Back when I was in high school, I was a “gas station attendant” (gas pumper) at a local service station.
Pretty glamorous, right?
Back at the small town store I worked at, there were some old-timers who spent much of their days hanging around the coffee pot, shooting the breeze with each another.
One of the most common greetings (that wasn’t weather-related) was the question:
“How goes the battle?”
I heard the question multiple times every day, as they greeted friends and strangers with the same query.
The question is a quirky opener for people, and I’m not sure if it’s a uniquely Canadian thing. I asked an American friend the question once, and he totally misread it:
“What battle???” he asked with a puzzled look, as if I thought he was taking up arms to fight overseas or something.
The question acknowledges that everyone goes through challenges in life. No sense in pretending, it puts it right out in the open.
Someone shared an image in The Coaching Jungle Facebook group last week. It read:
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Three Stages of Life:
1) Birth
2) What the f*ck is this?
3) Death
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For the record, I’m an optimist. But I still laughed at it.
Coaches aren’t immune to the challenges faced by others.
Sure, we’re often better-equipped to handle them because of our experience in helping others through theirs. But life isn’t easy, regardless of who you are.
If you’re struggling at the moment, know that you aren’t alone. Most of the most successful people that you see have to fight through their share of valleys in addition to the peaks that they experience.
If you need some help getting through the battles in your coaching business, this will help:
