How do some teachers explode into our awareness, seemingly out of nowhere? We’ll get into it. I may have white-boarded it as a back tat. The coach in me lives for this. Welcome to our Tiny, Bold Kingdom.
We’re betting on breakthroughs, one tiny, bold move at a time. All of it to ignite more meaningful work. As we glow, allies appear to support us.
Last week we considered: Um, maybe you’re already doing it? You can find that here: Let me remind you.
Atomic Habits by James Clear is a cultural phenomenon. Every time I blink another 5 million copies has sold. Fifteen million and counting, because it’s that good. The Chicken Soup for the Soul series has sold more than 500 million, second only to the mighty Harry Potter, at 600 million.
The crusty GenX’er in me isn’t keen to hop any trains. Trainspotting scared the crap out of me. My soul never craved chicken soup. I associated its pop spirituality with Wal-Mart, and kitchens full of ceramic roosters. Not saying I am right. By the time I considered reading our kids’ Potter books, my brain craved the real wizards of yoga. 1
So many coaching clients have recommended Atomic Habits. I loved Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit from 2012. I’m a life and leadership coach who is obsessed with creating positive, lasting change. I am also Gen-X, sigh. Typing that feels like I am breaking my oath. I hear the Simple Minds song from Breakfast Club.
Atomic Habits is great because its author writes with immense clarity. With James Clear-ity. He’s a teacher in the truest sense, willing to repeat himself 15 million times, always finding new ways to deliver the medicine. Laura McKowen’s great work the Love Story of recovery comes to mind. It takes humility and patience to write and teach your truth on repeat. It’s the polar opposite of spray-and-pray writing, ie. “Will this get their attention? Will it get any engagement?”
Clear shares a model called The Plateau of Latent Potential. Anyone who cares about accomplishing anything meaningful should consider a back tat of this. Here is the model:
The Results you crave would be a straight line, due North from your left hip to your shoulder. The Time is takes to achieve them runs from left to right above your upper buttocks. Every human I’ve ever coached (myself included) has expectations about when they think results should happen. We expect to create steady, if not immediate results from jump. Climb the result line, if not settle for ‘slow’ and steady progress. This part of your back tat would look like a 35-45 degree straight arrow, starting where the Results on the x-axis, meets the Dawn of Time on the y-axis.
You will *not* need this middle line gunned into your skin. Why? Because steady progress, hell, any progress at first— is mostly invisible. If you’re a fantasy enthusiast who loves magical thinking, you should add some Quidditch players chasing the golden Snitch. Or Falcor from The Never-ending Story. Why? Because early in the game of lasting, positive change you won’t see results. This is where, and why so many of us give up.
A monk once shot me straight:
“On the spiritual path, there is no results department. There is only the effort department.”
Let that one sink in.
So, it is with the patient, determined teacher who eventually achieves breakthrough results. Back to your tat. Picture a line leaving the Time station skimming the ground. Like a child throwing a flimsy paper airplane. We achieve no visible results because we’re building root systems. So far beneath any magical thinking of what think results should look like. We keep plugging away. Showing up like we don’t know better. The paramguru of Paramahansa Yogananda, who prophesied the spread of yoga in all lands, was Lahiri Mahasaya. His favorite mantra to encourage his disciples? “Banat, banat, ban jai!” (Making, making, one-day made!)
Somewhere down the timeline, when no one is looking, the miracle happens.
A gust of win lifts the nose of your paper airplane, pointing it skyward. It could be a couple months into the journey, or many decades. But that doesn’t matter. Our time invested has been about figuring it out. The effort of thousands, or millions of tiny, bold moves. In writing and teaching, this is finding our voice. Defining what undeniable looks like. In coaching, this looks like many painful nose-dives of new awareness, followed by the lift of one tiny, bold move. Down, down, down. Then, UP!
Seemingly sudden— but not really— others will see our paper airplane breakthrough. It swoops up and beyond the imaginary line of steady, visible results. It soars further skyward. Its lift? Every tiny effort you made when you thought no one watching.
Are you willing to write for no one? For the crickets?
It’s time to practice.
Quiet your mind. Drop all your heavy expectations. No need to prove anything today. What are you most called to create? What would help somebody, somewhere? Begin.
I do it for the joy it brings
Because I am a joyful girl
Cuz the world owes me nothing
We owe each other the world
I do it cuz it’s the least I can do
I do it cuz I learned it from you
And I do it just because want to
Cuz I want to
- Ani DiFranco, Joyful Girl
Anyone you know who stuck with it and broke through? Share it below👇🏻
News and Offerings
White-boarding the back tat. Coaching accelerates results. But that rarely looks like what we expect. Picture Ted Lasso at the end of Season 3. I made a short video walking you through this model above. Watch that here.
Registration is now open for The Winter Glow Retreat. A weekend of deep practice and connection to purpose— for those who feel called to Glow in the Dark in 2024. Are you ready to relax, release resistance, and take the tiny, bold moves anyway? I will be your coach, and teacher. Weekend of February 23-25th at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health. Western Mass. Closest airport is Albany. A gorgeous, peaceful setting for Wintering and Glowing. Learn more and register »
Our coach team is now enrolling. We’re so excited to hear what you’re building this year. We’re also curious about what could be in the way— and what’s about to happen when we shift that? Breakthrough results. Grab a time to connect with me here »
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I took vows as a Kriyaban yogi with Self-Realization Fellowship in 2013. The starting-point of my path after a lifetime of seeking. I finished reading Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi while my wife was in labor with our third child in 2011. Haven’t stopped re-reading it since. Steve Jobs read it over 40 times and gifted it to everyone at his funeral.
Whoa - this whole thing was tug tug tugging me along. And then you drop the Ani DeFranco lyric 🔥- I’ll keep flying my little paper airplane -maybe , eventually, it will soar past that little plastic castle I keep crashing into 🙃