Sean Glaze - STAYING COACHABLE: A Story With 4 Questions to Help You Thrive in Change, Keep Climbing, and Enjoy Relentless Improvement

"Pain is God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world...

We are like blocks of stone

out of which the Sculptor carves the forms of men.

The blows of his chisel, which hurt us so much

are what make us perfect.

C. S. Lewis

Copyright 2021 by Sean Glaze

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this book.

Preface

Why Do YOU Need THIS?

The story that follows is really a treasure map...

It will encourage and equip you to choose paths that will lead to the riches of relentless improvement and an extraordinary ability to thrive in change.

It will share four essential elements of the journey that you must experience to get yourself unstuck and begin moving with intention toward a worthy goal.

We are all constantly choosing paths.

Some lead to challenging climbs, and others to comfortable campsites.

And eventually the wisest of us recognize that comfort zones are simply anesthetizing islands that lure us with the siren song of ease only to keep us from the adventure and evolution that adversity inspires

Every day we are faced with two options.

Either we choose the path of complacency, or we chose the path of commitment.

Complacency is easy. It is restful and stress-free until we realize that atrophy has set in - and we have become unwilling to challenge ourselves with the difficult path.

Commitment is the different path.

It is commitment to difficulty and uncertainty and soreness but it is the only path that provides exceptional views. It is the only path that inspires passion and perseverance and pride. And the siren song of comfort is tempting.

You have likely observed this in others

Being uncoachable is really about being stuck in a comfort zone that a person refuses to acknowledge or leave.

And far too often as a young basketball coach, I would list criticisms and point out needed corrections in an attempt to push athletes out of their patterns of behavior.

But when someone is not coachable, those comments and teaching points are lost and never internalized by the very people they would most benefit.

It took a long time for me to realize that you must first work on helping a person BECOME coachable teach them to appreciate being taught and see rewards of being coachable before you share the skills or instruction they need

Because if someone is not coachable, then they will not value or grow from any of the other information you share over the course of your time together

Once coachable, though, they can improve and contribute to any team in any field!

Eventually, in dealing with athletes and teammates in a multitude of industries, I found that we all live with an invisible ceiling that keeps us from rising higher.

And the four main ceilings that limit our growth we usually build ourselves:

The first is the ceiling of contentment

and HUNGER is required to bust through that barrier

The second common ceiling that limits growth is ignoring reality

and HONESTY is vital to moving past that roadblock.

The third ceiling that constrains us is personal pride

and HUMILITY is needed to push through that challenge.

The fourth ceiling we often experience is knowing without doing

and we need to create positive HABITS to overcome that obstacle.

If you have read this far, and are still not convinced that THIS IS THE BOOK YOU NEED, let me offer another few truths that you likely arent yet accepting

You are either stuck on an annoying plateau or you soon will be

You are either growing too comfortable where you are or soon will be

You are either frustrated with your results or you soon will be

You may find you are like many people convinced that you are doing GOOD.

But that irritating itch you feel in your gut is calling to you

And that unintelligible internal whisper you can almost hear in quiet moments alone is struggling to get you to admit the same thing.

• Good enough isnt satisfying.
• Good enough is comfortable but insufficient.
• But YOU are not here to settle for GOOD enough...
• GREAT is what happens when GOOD wants to be BETTER!
• And if you are reading this it is EXACTLY BECAUSE YOU ARE AMBITIOUS.

The reality is that you dont have to be bad to get BETTER.

Many people have taken the step to hire a personal or executive coach.

That is terrific.

But many of those same people dont see positive results from the coach.

They remain stuck, because they arent coachable!

And as I have found with the high school athletes that I coached as well as the teammates and coworkers and leaders that I have worked with in conferences and workshops for decades - uncoachable kids become uncoachable adults.

If you are not getting better, it is likely because you are missing one of the FOUR key ingredients of a coachable person. If you dont want to hit a ceiling if you dont want other competitors to pass you by, then you must STAY COACHABLE !

Being coachable allowed you to reach your current level of success.

From my earlier book, The Ten Commandments of Winning Teammates, one of the most important of the ten traits is Staying Coachable

That is because it is what allows you to develop all of the other characteristics!

Whether you are a teacher, a salesperson, a manager, a nurse, an engineer, or an athlete, your desire to improve and willingness to change are key determiners of your future achievements.