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Hope is surely a good word. You have hope - Isn’t that encouraging? But I find that hope is just a prospect of waiting for the bright side of things to happen. I am sure Hope gives us the confidence that things can be better and it is just in a matter of time that it will. Hope is the holding onto the faith of what we believe in will come about.

When it comes to coaching, I cannot rely on hope. In this context, hope is only 50 % good. When my coach-ee hopes, I become suspicious about his commitment to his or her goal. Obviously, I too, hope that he or she might achieve the goal. But then again he/she might not. That’s the 50 % which is not good.

I hope to become successful.
I hope the government can give us more subsidies.
I hope you will pass the exam.
I hope to make so money.
I hope….etc.

Hope seem so passive. When a person hopes, although he may be doing something about it, his level of believe tells me not to expect too much, because it may not happen. It is not a conclusive yes. It’s just a hope. It’s kind of a comme se comme sa feeling. And you can’t exactly put a finger to which way it might go; going to happen or not? Hope. (I hope you've caught my drift).

In summary, let’s go back to the table.

Belief Levels

Level: HOPE
Doubt: 50 % doubtful. Not sure.
Faith: Not so much.
Passion: Not much
Commitment: On and off. Better than TRY.

Obviously, Hope is better than Try. But they are not good enough to get you to achieve your goals. I want you to move on to a higher level, to the B level. What’s the B level?

(To be continued)

(Mission: To enhance people’s lives so that they might improve their world. To help people Create Wealth).

I know I am in dangerous territory when I am talking about belief; especially when it’s about belief factor. How can anyone sub-divide belief? In its purity, belief is belief, either you have it or you don’t. There is no half measure.

How did I come up with the Belief Factor?

I do a lot of business coaching and what I discovered was that the Belief Factor actually played a crucial role in deciding whether the person I was coaching would succeed in what they were aiming for or not. I found there were basically 4 levels of belief. And if I could understand what level of belief they were at, it would give me a good indication as to the commitment level of the people I coach.

Here it goes. Belief starts from the lowest level which is T then H then B, and the highest is K.

T for TRY

That’s the first and lowest level of belief.

What do you think your commitment level is when you use the word try? Say you are invited to a meeting. Your reply is, “I will try to come”. What does that statement imply? More likely than not it means that you are not coming.

When you are asked to try a piece of cookie, it simply means if you don’t like it, you don’t have to finish it.

I find it very amusing when I get someone telling me, “I will trrrryyyyy my best to be there” and it sounded so sincere. You know what? It tells me that he is definitely not coming. Period. In this context try is just a polite word of saying no.

Honestly you just can’t try.

It’s either you do or do not. No one can “try” to stand up. It’s either you stand up or you don’t.

When I hear words like try(-lah) from a person I am coaching, even if he is serious about his goals, I know he is not committed to achieving it. He needs help. Lots of help.

When you use the word TRY you may not realize this, your subconscious mind is picking those verbal signals up. You know, what the mind thinks so shall be the behavior. People who are in the trying mode never achieve their goals.

My role as a business coach is to shift him to a high gear of commitment. Therefore knowing what his state of belief is a good measure for me.

I came up with a table for

Belief Levels

Level: Try
Doubt: High
Faith: Nil
Passion: Nil
Commitment: Not at All

(To be continued)

(Mission: To enhance people’s lives so that they might improve their world. To help people Create Wealth).

A lot of times it is convenience that leads people to do the things they do. For example, I have a friend who took up a particular degree course in the university. He actually hated that course. But he did it because it was the easiest course to do. I also have friends who hate their jobs. They are still there hacking it out. Some of them chose that job because it was near to home. Some did it for the money. Some did it because it makes them looked good. If they had followed their hearts (passion), they would have done things differently.

They are just like a river. If you look at a river, it does not flow in a straight line. It has to meander down the hill as it passes around rocks, boulders and slopes. Why? That's the easiest path. The path of most convenience or least resistance. It will just follow what the terrain dictates it to go.

That's the same with most people. They just follow the path that seems the easiest, and before they know it, they end up in a rut that they can't seem to get out of. Many times they may attempt to get out of the rut, but each time, after some struggle, they simply give up. They console themselves that the rut is not too bad after all. Why can't they succeed?