Appreciation

The doctor looked at me and said, "All is well that end's well." His calm, sincere tone suddenly made me feel much better. Ever heard "leaders stay calm in the midst of chaos." This doctor was a good leader.

On January 13 I facilitated a meeting for 80 people in Las Vegas. During the meeting I realized I couldn't see anything above about seven feet. Then the lights in the room started exploding, except they were only exploding for me. Being the exceptionally astute person I am, I thought, "I need new glasses." So I went to the optometrist, who said, "Something is very, very wrong. I'm sending you to an ophthalmologist." So I went to the ophthalmologist. I sat in the waiting room and started to really worry.

My work is reading, listening, collaborating, writing, and speaking. In a nutshell, it helps to be able to see. I thought I was losing my eyesight. I walked in to meet the doctor, and he said, "How are you?" I said, "I've had better days." He said, "All is well that ends well." He took my concern off of the short term and turned it to the long term. Suddenly, I started to relax. He showed me the x-rays of my eye and explained that I had a partially detached retina. Now why didn't I think of that? He said, "The good news is I can fix that. The bad news is you can't fly for the next eight weeks."

Since 100% of my clients are outside of the city I live in, St. Louis, this posed a tad bit of a problem. My first thoughts were all negative ones. I was worried about the short term again. And then an amazing thing happened. Out of all the lessons I've learned from this life experience the biggest one was an overwhelming sense of appreciation.

A New Reality

It all happened when I realized the doctor said, "YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO FLY FOR THE NEXT EIGHT WEEKS." He didn't say, "I suggest you don't fly for eight weeks," or "It's not a good idea to fly for the next eight weeks." Once I understood that I was dealing with a new reality, I had to stop thinking that the world was the same as it had always been. In the past ten years, I don't think I've ever gone eight weeks without traveling to a distant city. But that was the past. Now I had to come up with a new plan. And this is where the appreciation part comes in.

Has your reality changed in any way over the past year that you need to accept and embrace?

From Potential Crisis to Cherished Moments

Since I couldn't fly, what could I do? Specifically, what could I do that I wasn't doing in the past? Three things came to mind: be with my wife and our two kids a LOT, lose weight, and finish the dozen small projects for my business that I never seemed to have the time to do. I've wanted to be with my wife and kids more for ages, and occasionally it works out that way. But to be a family of four everyday for eight weeks seemed like a dream. To have dinner together every night, to wake up and be able to get my kids out of bed, to play soccer in the basement, to be able to play checkers and watch their dance practices and share "Best Thing/Worst Thing" every night at the dinner table, and be with my wife on a regular basis. It all seemed to be to good to be true.

And I've been wanting to lose 15 pounds for, oh, about 6 years. I was able to drop 12 while I was "grounded." To be able to focus on working out and eating properly, and actually use Bob Greene's advice, turned out to be another huge blessing.

The third area I got an opportunity to focus on was completing a host of business projects that have been hanging out there waiting for just the "right moment" to be completed. Unfortunately, that "right moment" just never seemed to appear.

What have you been putting off that you need to cherish?

Appreciate All of Your Gifts

Then there was the eye. To be able to see out of both eyes normally was suddenly like a miracle. I had always taken my eyes for granted. But when you think you might lose one of those suckers, they suddenly become very, very valuable. Obviously the same goes for a finger, a hand, an arm, a foot, or a leg. Cherish all the gifts you might be taking for granted.

What treasures do you have that you have always taken for granted?

The Journey

There was one trip I had to make. I was scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the Annual Meat Conference, which is a dynamic gathering of suppliers and retailers who supply and buy meat and poultry for grocery stores from butcher shops to supermarkets, supercenters, warehouse clubs, and organic stores. The speech was in Orlando, which is only 1080 miles from my home. The doc said, "You can give the speech. You just can't fly." So with a patch over my eye I set out for my five day round trip adventure.

Again, it turned out to be another lesson in appreciation. I started to appreciate the airplanes I had complained so much about in the past. I appreciated the opportunity to listen to an extraordinary 8-CD program called, "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln." I had the chance to envision what the future could look like. I had the opportunity to think through the details of my keynote message, and refine nuances I otherwise may not have discovered.

How can you turn your long journeys into experiences that you appreciate?

Appreciate Your Mentors

While I'm on the topic of appreciation, I want to share one more story. In December I came across a book by Denzel Washington called, "A Hand to Guide Me." It was about people who influenced him and guided him when he was young. And then a variety of other people wrote about the people who influenced them. I thought, "This would make a perfect gift for the people who have guided me throughout my life." My parents are awesome, but I put them in a different category. This book was for my mentors, those individuals who intervened at key moments and provided me with the guidance I needed to move forward.

I started writing down a list of my key mentors at each stage in my life. When I got to ten names I knew this was going to be a wee bit expensive. I ended up with sixteen names. Two are siblings, one was my first grade soccer coach, one was my seventh grade teacher, two were high school teachers, one was my college soccer coach, one was my first boss, one was my second boss, one was a minister, and the others influenced my work today. I had to Google several of them to track them down. And then I sent the books out. It was just my way of saying thank you to each of them.

Find Value in the "Worst of Times"

My point in sharing all of this with you is that even the strangest moments, even the potential catastrophes, could turn out to be unbelievably useful and wonderful experiences. Deal with the reality you've been handed and look for ways to turn it to your advantage. Accelerating your career and your business results doesn't always mean that everything happens in a linear fashion. Sometimes you're hit by an event that takes you off on a tangent. Find ways to make those moments just as powerful as the normal moments.

Book Recommendations

The Greatest Miracle in the World, by Og Mandino

This is probably the best book I've ever read on appreciating all the things we take for granted everyday.

A Hand to Guide Me, by Denzel Washington

This book is not only inspiring to read, I think it makes a wonderful gift for the people who have guided you throughout your lifetime.

Bonus

My second book, Accelerate: 20 Practical Lessons to Boost Business Momentum (279-pages, Hardcover, Kaplan Publishing) is coming to stores everywhere books are available on May 1st. In this book I've distilled 3,000 hours of on-site executive coaching over a ten-year period at places like Toyota, McDonald's, Marriott, St. Louis Cardinals, and Coca-Cola into 20 management lessons to propel your business and your career forward.

If you want to learn more about Accelerate, click here. Take care and have a great month!

Dan Coughlin

Accelerate Update This section is always current to the current month

I suppose every book changes an author's life to a certain degree. My first book, which was self-published in 1995, was called Inside Out: A Catalyst for Conscious Living. It's out of print now for a number of good reasons. The layout, which yours truly did, looks like something a first grader could do today. And the ideas are very theoretical, which doesn't fit my approach anymore. However, I read the book a few months ago, and I was pleased by how clearly I had explained my early thoughts on improving performance.

My second book, Corporate Catalysts: How to Make Your Company More Successful, Whatever Your Title, Income, or Authority was published in 2005 by Career Press. That book was a step forward in clarifying my ideas on improving performance and understanding how to write a whole book. It's one thing to dream about getting a book contract and another thing to write a 70,000 word manuscript.

My third book, ACCELERATE: 20 Practical Lessons to Boost Momentum, which was published in May 2007 by Kaplan Publishing, has changed my business dramatically. Up until that book was published, I mostly did projects for four companies: McDonald's, Marriott, GSD&M, and Toyota. In the past 12 months, I've worked with business owners, executives, and managers within dozens of small, medium, and massive organizations in more than 20 industries ranging from boats to banks to software to financial services to trucking to lighting to home healthcare to hospitals to optometrists. It's been an exciting adventure.

If you want to see my speaking calendar for 2008, which we'll try to update every two weeks, please click here.

Currently, I have 66 speeches scheduled for 2008. If you would like for me to speak at one of your events in 2008 or 2009, feel free to contact me at dan@thecoughlincompany.com and I will be glad to see if we can make it work.

If you want to see my speaking topics and a video of footage from some of my keynote speeches, please click here.

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