"The Greatest Coaching Tool You Can Use is To Upgrade Your Self-Talk" Alisa Cohn

1. Alisa talked a lot about the tenacity, perseverance and stick to it attitude that it took to got her through her tougher times as a coach when she was starting out over 16 years ago. She believes that when we can remember our purpose (and this can be with a little p) and when we stay in alignment and make choices that move us closer to our purpose, that we will be able to stay buoyant during the challenging times. This weekend reflect on your values, your purpose and what brings meaning to your life. Then gently reflect on your work life, your family life and your life out in the world. Are they in alignment? Do they fuel one another? Do you feel as though the choices you make are moving you closer to what matters?
2. Alisa talked about the importance of gratitude. She reminded us to “Always and forever focus on what you do have” I mentioned that my mentor Tal Ben Shahar often said appreciate the good and the good, will appreciate. Take a moment to reflect back on this past week. With a light touch notice, if you noticed more of what was going well or more of what was going wrong. Remember our negativity bias will pull us to the dark if we are not mindful. This weekend spend the morning thinking about two things you are looking forward to that day. Spend mid-morning bringing to mind two people that make your life sweeter, and in the evening reflect back on your day and think of two things that you are grateful for.
3. “Upgrade your self-talk” This was Alicia’s top coaching tool, one that she recommends we all nurture and strengthen. The conversations we have internally when no one is looking will either beat us up or lift us up. This weekend become more aware of the silent conversations that go on behind the scenes – with curiosity and once again a light touch, simply notice how many times you catch yourself in a self-talk that is negative in nature. Find a mini mantra that you can use to stop the old tapes. Perhaps it is "I am enough" or my favorite, "Be Here Now"  As when we are in the present moment the worries and doubts of the past or future drift away.
4. Alisa talks about the importance of self-care and how to manage our time well. Tactically she reflected on the importance of sleep, nutrition, and exercise. Alisa also talked about emotional self-care and the importance of having people in your life that you can be yourself with. She also reminded us of the importance of carving out time to do what nourishes your inner world. Some examples are reading, gardening, sports or family time. This weekend pick one of these areas and make one small choice that will nourish your life. Each day, try and take one more action step that will move you closer to being your best self. Small habits each day will create massive positive change over time.
5. Alisa talks about motivation and how to find it on the days we feel empty. She reminded us of the power that comes with asking open-ended questions – ones that cannot be answered with a simple yes or not – to help us mine the data that can fuel our dreams. This weekend reflect on a few open-ended questions: What fires up your joy? What do you love to do? How do you want to be remembered? What have you not done that you said you would do? And then ask the powerful question of – if not now – when? If not you – who?

"Surround Yourself With People Who Remind You Of Your Greatness" Alisa Cohn

Alisa Cohn is an Executive Coach who helps executives, entrepreneurs, and leaders. In this show, she answers questions from our audience on leadership, motivation and how to bring out the best in yourself and others.

Alisa talks about what it takes to grow a business and move it from two people into a company of two hundred. Her expertise comes in helping others cultivate resiliency and create strategies that will help them discover and move through the pain points without the emotions getting in the way. She talks about the mounting pressure that comes when everyone’s eyes are on you and gives tips on how to how to manage the stress and strain that come with any form of growth.

Resiliency is crucial to any success and Alisa shares her strategy on how purpose will keep us going when times are tough. "Use your purpose as your beacon to guide you." Knowing that you are going to do something significant in the world is where the juice lies.

We go back in time to when Alisa first began coaching over sixteen years ago. She shares her struggles and that it was her tenacity, persistence, and drive that kept her going. Alisa shares ways that we can cultivate these traits.

We talk about when to hold on and when to let go, especially when our emotions are so interwoven into our work. More than often successful companies have pulled out more than one miracle to keep going. We all need to surround ourselves with a tribe of people who will remind us of our greatness and yet tell us when it is time to let go.

Alisa talks about the power of asking open-ended questions, and when we bring a sense of lightness and curiosity to each moment, we can help find the miracles. She also reveals the greatest question of all. (Tune in to hear what it is).

We wrap up the questions from the audience by discussing the importance of self-care and how to make sure we take the time to nourish our mind, body, and spirit.

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More About Alisa

Alisa is an executive coach who works with senior executives and high potential leaders to help them create positive permanent shifts in their leadership impact and the results they achieve. She works one-on-one with CEOs and executives and with senior teams to help them work together better and create much impact as a team. She works with Fortune 500 companies as well as start-ups. She was recently named one of the Top 100 leadership speakers by Inc. Magazine.

She also works with executive teams to help them be stronger as a team, have the right conversations and take the right actions to move forward faster.

Alisa provides practical tools and serves as a thought partner to support the challenging process of change. Leaders get the chance to practice their new behaviors and troubleshoot before doing them live.

Prior to becoming a coach, Alisa, a CPA, was the CFO of Clairvergent Technology Group, a Vice President at two high-tech start-ups. She was a manager and consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers and The Monitor Group. Alisa holds an MBA from Cornell University and a BS from Boston University. She is a guest lecturer at Harvard and Cornell Universities and the Naval War College. She is a coach for the prestigious Linkage Global Institute for Leadership Development and for the Center for Inclusive Security, Harvard University.

Alisa is the executive coach for Runway - the incubator at Cornell NYC Tech that helps post-docs commercialize their technology and build companies. She serves on the Entrepreneurship at Cornell Advisory Committee and the President’s Council of Cornell Women.

She was selected as one of the Top 10 Coaches by Women’s Business, which called her “absolutely brilliant, laugh-out-loud hilarious and a superhero.” A dynamic speaker and skilled facilitator, she is known for her humor, energy, results-orientation and motivational style, along with a propensity to burst into song without warning.