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4 Secrets for Learning New Tricks

Written on August 4, 2009 by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster in Personal Growth

dog_days Today’s post is the second in a five part series on Dog Days. There’s an old saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” If that’s true, then one secret to learning new tricks is …

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Don’t be an old dog!

Of course, we can’t control that in a physical sense. But that’s of less importance than keeping ourselves young in mind and spirit.

We must rediscover that sense of wonder we had when we were young.

Before we were afraid to try new things.
Before we were scared of taking risks.
Before we worried about being embarrassed.

When we were fascinated by new things.
We were captivated with new experiences.
We were curious about the world around us.
We made new discoveries day by day.

Then we grew up and became old dogs.

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marylynn
I told George to speak for himself on that one!

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george Boy, I inadvertently insulted myself on two fronts … in a single sentence I managed to call myself “old” and a “dog”. My point is that sometimes we learn the wrong lessons.

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Picture this: A dog goes for a walk and steps on a bee. It hurts. But instead of watching out for bees when he goes for walks in the future, he refuses to walk at all.

Let’s bring it back to human terms. Maybe you stuck your neck out on an opportunity that didn’t work out the way you planned. So now, when a new opportunity presents itself, you roll over and play dead!

It’s time for some new tricks. Experience is a great teacher, but it’s curiosity that leads to innovation.

The dog trainer

Trainers can work wonders with dogs. The same is true for us humans.

Look for a coach or mentor who has done what you’re trying to do. Someone who has walked the path you want to go down.

Your coach can teach you the tricks you need to get where you want to be. From his or her experience, combined with your own, you can discover how to reach bigg success faster.

A doggy treat

Dogs get a treat when they learn new tricks. Likewise, give yourself a reward every time you learn a new trick or reach a new plateau.

Bigger tricks deserve bigger treats. Sounds kind of like Halloween, doesn’t it? Only here it’s trick for treat.

When you really move that proverbial needle, when you stretch yourself and accomplish something significant for your bigg success, give yourself a treat that has particular meaning for you.

The dog and pony show

Don’t get stuck doing that same old dog and pony show. Stretch your mind by exploring new things. Study things outside your area of expertise.

You’ll find that you bring new perspectives back to your main area of expertise by exploring outside of it. You’ll discover new solutions to old problems.

So we think you can teach an old dog new tricks. In fact, an old dog has to learn new tricks to reach bigg success!

If you’d like to learn more new tricks, subscribe to our FREE newsletter, The Bigg Success Weekly. It’s free!

Thanks for sharing your time with us today. Please join us next time when we’ll discuss relationships in a dog eat dog world. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

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(Image in today's post by mioawee)

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Great Athletes Have One. So Should You

Written on September 3, 2008 by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster in Business, Personal Growth

home_mortgage We were thinking about mentors and coaches recently. In our discussion, we defined them as follows:

A mentor is an informal advisor. A coach also offers advice, but in a more formal way because you’re paying for their services.

We’ve both had a number of mentors and coaches in our lives. Both have been immensely valuable! That’s what prompted our discussion.

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Going where you haven’t gone before

However, since we don’t pay for the services of our mentors, we don’t talk to them as much. After all, we don’t want to abuse the privilege. We’ve talked with our coaches much more frequently, usually every week in fact. It’s part of the agreement we had with them when we signed on for their services.

We love the quote by Bill McCartney, former coach of the University of Colorado. He said,

“Coaching is taking a player where he can’t take himself.”

It seems that behind every great athlete is a great coach – from Michael Jordan to Michael Phelps and a bunch of other outstanding performers not necessarily named Michael!

What a coach can do for you

In this age of personal branding, a coach can do the same for us – take us where we can’t take ourselves. We’ve found that our coaches save us time – we get where we want to be faster because they help us identify what’s most important.

Bigg Success is our baby! We’re very close to it. Our coaches bring us that outside, objective point-of-view that is necessary to help us move forward intelligently.

We work for ourselves. A coach gives us someone to whom to be accountable. We’ve found that it keeps us on our toes. We work ON our business more than we would otherwise because we’re forced to prepare for our weekly sessions. It’s like having homework!

Our coaches also ask us questions that we’re not asking ourselves. We’ve found ourselves looking at our business and careers in new ways – ways we wouldn’t have uncovered on our own to go back to the quote.

How to find a coach that’s right for you

Along the way, we’ve learned a thing or two about finding a great coach. Now we look for someone who has reached a level we want to reach. For example, we recently attended a convention for people with online shows like The Bigg Success Show. We met a man who is very successful with his show. We’re talking with him about coaching us so we can understand how to replicate his success.

Another coach we’ve had, Liz Strauss, was referred to us by a mutual friend. We started following her blog and saw that she was hosting a conference. We attended her conference and got to know her more. We hired her to coach us. She’s been incredibly helpful in pushing us to a higher level.

Mentors are valued advisors that contribute to your success. Coaching is still catching on. Athletes figured it out a long time ago. Now the rest of us are getting it. It takes a small investment to hire a coach, but there are BIGG payoffs for those who do!