The VIP Approach to Success

Success is not a one-size-fits-all approach. As a coach, I work with many clients who all have different definitions of success. Some want to be corporate execs, politicians, or to write a novel. Others want to be present for their families, find greater balance in their lives, or acquire wealth. 

Regardless of what success looks like for you, I have a simple formula that I apply with my clients to help them to attain the success that they desire: Values + Intention + Purpose = Success.

Values are the fundamental beliefs we hold which guide our actions. Few people are really clear on what their personal values are. If asked, most individuals will share the values learned in childhood that their family members indicated were their values or what they should value. As adults, it’s unfortunately uncommon for individuals to reflect on those values and think, “Is that really what I personally value? Is that what’s most important to me in life now?” 

Getting clear on what values are most important to you in the present gives you the knowledge necessary to align your life with those values. For example, if you profess that the most important thing in your life is your family, then your life choices should reflect that. If they don’t, then it’s pretty clear that’s not really your top value! Recognizing this misalignment means that you have a choice: either you need to change your behaviors to be more in line with your values, or you need to be honest about what it is that you really value in life. 

Intention refers to being proactive and focused. Individuals who live with intention plan their time toward accomplishing their goals – even on their weekends or days off. This doesn’t mean that they are rigid or inflexible, ruled by their planner or to-do list, but rather that they prioritize those activities and behaviors that are reflective of their values. They recognize that time is precious and limited, and make sure that their time is utilized in a way that will lead to fulfillment of their purpose. 

Purpose is what you want your life to mean, what you hope to have as your legacy, and what you wish to be known for. Living your life with purpose means that you have a goal in mind. It’s the why behind what you do each and every day. This is how you create meaning and fulfillment in your life. It’s about doing something greater than yourself – contributing to the world in some way. 

Alone, each of these elements have value. But when you combine Values, Intentions, and Purpose, you have a lens through which you can view all thoughts and behaviors in your life. And it’s with that model that you set yourself up for success – no matter what that may look like for you.  

At Bauman Consulting Group, we provide both individual and group coaching to help people achieve their personal and professional goals. Find out more here.

Ashley Bauman, M.S., M.B.A., B.C.C., is the founder and president of Bauman Consulting Group. She is a board-certified coach, experienced public and social sector consultant, and renowned trainer and workshop leader. 

What is a Coach (and Why Would I Want One?)

 While many people have heard of coaching, few have a clear understanding of exactly what a coach is and does. This prevents people from getting appropriate support for life changes. As a coach the most common thing I hear from people is, “I’m not really sure what a coach does or how they could help me.” 

What is coaching?

Coaching is not the same as consulting nor the same as therapy, but it takes elements from each discipline to create its own unique method. A coach works with individuals who are focused on making changes in their lives. While a therapist may seek to diagnose and treat a client, coaches work under the assumption that their clients are whole, healthy individuals. Coaches ask thought-provoking questions that challenge clients. They create collaborative and individualized strategies, set goals, and keep the client focused on the future.

What happens when someone hires a coach?

While each coach has a unique style and approach, most expect clients to commit to working with them for a set period. This can vary from anywhere between 4-18 months – depending on the changes that the client intends to make. Some coaches meet with clients in person, but many hold coaching sessions over Zoom or the phone. During those sessions the coach will ask probing questions, serve as a sounding board, offer an outside perspective, help maintain motivation, provide strategies, set goals, and ensure accountability. 

What can a coach help with?

Coaches help individuals move forward. They guide business owners as they strategize for growth. They partner with professionals seeking to develop their career path, manage a workplace environment, launch a new business, or find work-life balance. They help students discover career aspirations and plan educational paths. Coaches offer support to individuals seeking to improve relationships, focus on their health and well-being, change their mindset, or alter habits. Essentially, coaches help people create change – even if they don’t quite know what that change is yet.

Is coaching right for me?

Not everyone is a great fit for coaching. Coaches typically like to partner with individuals who have a desire to learn and grow. Ideal clients make a commitment to changing and arrive with some level of motivation to make that change. Since it’s a collaborative process, it’s also important that the coach and the client have good chemistry and feel like the partnership is a good fit. 

At Bauman Consulting Group, we provide both individual and group coaching to help people achieve their personal and professional goals. Find out more at www.baumanconsultinggroup.com.

Eliminating Overwhelm with the Daily Three

Overwhelm is a constant for many of our clients. There are so many tasks that need to be accomplished – at work and away from work. Many of our clients report the sense of running on a treadmill. They’re running at top speed, but they never get anywhere. Overwhelm is common and normal, but it doesn’t have to continue. In the next several posts, we’re going to share some of the top tips for managing overwhelm in your life (whether it’s at work or outside of work). The first tip we’re going to share is how to eliminate overwhelm with the Daily Three.

The first step in tackling overwhelm is to prioritize your demands. That sounds relatively simple, but many of our clients will say, “It’s all important!” Maybe that’s true. But it’s likely not all important today. Let’s walk through how to prioritize your tasks.

First, get out a piece of paper, a pen, and a timer. Set the timer for 10-15 minutes (no less than 10, no more than 15). You choose your number. Then, during that time, you’re going to do a brain dump. Write down everything you have to do – all those things that are giving you a sense of overwhelm. No editing. No categorizing. Just dump it all out of your brain. Keep writing until the timer goes off.

Now, take a critical look at this list. Often, what we find is that individuals who are motivated, visionary types, will often take on other’s problems. These are things that you truly have no control over. So, go through your list from your journaling activity. Cross off anything that you truly can’t control. We can only control things that are internal to us. In other words, I can control my thoughts, feelings, and actions. But outside of that – I can’t control anything else! So, if these items are outside of your control, mark them off your list.

Next, consider if you have the ability to delegate any of these tasks to others. It’s ok to ask for help! If there is someone who can do something on your list for you - ask them to do it! And then mark it off your list. If there is anything else on the list that you can mark off (perhaps you don’t really need to do it or it’s just not that important), cross it off now.

Now your list is paired down to the items that you can control and that you want to accomplish. This is your overall list. Looking at that list may still be overwhelming. That’s ok. We’re not done!

Each day, you will select three items that take top priority for that day. Only three. Your Daily Three. These are three non-negotiables in your day. You must accomplish these three. Why only three? Because the reality is that things will come up during your day – phone calls, emails, sick kids, traffic, headaches, etc. Three is manageable. Three is memorable. And three is often not overwhelming.

After you’ve selected these three, order them based on priority. We recommend that you list the item you dread the most as your first item – this way you tackle it first, when you have the most amount of willpower in your day. Pick the easier task – or the one you enjoy the most – for the last item. Once you’ve ordered these three items, write these on a white board in your office, on a post-it note on your fridge, or in a note on your phone. We like to use the “Stickies” app on our computer to post our Daily Three to our desktop. Whatever method you choose is up to you. Just make sure that you can see these three items.

Now, get to work on those three items for today! And tomorrow, you’ll tackle another three items from your list. Each day you’ll be focusing on and prioritizing only three items – your Daily Three. 

It’s recommended that you engage in this brain dump to Daily Three practice at the start of each week (either Sunday evening or Monday morning – before you get started on your work!). You may find that doing this on Sunday evening even helps you sleep a little better that night. Give the Daily Three a try and come back to future blog posts to see some more tips on how to manage overwhelm in our lives.

The 7 Essential Podcasts for Women at Work

Podcasts have become a favorite medium for business professionals to enjoy insightful content while on the go. The portable, on-demand format allows you to listen on your commute, while you exercise, as you work, or while completing household tasks. There are so many excellent podcasts available on a wide variety of topics – but if you are a woman in the workplace, we’d like to recommend 7 essential podcasts to add to your listening queue. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, serving at a not-for-profit, engaged in public sector work, or working in a for-profit business, these podcasts all offer fantastic advice and insights to help you grow professionally (and in some cases personally as well!). 

1. Courage and Clarity – hosted by Steph Crowder. In each episode, Steph interviews successful female entrepreneurs who took the leap to chase their own dreams and start their own businesses. Each interview is broken into two components. The first focuses on courage or the bravery that led the individual to make the leap. The second focuses on clarity the actual how behind the leap. Listen as each outstanding woman offers words of encouragement and tips for success that can guide us all moving forward.

2. Girlboss Radio with Sophia Amoruso – hosted by Sophia Amoruso (CEO and founder of Girlboss) and Neha Gandhi (editor in chief and COO of Girlboss). In this podcast, you’ll find honest conversations with women at the top – those who have achieved success in their given field. They share insights on how they built their career, the challenges they have navigated, and lessons they have learned along the way. Prepare to be inspired and energized!

3. She Did It Her Way – hosted by Amanda Boleyn. Each week Amanda offers business tips and interviews with women who have successfully left their 9-5 and launched their own businesses. But you don’t have to be an entrepreneur to benefit from these conversations – you can apply many of these ideas to your work no matter the structure.

4. Studio 78: Branding, Productivity, & Business Tips for Creative Women – hosted by Nache Snow. This podcast is geared towards women who work in the creative fields and provides guidance for those looking to launch their own business or create a side hustle. Again, much of these tips can be applied within the organization that you work in, so don’t hesitate to listen if you’re not an entrepreneur! 

5. Support is Sexy – hosted by Elayne Fluker. Elayne uses her journalistic skills to offer business insights, inspiration, and practical tips for women seeking to build their professional lives to their fullest. She focuses her approach on building a network of supportive individuals to create a community of encouragement and knowledge. Elayne assures her listeners that you can have it all, but you don’t have to do it alone.

6. Women at Work – hosted by Harvard Business Review Editors Amy Bernstein, Amy Gallo, and Nicole Torres. This podcast is devoted to the struggles that women face in the workplace around gender discrimination and how to navigate these challenges. They tackle some of the toughest issues that women encounter in the workplace in a positive and pragmatic way. They interview experts, share stories from their own career experiences, and offer practical advice for overcoming these difficulties. It’s a must listen for all women in the workplace.

7. Women on the Rise – hosted by Lara Dalch. In this business podcast, Lara offers listeners a holistic view of success. She focuses on the idea that women succeed and thrive when they approach success through a more balanced approach focusing on health, stress, time management, happiness, productivity, and more. She busts myths around perfection and encourages listeners to create their own vision of success – both personally and professionally.

Take some time to download and subscribe to these fantastic podcasts. And, while you’re at it, head over to the websites for each of these to find great articles, downloads, and content. Invest in yourself today so you can create your own success.

Top Secrets of Success from a Professional Coach

When we began our company 8 years ago, our goal was simply to help other people live better lives. We had some tools available to guide us, but it has really been the relationships we’ve had with clients over the years that have given us the most valuable insight into how people live fulfilling lives – lives where they are healthy and full of energy, feel a sense of purpose and happiness, achieve success at work while maintaining a full life at home, and develop meaningful relationships with others in their life. 

Most of our clients had heard of coaching before, but they were skeptical. They weren’t really sure what a coach would do. But what they all agreed upon, was that they needed a partner in this – someone to be a sounding board and to be their accountability partner. Many were wrestling with a single issue that they decided to get help with: a desired promotion, a desire to make a career change, a lack of work-life balance, or a desire to spend more time away from the office. They were surprised to learn that we didn’t believe in one definition of success. Instead, we spent time learning about what success was going to mean for them. They were also surprised to find that what they believed to be one single issue was actually connected with other issues in their lives. In fact, it became clear that there were 4 main areas that were impossible to disentangle as they all impacted one another. We call these the Four Core Components of Success: 1) Health, 2) Personal Fulfillment, 3) Business/Career, and 4) Relationships. 

This is why our coaching is focused on a blended approach – both life and business coaching. It’s all connected! If you’re not taking care of your health, you can bet you won’t feel very fulfilled, your career is likely going to suffer, and your relationships can take a hit. Not nurturing relationships in your life? Anticipate problems in the other areas. It’s a delicate, deliberate balancing act. 

In fact, every client we work with evaluates their life through the Four Core Components of Success. It’s through this analysis that they can identify the big picture or themes that are the root of the problem. And when we address big picture themes, we create success in multiple areas – not just the one that first brought them in.

But what is it about these four areas that makes them so powerful? They each play a key role in your well-being. When they are out of balance, they can leave you feeling unhappy or overstressed. Regardless of your definition of success, these four components are integral to accomplishing it.

Health: Successful individuals dedicate time to their health. This encompasses both your physical and mental health. They exercise in a way that they enjoy. They eat nutritious foods that fuel their bodies. They practice mindfulness and stress reduction techniques like meditation. They make time to play and have fun.

Personal Fulfillment: Successful individuals focus on their inner self. They can clearly articulate their purpose in life is and what they value – and they intentionally live their lives according to those. They spend time on self-improvement and development (both personally and professionally). They nurture their soul. They read books or take classes. They spend time in nature.

Business/Career: Successful people engage in meaningful work. Depending on your stage of life, this can mean going to work every day, writing the novel you’ve been dreaming about, or volunteering for an organization that is important to you. For some this may mean climbing the corporate ladder and landing that c-suite job of their dreams. For others, it means finding a job you enjoy that can support a flexible schedule which allows you to pursue other dreams. The key is that successful people find value and meaning in their work – it’s not simply a job or a paycheck. 

Relationships: Successful people nurture the relationships in their lives – family, friends, co-workers. They regularly spend quality time with these important people in their life and they foster deep connections. They nurture friendships and have a deep sense of community. They have love in their life and companionship.  

Take a moment to reflect on your own life now. What do the Four Core Components of Success look like for you? Could you stand to make some changes? If you would like to learn about how having a coach could benefit you on your path to success, be sure to reach out to us here. We’re ready to help you put your Four Core Components of Success in balance.