In this fourth and final excerpt (8 mins) from my interview with Doug Gfeller on The Coaching Perspective, we discuss:

• My use of social media, and my tips on using it to build your online presence.
• How “GIG” (the “Great Idea Group”) encouraged me to use technology more proactively and effectively.
• How I use LinkedIn effectively, and why the premium version may well be worth investing in.
• The importance of using social media in order to contribute. If people associate you with value, they’ll come back and want more.

Click “play” below to listen to this part of the interview:

You can listen to the full interview, and other interviews with me, on the Podcasts page of my coaching website.

I’ve become a bit of a regular guest on Chris Holman’s radio show, Michigan Business Beat. A couple of weeks ago, we discussed time management – one of the biggest issues facing many people who hire a coach.

In this 6-minute interview, we cover:

• My workbook, Time Management Strategies and Tactics (you can get a copy by following the instructions here).
• Why “time management” is a bit of a misnomer, and we should instead think about “energy management” and where we allocate our energy.
• The importance of saying “no” because of our underlying “yes” to other commitments.
• How life and work fit together, including the concept of life balance and the importance of enjoying your work.
• My “more, less, start, stop” framework for assessing and changing the activities in your life.

Click below to listen to the interview:

You can also visit the Podcasts page on my Barry Demp Coaching site to hear other interviews with me.

With the help of The Quotable Coach readers (thank you!) I have come up with two “finalists” for the title of my upcoming book.

They are:

• The Quotable Coach: Practical Wisdom to Coach Yourself Each Day
• The Quotable Coach: Daily Nuggets of Practical Wisdom

Which do you like best? Just click here to vote.

“It was only a sunny smile and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light, it scattered the night and made the day worth living.”

– F. Scott Fitzgerald, American author

Image from Flickr by rkramer62.

Exercise:

Each time you offer or receive a low-cost smile today, think of it as a form of light therapy to help you and others “spring forward” – just as if you were beginning your own personal daylight saving time.

This is an excerpt from my appearance on BlogTalkRadio’s show On the Dean’s List, with host Dean la Douceur.

In this five minute clip, we discuss:

• How relationships create opportunities and entry points.
• Sending hand-written letters and thank-you notes – and why this is so powerful.
• The amount of choice we have today – and how we make choices between different professionals and service providers.
• The importance of contributing to your community and helping other people.

Simply click below to play the audio file.

If you’d like to hear the whole of my interview with Dean la Douceur (37 minutes), please click here to visit the Podcasts page on my Barry Demp Coaching site. You can listen to it online or download it.

I was interviewed on the Michigan Business Network radio show Business Beat by Chris Holman.

We talk about why I chose to go into coaching in 1992, and how I left my role in sales and marketing to pursue a new career as a business coach.

I discuss my early career, including highlights like attending my first coaching conference in Texas, and the gradual process of growing my customer base.

I also explain what a business coach is, what they do, and how the coaching process works from the inside out. Chris and I discuss the key areas I work in, and the types of people I work with.

To listen to the recording, just click below.

“I don’t measure a man’s success by how high he climbs but how high he bounces when he hits bottom.”

– George S. Patton, US general in World War II

My dad loves golf. He loves to play it and he loves to watch it. Recently, while watching a tournament together, I noticed the commentator describing the characteristics of a golfer. In talking about him, they referred to a term known as the “bounce-back factor.” This term refers to the ability to achieve a birdie or eagle after a bogey or double-bogey on the previous hole.

Rarely in golf or life do we experience bogey-free rounds or successes without setbacks. Our ability to experience these events and bounce back with resilience and resolve, as Patton suggests, is a measure of success.

Exercise:

How often and how long do you stay down when faced with life’s setbacks? What strategies can you employ to bounce back even higher and faster in the future?

“No one ever won a chess game by betting on each move. Sometimes you have to move backward to get a step forward.”

– Amar Gopal Bose, entrepreneur and engineer

Recently, my wife and I purchased an iPad and downloaded a puzzle game that we found difficult and frustrating at first. Our attempts to process through the mazes were often thwarted as we attempted to move forward. As we realized that this strategy was not working, we began to explore alternative approaches to achieve our objectives.

Sometimes moving sideways – and often moving backwards – are the only strategies that prove successful in the end.

Exercise:

In what ways are your life, career, and relationships like a game of chess, where each move is only a small piece of the puzzle? Where could you move sideways, or even backwards, to eventually make forward progress?