A Coaching Power Tool created by Shaun Ellsworth
(Self Development Life Coach, UNITED STATES)
What you want doesn’t matter if it isn’t aligned with who you are.
What is Alignment?
Alignment is very important in machines, and it is even more important in people. It means that things are perfectly lined up so that they work synchronously and harmoniously. Gears in a car are created to fit tightly in alignment, with no room for extra movement. There shouldn’t be any gaps or wobbling. They must fit and work together smoothly. When gears fit together beautifully and work as one unit, the car moves smoothly down the road.
What is Forcing?
Have you ever ground the gears of your car? It was horrible, wasn’t it? When the gears aren’t aligned properly, the driver usually feels the need to force the gears to get them to engage, but they just don’t fit together. When this happens, there is a terrible grinding and a horrible noise. The driver gets angry, feels embarrassed and yells at his poor car. People stare. The whole thing is a mess. The end result is that the car does not move down the road smoothly, if at all. Forcing, in this case, is trying to make something that should and could be aligned, but isn’t, work smoothly when it can’t.
Forcing a Goal
Just as forcing a gear to work when it doesn’t want to engage creates frustrating feelings, friction, and a lot of noise, when we force our goals to happen and attack them with sheer will power, they are more difficult to accomplish and it becomes messy and noisy. There is a lot of friction and frustration and for some reason, obstacles keep appearing. We find it difficult to generate the speed, energy and momentum that are needed to help us achieve our goals when we try forcing them.
The need to force a goal can happen when we set a goal we “think” we want without looking at why it is important to us. Are our goals based on what other people think? These are often misaligned goals that we will have to force if we are to achieve them.
Aligning with our Goals
When we create alignment in our lives and with our goals, things move forward much more smoothly. When we are authentic and are aware of our values, beliefs and strengths, our desires and our purpose, and base our goals on those things – who we really are – we create alignment and momentum to move us towards those goals.
When we set aligned goals for ourselves, goals that fulfill our purpose and make us better versions of who we already are and who we want to be, we can use our true self and our best strengths to accomplish them. These goals will have an amazing amount of momentum and power behind them, and will be achieved much more quickly.
Why We Want Alignment
Achieving goals that are aligned with our core self brings more happiness and fulfillment to our lives. When we accomplish goals that make us more like who we want to be, we get closer to the life we want to live. The alignment path uses less energy, is more natural, more in flow, more engaging, less stressful, and shows more awareness of one’s self and is important to long-term, sustained success.
For example, I have been trying to develop a new morning routine that I know will benefit me in the long run, but it was very difficult. I was trying to force it, but it wasn’t working. I decided to take my own advice and sought alignment around this. Why do I want to do it? How does it help me become who I want to be? Once I switched to alignment motivation instead of grim determination, I was more successful at implementing the new program.
