Rhoads Life Coaching

How do you treat those that show up to work at the businesses you visit? If you are frustrated with the lack of service from industries and employees that are asked to do more with less, don’t take your frustration out on those that are making an attempt to do their jobs. Your impatience is a reflection of you, not of the person trying to help. – www.rhoadscoaching.com finding meaning and…

Knocking Off The Rust

Just like the bottom of your tool box in the basement, you have life skills that might be rusty and stiff from not being used recently. Just like those disused tools, value can be brought back to skills, beliefs, values, communication, self-talk, etc. you have learned previously by knocking off the rust. – www.rhoadscoaching.com finding meaning and purpose in daily life

In addition to all of the other roles you play, there is a part of you who loves to be creative. How well do you know that version of you? When was the last time they were allowed out to play? You aren’t being fully human until you know your creative self. I have posted in the past about the different roles we each play as a person (lots of different hats). You are a complex and…

Don’t let your Internal Grinch steal the joy you have during this season! I’ve posted previously about all the different roles we play in our daily lives. It is one of the foundational pieces of my coaching practice that each of us is a multi-faceted, dynamic being. We are complicated! Given all of that complexity, consider for a minute one piece of who you are includes Dr. Seuss’ Grinch,…

It might be dangerous to not know something, but it is a far greater risk to know something that isn’t true. Watch out for false positives! Have you ever heard the quote, “I honestly believe it is better to know nothing than to know what ain’t so“? Any guesses as to who said it? If you are like me, you would have said Mark Twain. That would be a false positive. Something you believed to be…

Puzzles Instead Of Problems

We struggle with how we see ourselves when trying to fix a problem. Try looking at dilemmas as puzzles to solve instead of problems to fix. Ever find yourself feeling guilty or embarrassed for having to ask for help in solving a problem? Ever looked down at someone who is in the same situation? As a culture, we have a tough time separating our identity from the situation we are in. This means…

We have an idea why corporate boards are created. Have you ever considered that having a personal boardroom of advisors could be a valuable motivator and development tool? Amanda Scott and Zella King developed the idea of a Personal Boardroom after coaching clients who struggled with the idea of networking. A corporate board is created intentionally. Experts, advisors, and motivators are…

Numbing Out the Good

We fall into a trap in the habit of numbing ourselves from the uncomfortable things in life. By closing ourselves off, we inadvertently hurt ourselves by numbing out the good. Have you ever thought of it that way? We form these habits to shield ourselves from the painful things in life. Anything that we use to disconnect (i.e., drugs, alcohol, food, sex, social media, TV, movies, exercise, video…

Being overwhelmed is having too many emotions at one time. We reach a point where we can’t process so much at once. The trick is to break the flooded sensation down into each piece of emotion and process one at a time. Have you felt overwhelmed recently? You aren’t alone if you have! There is a lot going on and it is easy to feel overloaded. We talk about being overwhelmed as an emotion. It is…

Would you know if you were feeling jaded? You would be limiting your choices and options if you were! In a coaching conversation this week a person shared they were feeling jaded. In that one word I knew exactly what they meant! While the word itself is defined as losing enthusiasm for something, the image creates a much more rich explanation. Unlike losing enthusiasm or apathy, jadedness…

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1886. Do you know the story? In it Dr. Jekyll is lifted up as a model person by everyone he comes in contact with. Mr. Hyde is a brutal criminal. He is described almost like an animal, with no morals or scruples. As the story unfolds, it is revealed that Mr. Hyde IS Dr. Jekyll. Jekyll creates a serum to…

Test Driving A Change

Change happens at the boundary of growth and uncertainty. Sometimes committing to a specific transformation is too big of an obstacle in one step or in a short period of time. One tool for crossing that boundary is test driving a change. We all want growth at some level. Life would be pretty boring if nothing ever changed. But we also struggle to balance that growth with the risks involved in…

How often do you slow down long enough to contemplate describing reality? Ever wonder why we have such a hard time agreeing on what is real? Turns out there are different layers to what we believe is real. Here are three descriptions that will help! Objective Reality – At some level this has to be measured. The temperature water boils at sea level. How much grey hair will be in my beard this…

It is difficult to be a complete and whole person without some understanding of my race. One of the foundational pieces of my coaching is the idea of a whole person approach to growth and development. The intent is to develop as many of those domains as possible. As I continue exploring this myself, I’ve looked for blind spots missing in that idea of me as a whole person. One recent revelation…

It is worth revisiting Allophilia to identify the elements of this term. Remember, Allophilia is holding in positive regard someone who is different from you. It was coined to define the opposite of prejudice. There are four components to Allophilia – Admiration, Trust, Connection, and Engagement. Does that help paint a better picture? Admiration – What does that mean for you? When admiring…

Allophilia (Liking Those Who Are Different)

Allophilia is the ability to like (or hold in regard) others who aren’t like you. Professor Todd Pittinsky coined the term as way of defining the opposite of prejudice. I’ve posted about prejudice before and finding this term helps define a target that I can aim at when attempting to reduce my own prejudices. In order to understand and develop allophilia, I must first recognize where I see…

Just like Riley from Pixar’s “Inside Out”, you have your own version of Joy that runs around inside you. Where is your Joy? Is he/she lost or or trapped? What if you are supposed to be finding your Joy? I suppose it may seem kind of a strange thing to have these thoughts rattling around in my head as I drive down the road. Sometimes it may be easier just to laugh at where different ideas…