Soqratic Sandbox

Category: Mindset

  • Goal-Setting Workshop Recap

    Thirty-two people joined this quarter's workshop. The exercise that landed best was writing a goal as a scene: a specific moment, six months from now, that would show the goal had been reached.

    Participants then listed the three habits that would make that scene likely, and the one habit they would stop.

  • Imposter Syndrome for New Coaches

    You do not need to be further along than everyone. You need to be one step ahead of the person you are helping, and honest about where you are.

    A reader asked how to stop feeling like a fraud with her first paying clients. The feeling usually means you care about doing the job well. Keep notes on the results your clients get; evidence is the most reliable answer to the voice that says you are not qualified.

  • The Two-Minute Weekly Review

    A weekly review does not need an hour. Two minutes on Friday afternoon is enough to end the week deliberately. We call these questions the Friday Three.

    1. What went well this week?
    2. What did I avoid?
    3. What is the one thing that matters most next week?

    Write the answers somewhere you will see on Monday morning.

  • Resilience After Losing a Big Client

    One of our clients, a solo consultant, lost a retainer that made up forty percent of her income. Her first instinct was to discount everything to fill the gap quickly.

    We worked on separating the facts from the story. The fact was a cash-flow gap of three months. The story was that her business was failing. Once the two were apart, she could plan for the gap instead of reacting to the story.

    She kept her prices, reached out to five past clients and filled most of the gap within ten weeks. The lesson she took away was to never let one client exceed a quarter of revenue again.

  • Building Habits That Stick

    Habits fail when they depend on motivation. They last when they are attached to something you already do and made small enough that skipping them feels silly.

    Anchor, shrink, celebrate

    • Anchor: after I pour my morning coffee, I will…
    • Shrink: write one sentence in my journal, not a page.
    • Celebrate: notice it, even with a quiet yes.

    Grow the habit only after it has run for two weeks without effort. Most people scale up too early and then quit entirely after one bad day.