Authors, Work from Where You’re At and What You Want: Setting the Agenda and the Takeaway
4 of 28 big ideas from the world of coaching to grow your author business
The fourth in a 28-part series on 28 big ideas from coaching for authors to coach themselves, adapted from my book, The Coach Within.
“A human being is a deciding being.”
— Victor Frankl
One of the first points of responsibility for a coaching client is to bring a session’s agenda and takeaway. The coach does not decide, direct, fix, or plan the course to a client’s better life — or, in the case we’re examining in this series, the route to an author business you love.
That is 100% the choosing of the client. Together the client-coach pair works on the items the client names and brings — the agenda (What do you want to work on?) and the takeaway (What do you want to get out of the session?).
So, when you’re in need of an author coaching session with yourself, start with the agenda: What would you like to work on? Once you have it, make sure you understand correctly. Reflect it back to yourself. Does it sound right? Is it clear?
For example:
Hmm. Today I want to work on why I tend to avoid book marketing.
So, Self, you want to work on why you tend to avoid book marketing, is that it?
Actually, I have such a long list of ideas, I never know where to begin, what to work on, so I don’t do anything.
So, is this about not knowing something, organization, motivation, something else, or a combination of things?
Good point. It almost doesn’t matter. I have to start tackling the items on the list, to just get some book marketing underway.
OK, what if the agenda is figuring out how tackle the list and schedule the first things after that?
Sounds good.
See? Defining the agenda and confirming that it is the actual thing of import ensures that the work gets started in the right direction. Don’t assume your own agenda and don’t judge it. Acknowledge what it truly is and be with it.
But an agenda is not enough for a typical coaching session. The coach will want to know what the client wants to take away from the session and, as with the agenda, verify it.
For example:
What would you like to take away from today’s session?
I want to figure out a title for my new book.
OK. At the end of this session you want to have a title for your new book?
Yeah! I really need a good title. Come to think of it, input from others on the title makes more sense. What if we brainstorm some good titles?
Nice. You’d like to use our session to brainstorm a list of possible titles for your new book?
Yes, at least five. That will be enough for me to show others and get their opinions.
Let’s do it. Five titles.
More clarity and direction. The agenda and the takeaway serve to frame the session, give it some parameters. Not only do these pieces help focus the work you’re doing and head you in the direction of some desired result, but they reinforce taking responsibility for what you want. You decide what in your author business needs attention and you decide what you want as a result of giving it attention.
What can an agenda item be? In short, anything. Any area of your business, your writing, your stumbling blocks, your goals. Something that bothers you, something that inspires you, something that needs to be fixed, something you just happened to notice and want to explore. Name it and see how it sounds. Reflect it back to yourself. Good to go? Then proceed. Not quite right? Refine it and check back in with yourself.
What about a takeaway? Anything, really, but examples may best demonstrate: Takeaways can be exploring a topic, releasing emotion, fleshing out a plan, making a decision, brainstorming possibilities, getting clarity, coming up with action steps.
Let’s say you have an agenda of:
I want to upgrade my standard author program.
Possible takeaways could be:
· Figuring out a good way to get feedback from event coordinators and audience members.
· Brainstorming a list of improvements that I can schedule for the next year.
· Steps for improving my public speaking.
· A list of ways to refresh my speech and upgrade my slides.
Coaching Yourself in Action
⎕ Practice setting an agenda and a takeaway in different settings today (pick 2): Sitting in mediation. During a walk. In your journal. While in a work or home situation.
⎕ At the beginning of an author coaching session with yourself, name and confirm the agenda, and follow that right up with selecting and confirming the takeaway. Then, sit in stillness, take your walk, write in your journal, or proceed as inspired in your daily life.
⎕ Notice what happens next after the agenda and takeaway are chosen. See where your active or passive mind goes as it moves (if it does) from the agenda to the takeaway. If you succeeded in moving from your agenda to your takeaway, take note of what you did or how that happened. How did it feel?
⎕ Did getting to your takeaway, leave you with a next step? Something to do? Do it now or schedule that thing some time in the next 24 hours.
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