Sometimes you will hear yourself say “I don’t know why I said that” or “I just had a feeling it was the right choice.” This is sometimes evidence that you are connected to your intuition. At other times, it is evidence that your left hand doesn’t know what your right hand is doing. Self knowledge makes the same requirements of you that other knowledge does. You need to seek information and then you need to put in an effort to understand how that information fits together and how it is useful to you. It’s hard work, and it’s the only way that learning happens on purpose.

If you’re standing in bright sun, you don’t need a flashlight. But if, like much of the world right now, you are aware of shadows and uncertainty ahead, you need a clear beam that shows you the ground under your next step. You’ll find it in your own experience of moments that felt true and bright

When I wrote my first book, Living Your Purpose, I printed the summary on the front of a postcard. I wanted to show people that using the fingers on one hand, they could remember how to make change for themselves and others. All you need to do is observe a situation closely and then make a small change in one of five aspects

Instead of starting with a wish list of goals, begin with a circle of values. Then think about the actions and behaviours that will show you are living those values. The results of those behaviours become the goals that will motivate you.

NLP is not a science. It’s a way to combine what neuroscience is teaching us about the brain and body with what we want and intuit with our minds. It’s a model of what we call learning in a classroom, and neuroplasticity in our brains, and resilient growth in our lives.

We all want to rush. We all want to push through to a solution or inspire a breakthrough. Our brains have evolved for pattern recognition, and when we see a pattern, we want to share it. But it’s hard to keep two brains in sync and your flash of insight might be brilliant and still not be what the person you are coaching needs.