Sunday, March 25, 2012

Message from The President

April 2012
Early Spring or Early Summer?
1.       Life is full of miracles. This year is no exception.  We have actually enjoyed the Midwest winter in earnest, including sporadic snowfalls. My life has completely turned around because of my association with CCF.  Our intention of ‘Connect and Grow’ has really begun to grow on me. Connect in every interaction and grow with every connection is becoming a conscious choice. As president of CCF I have met many great leaders on the board, speakers and coaches of high acclaim, new and experienced coaches, students from around the world, and great coaches like you. Here are some of the amazing things I have learned so far. Do not take anything for granted. Life is given, living it is a choice. Keep an open mind. Do what my heart says, and let the head support it. Do not judge people based on my experiences. Remain open to any opportunity to learn. Do things I have never done before. Learn from every critiques, advice and opportunity. It has put me in a place where I experience joy and peace more frequently, and make forward movement more sustainable.  How about you?

Midwest Regional Conference (MRC)
2.       I am going to the MRC (icf-midwestregionalconference.com). The website is complete and information packed. – the keynotes, session presenters, exhibitor opportunities, volunteer opportunities and registration information are all there. You can register at will. Registering before April I, 2012 (no fools day here) makes it Early Bird and saves you $100/- off the already low registration investment. Having attended ICF conference last year in Las Vegas, I can sense it is going to be at par in coach experience and value. I feel the excitement in the air. Join my team of at least 200 coaches from Chicago land.

While there, you can enhance you joy even further by giving a fraction of your time to volunteer for one of the sessions. Just two hours of your time, to know and introduce one of the presenters and facilitate the session. Imagine meeting someone you have not known before, learning from them, learning about their audience, and meeting them. I think it will be cool. If you have never been in public light before, here is your first chance to start out slow and feel the feel. Who knows, you might become one of the speakers next time around because of this experience. We need 50-60 kind hearted and energetic coaches (my heroes) to come forward and experience joy. Want to rise even higher – become the general coordinator to manage this entire activity. Let me know and I can explain more about it. Volunteering has its rewards.

Renew Your Membership
3.       Membership renewal is in full swing. Hope you have already renewed your membership or are in the process now to continue the membership benefits uninterrupted. I find ICF to be a great organization where I can learn a lot in becoming a very effective coach and benefit the coach community. Remember at CCF we love you and will continue to work for enhanced value for the coach community. We are ‘all things coaching’ and we mean it.

Chicago Coach Federation is the place where you matter. Tell us what you think and what else we can do to make your membership much more exciting and worth your while. We am ready to listen. E-mail me: citkam@gmail.com.
Let me conclude with one of the frequently used term from the movie Hunger Games, “May the odds be always in your favor’.Let’s stay connected and grow from our experiences. Stay in the positive.

Sincerely,
Kam Gupta

Friday, March 2, 2012

Message from the President, Kam Gupta:
Important Messages of value: MER and MRC and ICW:
1. ICF Membership and Member Eligibility (MER)
ICF has redefined and aligned its membership requirements. These requirements will go into effect March 2013. So we have one year to make sure we are in compliance to remain ICF members. ICF remains the leader when it comes to defining coaching profession. So, what they say and do matters. Here is a brief outline:
a. If you are an accredited member of ICF – such as ACC, PCC or MCC – you meet all the requirements. You can continue to renew as before.
b. If you are a member of ICF and have gone through sixty hrs of coach training by an institution accredited by ICF (such as iPEC, CTI, and many others), you meet the requirements of remaining ICF members. Continue to renew as usual.
IF you do not meet the requirements of b. above you have following options:
i.                    If you are a member of ICF renew your membership and complete the requirements by this time next year.

ii.                  If you are not an ICF member, its time to become one. Enroll in a coaching institute and accumulate sixty hrs of training by this time next year and start enjoying all the benefits right now. ICF and CCF are two great places to belong for Chicagoland coaches.

You can review complete details and information on www.coachfederation.org.
2. Midwest Regional Conference (MRC)
Be amongst the select coaches to attend the upcoming Midwest Regional Conference in C.H.I.C.A.G.O. June 22 and 23, 2012, with an opening reception on Jyne 21 at 7:00 pm. Packed with high impact Keynote speaker, MC, and session presenters, this conference is bound to draw nationwide acclaim. My vision is to bring with me at least 200 members from Chicago Community. Early registration will save you money and enhance value. We are already looking at many other ideas about networking, get-to-gathers, and fun activities that it might become fun filled learning environment throughout. And it is packed with 12+ CCEUs.  Early registration ends soon. If you plan to attend, I’ll like to know. If you plan to give part of your expertise to make this conference even more effective and meaningful, let me know too. I will forward your interest to MRC committees. Visit: www.icf-midwestregionalconference.com.
3. International Coaching Week (ICW)
First week in February was ICW. Send me your sharing activities that made this week so special for you and made a difference. We will publish your news and also share with ICF. Coaches are specially known for giving and I am sure you are no exception. Kudos to you and thank you.
We are all about ‘connect and grow’. Connect in every interaction; and learn with every connection. As Chicago Coach Federation President, I along with our board, are at your service. Let me know how we can support. Come join one of our upcoming meetings. Visit www.chicagocoachfederation.org.
Feel free to contact me directly at citkam@gmail.com.
Cheers!

Making Extraordinary Success Happen: One Hop At A Time

Have you heard of the name Don Bennett? Well, Don Bennett was the first amputee to climb Mount Rainier, fourteen thousand four hundred and ten feet on one leg and two crutches. When Don was asked how he made it to the top, he said, “One hop at a time.”
One step at a time is how most extraordinary things you want to have in your life are accomplished. As much as you deeply desire that tempting golden carrot dangling in front of you, you cannot simply leap to the top of a mountain. You can only get there by taking it one step at a time, or in Don’s case, one hop at a time.
In order to understand what we want to do to successfully reach our goals, it’s useful to first take a look back over the past year to see what’s happened in our lives.  For many people I’ve talked to, there have been issues with lost jobs, pay cuts and people needing to move somewhere else to get a job.  People are unmotivated and unengaged because they are having difficult times and they’re not sure if they are will keep their job and their standard of living.  People have complained about collecting money from clients; there have been budget cuts and not enough people to handle all the projects.  People are spread thin and they under a great deal of stress because they are working long hours during the day and are unable to muster the energy to do all the things that they want to do. So think about your twelve past months.  Have any of the things that I’ve mentioned affected you?
We sometimes find ourselves paralyzed by the mere scale of these challenges and changes that we’ve had to endure over the last year.  People complain that it just seems just too overwhelming.  I contacted my girlfriend, Alice, last week and said, “Hey, let’s get together for lunch or maybe coffee,” She said, “I have to get back to you at the end of April.”
Now I know that Alice has a lot of challenges going on in her life. Alice not happy with her job plus she’s trying to take care of her aging parents and she’s putting many things on hold because she’s just trying to survive.
These challenges can seem overwhelming and challenge us in keeping moving forward.  But so is looking up the top of a mountain like Don was doing when he was challenged to hop up the mountain. But that’s why Don would tell himself, “Just one foot at a time.  Anybody can hop from here to there.” And so he did, fourteen thousand four hundred and ten times.