Coach as Instrument: Beginning with the End

This Week's Attunement 

Most of us know about Stephen Covey's second habit of highly effective people: Begin with the end in mind.

Yet, how often do we apply it to our lives?

It can be daunting to think about the end of our life and how we want to experience it. I'm informed by the work of Bronnie Ware, the palliative care nurse who wrote about her experience with terminal patients in the last weeks and months of their lives and what they regretted. She chronicled it in this post, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying.

As Dan Pink talks about in his new book, The Power of Regret, regret, when we reflect upon it BEFORE the end of our lives, is something we can learn from. One of the regrets Bronnie Ware documented, I think about often: "I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings." Dan Pink might call it a Connection Regret. It can feel so vulnerable to express our feelings.

I recently told my brother, whom I've had a difficult relationship with for many years, that I wanted to be closer to him. It was f-ing hard to say. And I'm glad I did because if my life (or his life) ended before I could say it, I would have deep regrets.

What would you regret if your feelings remained unexpressed?

Additional Resource

I recently took the members of my CEO group through an exercise associated with Beginning with the End in Mind as it relates to their lives.

If you are ever looking for a different way to think and plan with your clients, check out this worksheet.

Have an amazing week! And if you know someone who would like to receive this newsletter, please pass it along!