Hello friends. Welcome to coach to coach today. We have a special treat that one of my colleagues and past guests, Elaine Wright had offered to the reverse roles with me and let me be a guest on my own program. So, you know, now I'm in the hot seat. I'm the one that has to answer these questions. So let's see how I do thanks for being here.
So welcome to the coach to coach program. And today's guest is Greg Fisher. Greg is a coach and a, an entrepreneur. He's a CPO, that's the chief potential officer at his business team unleash your potential. Greg coaches, athletes, leaders, and managers, to understand and leverage their state of mind to improve their performance and general wellbeing. And Greg and I appears in Jamie Smart's clarity certification course during which time Greg and I have enjoyed some very,
very insightful enlightening dare I say, and deeply connected conversations. So thank you Greg, for joining today. It's so nice to see, So nice to be here. Thanks Elaine. Thanks for offering to do this. It's such a treat to be on the other side of the desk For a change. And so the way I'm going to start, this is just asking you first question and what first sparked your interest in coaching?
Yeah, it's interesting because I think it was the first spark is not necessarily from the coaching, but from a personal development. And then working with people aspect was early in probably 2001 or two. I by happenstance came across Stephen Covey's seven habits of highly effective people. And literally hadn't put the book down for like 20 years. I think what it was now that I know what I know now from doing these programs with you and Jamie is what happened to me when I read that book is I just got bombarded with insights.
I just, in so many things that I read in that book kind of rang true to me and it excited me so much. I'm like I have to bring this into my work at the time I was managing a small group of people and I just basically incorporate that into every job I had since then, every time I built a team or manage people,
I would, you know, coach them on the seven habits. Although at the time I wouldn't have called the coaching, but now when I look back, that's exactly kind of what I was doing. And then we fast forward to February of 2021 and I saw Jamie was doing, hosting a free masterclass on Facebook about, you know, he was calling it coaching obviously.
And I thought, well, you know, I'm, I'm getting into some leadership consulting work and stuff. This, I think a lot of this pertains to that kind of work little did I know that that free weekend masterclass, which turned into me signing up for thriving coaches blueprint was turning into signing up for clarity coach certification training, which is now turning to me,
signing up for the advanced program for next year. And so it's, you know, I think the, the spark is that excitement of seeing what a difference an insight can make in somebody's life and that's my own life and in the lives of other people that you touch as well. So, Yeah. Yeah, but it's, it's lovely to hear how just,
you know, albeit an insight which has no form or shape or size or anything else can, can, you know, bring somebody to just such a huge commitment through moving through the clarity work and the TCB and moving on to the advanced fabulous. Absolutely wonderful. Yeah, indeed. So tell us a bit about your business, Greg, and you know,
how you're working and who are you helping? Sure. When business has a lot of different aspects to it, I do some online courses and I, I build some no-code apps and things to help support people's businesses, but the primary focus in my business has been shifting and more so lately to coaching. And it started off coaching. The people that I'm familiar with,
which having a 20 year career in business was business leaders and managers in particular, I started off focusing on new managers. Like I spent some time in my last job working with MBA co-op students and I loved it. It was like, you know, having a ball of clay show up at work and I just got the mold and, and help, you know,
help them kind of learn about the management and leading people. And so on. I was trying to give them something beyond just what they would learn in a, in a typical co-op placement. So I really like working with those people. I mean, most new managers, the reason, the way they became a manager, they were a very good performer as a sole contributor.
And they've earned the right to become a manager, but like most companies, at least that I'm familiar with, they promote people to manager and they just kind of like throw them to the wolves. It's no a training or, or anything. It's kind of learn a baptism by fire sort of thing. Right. Like learn as you go. And there's some pretty fundamental things that I've learned both from Covey's seven habits,
but also from Jamie's books, clarity and results, shameless plug over my shoulder here. You can really help people and save them, you know, potentially years of grief and suffering. And just by doing a few little things and looking at things a certain way. So those are the kind of people I like working with. And it's funny because some of the clients I've had to have been,
you know, people that are stuck in their career and things like that. So I love helping people kind of get unstuck Stuck seems to be a big word. Yeah. Fabulous. And can you share an example of some examples of how coaching has helped or you or clients? Yeah. I'd love to I'll I'll give you one, one of each, if that's okay.
I mean, one of the things I've loved about would beat on Jamie's programs that no, I wasn't even aware it was on offer. A part of the program has been the peer coaching, you know, and that's how you and I came to, to get to know each other. And in the spring last year, it was on thriving coaches, blueprint.
My dad had just moved into a retirement home and my mom had passed away February of 2020. So, you know, we're all adjusting to like our new realities of, of what a life post, you know, without my mom and my dad being in a retirement home. And my dad would follow me like literally multiple times a day. And it was finding myself getting frustrated with him.
And then I was getting frustrated by the fact that I was frustrated because like I, one lady I worked very closely with, she lost her dad probably 15, 20 years ago when she was, you know, quite a bit younger. So, and I know like every time I get mad at my dad, I think of her. And I think like she would kill to have her dad's still around.
And here I am complaining that my dad's phoning me or bothering me about something. So that would kind of spiral into being frustrated with it being frustrated, sort of, it was on a peer coaching with, with one of my peers on the TCB. And I gave her my whole story and she'll and whatever. And she said, something is so simple,
but she goes, you're human, aren't you? And I thought it for a second. I said, oh, the last time I checked, I was he. And she goes, well, it's okay. Like it's okay to feel frustrated. And it's okay to feel frustrated with being frustrated. Like that's what human beings do. And even though I've been learning kind of the theoretical part of it,
you know, our experiences coming from our thinking and all this stuff, it kind of just, I had that insight at that moment that, yeah, I'm making it, why am I making such a big deal out of these feelings? And it was like, I'm working so hard not to feel this way, that I'm just binding myself up. I'm getting stuck there.
You know, there's that word again, but so you can just be free to feel whatever you feel. And if you don't put any power to it or focus on it, you just let it pass by then you you'll fall out of it very quickly. So it's funny. Cause it, you know, immediately after that conversation, the following weeks, the same stuff was happening.
I was just finding myself, you know, not really caring or caring, isn't probably the right word, but it wasn't getting to me like it was before if I got frustrated, I just see it for what it was. And it's funny, a lot of times it would turn into just getting myself a good chuckle, like going off. Yeah. There we go.
Again, making a big deal out of nothing and yeah, it's made a huge difference almost. You know, I I'd say I'm almost at the point now when I look at my phone and I see that it's my dad calling. I'm like excited to find out what's going on for him. Like, what was he up to today? What kind of troubles he got himself in now?
Yeah. So that's one example of how it's helped me and then for my clients. And maybe I'll talk about one of my clients who was stuck in their career. So this actually was a lady that worked for me for a period of time. And I would say of all the people that have worked for me over the years, she's probably in the top of the list of,
of what she's capable of doing like very, very smart, very capable people person. Like she checks all the boxes of a high achiever and she kind of been stuck in this job for a number of years. And it was at a company where it was kind of like a, an easy job. Like it wasn't like working 60 hours a week or any of those kind of a nine to five.
And that had a lot of advantages for her. She has kids and things, so she could kind of balance have a good work-life balance, but she wasn't really getting any fulfillment out of her work. But every time she thought about leaving two things, one would be self doubt about am I good enough and confidence issues? And then the other thing was like,
do I really want to go somewhere where I'm going to have to work harder? Like it's, so it's kind of easy here. I can just mail it in and, and do just fine. Anyway. So we explored a lot of her thinking around those things. And it was unusual that I had such a previous relationship with this person that, you know,
I knew firsthand what she's capable of. So I could kind of point her in that direction of her own capabilities and, and things. Anyways, long story short, she started applying for jobs in the few months later, she found a job been promoted to a higher position than she'd had previously. And the last time I talked to her, she's loving absolutely every part of it.
So, you know, th that's it's, it's those success stories that just keep you motivated. And, and it was really not, not anything I did. I was just pointing her in the direction of her own, her own capabilities. So it was, it was terrific to be a part of that. Yeah. Beautiful. Beautiful. Yeah. And if there's one thing that you want people to know,
what would that be? I think, I think I'm reminded of, I think it's Chip Chipman, which may have been Chip, quoting Syd banks. I'm not sure, but it was something to the effect of the feeling you're living in in the moment is all you get. And for me, that points to living in the now like the being in the present moment,
you know, Jamie says we're built for reality, we're optimized for reality. And I find when I'm working with people or even struggling myself, I often ask myself the question of like, okay, where am I right now? And I don't mean location wise. I mean, on the spectrum of past present future, like where, where am I, where's my head at?
And quite often little, I mean, without exception, probably if I'm struggling one way or the other, I'm either in the past or I'm in the future and I'm thinking about stuff that's already happened or stuff that I think might happen. And I'm just creating a reality around, you know, what Jamie calls LA LA land and just, and we all do it.
I mean, it's a, it's as human as anything, but so just, you know, knowing that there's only right now, like it's, it's been so helpful for me to let go of things from my past. And when I start putting pressure on myself about how my business is performing or looking forward to the future and what I should or shouldn't be doing or achieving,
and then I realized like, hang on, where am I? Oh yeah, I'm in the future for that. That's not real. And I can fall out of it and back into the present. So, and in particular, the, the new work I'm doing, I'm starting to work with athletes and for athletes in particular, when they're performing in those high pressure moments,
the ones that perform and succeed in those moments are the ones that stay in the moment. They don't think about the paycheck or the fans or the coaches or the opponent. They're just, you know, they're just playing the game, they're in the moment. And so that's what I want people to take away. Just, you know, live in the moment.
Yeah. Beautiful. And I remember I'll mentor, let's say Jamie smart. I remember telling us about talking about athletes. Was it you saying bolt? And like, it was the beginning of sort of the final a hundred meters. He was going to do, like, he's talking to the crowds and he's giving high fives and he's kind of messing about,
you know, whatever he is and that all the others guys that do the sign of the cross and that warming up or do whatever it is athletes do before a hundred and a sprint. And apparently they'd ask them, it said, you know, you know, what's going on there. And I think it was bolt himself. He said, you know what,
if I do all of that stuff, I'm just thinking about something that might not happen in the future. Like here was the guys into the crowd. It's going to be so much better. I remember that too. Yeah. I remember that. I think you said you had the, he runs faster when he's not thinking. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
And Greg, are you, you're an athlete yourself. Yeah. Well, I still play men's league hockey on Wednesday nights. I'm going to be 50 this year. So it's, it's funny because I remember when I was a teenager, I was hanging out at my buddy's house and his dad came down in the basement and grabbed his hockey gear and was leaving the house.
And I was kinda taken aback that his dad was still a hockey player because my, you know, my dad, wasn't an athlete at all. And, and that really somehow that stuck with me my whole life that I thought, like, I want to be that kind of, for lack of a better word, cool dad that still play sports and stuff.
So, I mean, I'd say from the, from the time I hit 30 till now, but my, my skill and so on has been steadily declining, but my enjoyment of the game is still there. I love golf. I love hockey. I love playing soccer, basketball, my kids. So yeah. Sports has been a big part of my life.
I love watching sports. Yeah. So for huge, the show, you've had a long experience, you know, for yourself, you know, it was how, the, how the mind affects performance say. Yeah. And that's the thing, I mean, no matter whether you're at a low level, like house league sporting event or at the most elite level,
like it's, it's all the same. I mean, the competition is different in the, in so on, but in that moment, you're just a human being, playing a game. So, you know, it works the same for everybody. Fabulous. So if people want to talk to you, if they want to find out more about you and such with you,
how could they, how could they do that? Yeah, the best way I have two websites, coachingplease.com and teamuyp.com. And I'm also on social media, on Facebook and LinkedIn, both as Greg Fisher and his team unleash your potential. So, you know, most days I'm posting something. So, you know, I'm pretty easy to find.
And if you have to go to my site, you can book a, a free car conversation with me and I'd love to know what's going on for people and see if I can support them. Great. It sounds like you've got a lot of open doors there, Greg, just waiting for people to step in and say, thank you so much. It's a pleasure to come to the Greg.
