Welcome to the Seasons of Transformation blog takeover!
Seasons of Transformation, my next book and my first foray into the fiction genre, will be released on 11/1.
Seasons of Transformation follows Kate, a high-performer climbing the corporate ladder, as she encounters a surprise harsh personal winter. Through her journey, she will learn about the power of goals, life coaching and perseverance during her unexpected midlife transformation.
With the 11/1 release date rapidly approaching, the Operation Melt blog will be featuring a Seasons of Transformation takeover for the month of October. For the four weeks leading up to the release of Seasons of Transformation, the blog will feature topics inspired by the story I share in the book.
Click here for more details about Seasons of Transformation, including a free downloadable chapter. Please consider joining my Operation Melt email list to be notified when the book is available.
Amuse-Bouche Before we jump into today's post, I offer you this "dad joke" as a light "amuse-bouche" to entertain your mind before we get serious. Like any other amuse-bouche, you may hate it, but it is worth every penny you paid for it, right? I was just looking at my ceiling. I am not sure if it is the best ceiling in the world, but it's definitely up there.
2 Life Lessons That Make Winter A Surprise Life Coach
Surprise Life Coach explores the goal success strategies, tips and mindsets found in the most unlikely places. From television shows to movies to music to books and more, life coaches are all around us, hidden in the most unexpected places. We simply need to pay attention, and we can reap the rewards from this free coaching.
In this week’s Surprise Life Coach, I am going to talk about the life lessons we can learn from those long, cold winter days.
Winter Blues
The months are flying by; before you know it, this familiar scene will be playing out.
You walk outside into the cold. The hard, frozen ground is unyielding beneath your feet as you step carefully to avoid slipping on the ice.
The sun blindingly reflects off the snow as you survey your surroundings. The entire world around you seems literally and figuratively frozen.
People are almost absent from the landscape.
The wildlife is hibernating.
The plants lay dormant under the layer of snow.
The days are short and dark.
The wintery world appears bleak, lifeless and unforgiving. Everything is cold and dark, and it seems like nothing will ever grow again. We hunker down, bundle up and just try to get through it.
Despite this seemingly negative assessment of the winter seasons, several life lessons are mixed in with that snow and ice just waiting to be found.
Amplifying the Gratitude
Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees and their branches were bare against the wind and the cold, wintry light. But you knew there would always be the spring, as you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen.
Ernest Hemingway
Everything in our world is about perspective, and our brains require comparisons to fully comprehend our experiences.
Without dark, we don’t understand light.
Without sadness, we don’t understand happiness.
Without hunger, we don’t fully appreciate fullness.
This idea of comprehension through comparison applies to the harsh, lifeless winter season. Without experiencing the stillness and dormancy winter offers us, we cannot fully appreciate the growth of spring and summer leading to autumn’s bountiful harvest.
Like all other aspects of our lives, we can choose our perspective and the stories we tell ourselves. Let’s work to rewrite the story we tell ourselves about winter.
Instead of dreading the arrival of winter and wishing it would never return, consider what spring and summer would feel like without it. Would we appreciate the richness and lushness of spring as much if it didn’t follow winter’s void?
The next time winter bears down on you with all its might, consider how fantastic the spring thaw will be. Use your distaste for winter to amplify your gratitude for the contrast the other three seasons provide.
Planning your Planting
As I mentioned above, when winter’s cold, dark days arrive, many of us hunker down, bundle up and just try to get through it. Yet some people use this time for more productive endeavors. They plan ahead for the spring planting season.
Many gardeners will grab a glass of wine and a cozy seat by the fireplace. They will review seed catalogs, choose their spring crops, sketch out their gardens and prepare for when the ground thaws. When spring arrives, they have a plan and are ready to get things done.
Winter crop planning need not be limited to the seeds you plant in the ground.
There are times when we each face a personal winter in our lives. A personal winter is when everything seems frozen, and we feel stuck. Our life isn’t progressing (or growing) how we would like, and the situation feels bleak, like those dark days of winter. Personal winters often follow an unexpected significant setback or can be caused by a string of setbacks or lack of momentum.
Whatever the cause, a personal “winter” is a time when we are called upon to make a choice. One option is to wallow in our misery and hibernate until the cold time passes. That may sound attractive, but it is far from productive and accomplishes little more than elongating the harsh winter season.
Alternatively, we can choose to start planning our planting, just like the gardener. Ask yourself what your next step will be and how you will move forward. What are those seeds you will plant when the ground thaws? Often, just planning the planting will accelerate that thaw.
Our goals are the crop plan of our lives. When everything seems frozen and a personal winter mercilessly makes your teeth chatter, it’s time to take control. Plan the next chapter of your story by defining new goals to focus on and the plan for making them happen.
Here’s your action plan when you are ready to take control of the weather. Download my free Goal Success Quick Start Guide ebook and learn how to set goals that actually work for you. It is amazing how much warmer you will feel when you take control of your life rather than allowing circumstances to control you.
Do you need help navigating your personal winter? I am a certified Master Life Coach, and my Operation Melt approach is a super-charged weather machine for your life. Let’s work together to start warming up your life with goals.
Click here to learn more about my coaching services.
Meet Coach Tony
My name is Coach Tony, and I am a coach, author and project manager on a mission. I am working to build a world where no goal ever dies of loneliness.
I almost allowed one of my biggest life goals to die without ever being attempted for forty years. My goal almost died, not of failure but of loneliness. But, I took a risk and leveraged a simple, logical process that helped me wildly exceed my goal.
I transformed my life, and you can do the same with the help of Operation Melt.
Operation Melt provides engaging, practical content and hands-on coaching to inspire, motivate and equip project managers and other left-brained high-achievers to pursue and accomplish their biggest goals.
Breathe new life into your goals
Download my free ebook to learn how to create goals that actually work and get the jump-start you need in life!
