When the obvious is not so obvious

When I think back to the most powerful moments that I've had as an individual being coached, I always marvel at how the profound bits of wisdom were so obvious yet I did not see them. I was literally blind to the possibility or solution that after the fact seemed so obvious that I sometimes felt silly.

Maybe you've had this experience if you've been coached? Or maybe you've had this experience when you've coached someone? (I've had those too.)

Because I've experienced this firsthand as a client, I'm usually on the lookout with my own clients.

It's the time that, as a coach, you might almost not say "the thing" because you feel that there is NO WAY your client doesn't know it or at has considered it and said no. My mental gymnastics typically include thinking that there must be a good reason they have not done, tried, or at least considered the thing!?!?!

Except that, more times than not, there's usually NOT a good reason.

So time and time again I'm reminded: never assume that your client "knows" or see things as you do. In fact, that was why I personally hired a coach in the first place. I felt that there had to be things I did not know or see (and I was right!).

I mean this with all respect to myself and all clients: People have a fascinating ability to be "dumb" about their own stuff!

So I've made it a practice to always offer the thought or tidbit or suggestion. In these moments, I usually have to get out of my own way and be willing to take the risk of saying "the obvious thing." I know I have, at times, shied away from offering the obvious because I wanted to impress. I thought the obvious was not that impressive - except that it usually is in all of its truth and simplicity.

OK, so why am I bringing this up? I had one of this "wow how obvious" moments recently in our Masterclass with Bower Himes, the AI expert we've told you about. I had my worry-blinders up about the legal implications of using AI and had lots of how-in-the-world-am-I-going-to-do-this chatter going on, muddying up the waters of my mind. I was making this AI thing hard, complicating how I was going to implement it. You can see this interaction take place live in the masterclass (around minute 20! LOL). I literally had an a-ha moment when Bower offered one little nugget about using AI with clients: get consent! DUH!

I had made the conversation about AI and clients so complicated that I had not considered the most simple answer: ASK. And Bower's consent discussion shed the right light on it for me.

So much so that we pulled out that piece of advice (with 2 others) and included it in our 10-minute workshop that we are sharing for free right now. If you are a member of our community, you already have access to that workshop and more in your AI Starter Bundle. But, this free workshop is only available to the public until TOMORROW night! If you have someone that you know would benefit from this conversation, please forward this email to them and have them check it out!

And if you think they already know everything about AI ... maybe test the theory of offering the obvious and send it to them anyway! :)