Skeptical? Me too. But I'm not afraid to say I was wrong.

Sometimes I'm wrong.

I can be very skeptical when it comes to a whole host of things, but since becoming a Realtor®, I've found that my skepticism has grown.  Don't take it the wrong way and think I pace about all day not believing anything, but in large part due to the fact that we agents are constantly bombarded with calls and emails telling us how to succeed, win, make more money, guarantee us more production...whatever the promise, few people deliver and we all know that.  So we turn inward to our own doubts and fears and shut out most of those who want to sell us something (kind of ironic, isn't it?).

I'll give it a go, but...

When I won a month's free coaching with Tom Ferry I was excited to a) have won and b) see what Tom was all about.  We had spoken before via Twitter, but I knew little about him and what he was all about in terms of coaching.

On our first call, Tom and I talked about expectations and I remember telling him I was skeptical about coaching.  I guess I had heard enough "rah rah rah" inspirational, self-motivational, "be the best you can be" sort of talk in my life somewhere and I just felt it wasn't quite for me.  I don't need someone to pump me up and tell me the obvious.  On that first call, Tom made me promise him to approach our time together with an open mind and an open book policy.  If I was going to get something out of it, I had to open up to Tom (I think he got more than he bargained for in that deal).

The end of a month.

Suffice it to say, I had a blast with Tom.  I actually enjoyed it...even some of the more painful, smack-in-the-face moments where we got down to business and didn't pull any punches.  At the end of my time, I was able to travel to Anaheim for his Success Summit and had a great time and learned more than I could possible explain in any blog post (you think they're long now?).

And then it happened.

After my time with Tom and my trip to California and meeting a ton of new faces and hearing a ton of new stories...well, somewhere in there (not sure when), I realized I wasn't the hardened skeptic I used to be.  Instead, I was open to listening to (in my case) Tom and trying out some new things.  Some were painful (if Tom's email ever gets hacked and released on the internet, the world will know more than my own mother probably), some were thrilling, some were hard, and some took a moment's thought.

Coaching isn't what I thought it would be.

I've now moved into a permanent coaching slot with one of the coaches from Tom's company.  My new coach, Chadi Bazzi, is a whirlwind.  When we speak on the phone, I feel like he gave me a two hour call in the space of thirty minutes.  He's one serious guy and after every call, I feel like I'm ready to take on the world.  But it's not just empty "you are the man" motivational calls - it's actual steps to take to improve my business and my life.  You should see the list of homework assignments I get from him (I never had this much homework in high school) - each one is not only designed to affect change in my life, but to push me to the edge of what I am capable of...until I step beyond even that.

Was I skeptical?  Oh yes.  Am I now?  Not so much.  By diving in and taking a chance (hey, I admit I got lucky and was able to take a free shot at this), I soon learned that although I'm right 99% of the time, that still leaves 1% to be wrong.  Perhaps had I won coaching with someone else I would have felt the same or quite possibly, just reaffirmed my own skepticism.  The only thing that matters is that I have found something that works for me.  Something that I look forward to.  Something that challenges me.  Something that causes changes in my way of thinking that often surprise me (did I just think that?).

While coaching may not be for everyone and Chadi or Tom might not be for you, perhaps there is someone out there that will bring the best out in you.  Maybe it will cost you a fortune, maybe it will be as cheap as a cup of coffee with someone who can pull it out of you.  I don't have that answer for you (although I will say that I'm a Tom Ferry fan now) and you'll have to find it, but perhaps it's time to take a look at some of your skeptical biases towards things and open up a little more.  Give something new a try.  Don't just throw money at solutions in a box.  Instead, investigate, learn, explore, and try and find someone who you can truly communicate with - no holds barred.  You'll be amazed at what you might discover.

PS Thanks to ActiveRain and Tom Ferry for giving me the opportunity to learn something new about myself that I never thought could happen.  Perhaps the word "never" was the problem - my own belief that I couldn't, led to a skeptical viewpoint that in this case, wasn't even close to being right.

photo courtesy of Qole Pejorian with special thanks to the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation for a sign this genius