Forced association (or forced connections) is an effective creative thinking technique, popularised by Edward de Bono, author of the book Lateral Thinking

This podcast introduces three forced association approaches and you can find out more on the website by following this link: https://therightquestions.co/brainstorming-ideas-of-how-to-achieve-your-life-goals/