Who is Your Coach?

Here I am with my coach, Dr. Kevin Pallis. See that fire behind us? Once it dies down a bit, my coaching tribe and I are going to walk barefoot across a bed of burning embers. Crazy, huh? And that coach…Dr. C – you talk about him a lot but he looks pretty unobtrusive…normal, dare I say…not like some sort of Wizard of Oz as one might expect. Ah, Grasshopper, that is the secret…the people who are the best coaches are not necessarily the flashiest of people on the surface. They don’t need to be. Their bolt of lightning is the flash of inspiration, insight and wisdom they extract from your gut that sparks the specific steps of action to your success. Or in simple terms, think of it like this: Remember the people in college who talked the most about partying and getting laid? Would it surprise you that these talkers were the ones who really had the least cash and got the least hot action? The ones who didn’t talk were the ones who didn’t need to talk…they already had it going on, if you know what I mean.

OK, back to the original topic of this blog entry. Dr. Pallis has coached me for over five years. He knows me better than I know myself…and I thought I had a pretty good handle on the who, what and why behind Dr. C. I swear he has ESP with his laser-like way of knowing exactly what needs to be said at the exact right time. Any man that should ever ask me for my hand in marriage is going to have to go through Dr. Pallis first. My dad comes next.

Four times per year I attend his seminars with my coaching tribe. Tribe? Yeah, the people who get it, who are on my wave length, who are committed to success from all aspects in life. We are not a rah rah kind of group. We are pretty normal looking as well. However, it’s that fire burning in our heart and soul that sets us apart from others. Sure, we are not perfect or better than you. We have our issues. However, it’s that vision and commitment we share (each one of us has our own unique interpretation of what sets us into action) that makes us unique. It’s our desire to focus on greatness and contribution rather than on mediocrity and lack that makes us unique. Get to know my tribe and you’ll get to know me.

Tuesdays at 7:30 AM is my coaching call with Dr. Pallis. Every Tuesday. I have never missed a call. At 7:25 I sit at my desk at watch the clock on the phone. At 7:29 I am dialing the phone to Dr. Pallis’ office. I only get 15 minutes with him. That’s it. Sometimes if I am lucky I can extract an extra minute or two. The man is busy and in demand. Fifteen minutes with Dr. Pallis is the equivalent of three hours with anyone else. At least that. It’s not a chit-chat fest. Rather, it’s like plugging your year into a light socket and downloading, downloading, downloading….and taking notes as fast as I can scrawl along the way. There is nothing cookie-cutter about Dr. Pallis’ coaching. The content is unique to each person. Don’t you remember? I just told you. The guy knows exactly what to say to hit you right between the eye…with love. It’s that ESP thing or whatever…how does he KNOW me so well? I feel a bit sorry for my Tuesday 8 AM patients. They usually get a whiff of what was downloaded into my brainstem a few minutes earlier while it is still fresh and my ears are still on fire.

Once a year I meet with Dr. Pallis for a full day at his office in Norwood, MA. You have to  pronounce Norwood like this: Eliminate the “r” first of all to make “Now – wood.” Oh forget it. I cannot write a good pronunciation guide. Just know they talk funny up in New England. As if they don’t talk funny in the South, right? A patient said, “Oh that’s so nice that he meets with you one on one for free at his office.” What? Are you joking? Super sugar plum, this ain’t no mercy coaching for a free operation. I pay. Big bucks. Like thousands of dollars for that one day with Dr. Pallis. Why? Because the value in what he has taught me is worth gazillions more than what I have or ever will pay to be part of Dr. Pallis’ inner circle posse. And to top off a full day of coaching, he took me to a special gym where they train Division One athletes. A trainer put us through an insane workout. I don’t even know what it was…I think it was beyond anaerobic territory. I even puked. Just a little bit.

I want to know something. Who is YOUR coach? Certainly, in childhood you had a sports coach, favorite teacher, relative…somebody…to inspire you, hold you accountable, and see something in you that you may have never seen for yourself let alone believe in. I know the answer to the question I just posed to you. Sadly, most people do not have coaches as adults. They flail through life hoping everything will turn out OK and wondering why, decades later, they are still walking in circles with the same financial woes, dysfunctional relationships, missed opportunities, old tapes playing and God knows what else that keeps them from achieving their own greatness.

It’s like trying to navigate through life without a compass, map, or destination. If you have a GPS unit you will understand this analogy: When you turn on the GPS, the satellite in the blue yonder up there needs to find your little hunk of metal we call cars in order to tell you how to get from point A to point Z. If it cannot detect you, you won’t get directions. Dr. Pallis is a bit like my personal GPS. Great Pallis Services? He sees me from a very high vantage point, he understands the territory I am in and the territory I am heading toward, and he directs me toward the green pastures where I want to hang my hat, soul, heart, purpose and the whole kit and kaboodle.

For those of you who are up to something in life, who is your coach? For those of you who are not up to something in life, why are you taking up space in the universe?  C’mon now, as they say in these Southern parts, find someone to help you clear the path towards your totally cool life… or for crying out loud, SOMETHING, to get your molecules moving. Life is precious and it’s a lot shorter than you realize. Make something of yourself. Challenge yourself. Experience yourself. Fully.

Coaching is not for the meek, the lost, and the weenies.

Coaching is for the seekers, the strong, and the dedicated.

Who did you say your coach is again?

Caroline von Fluegge-Chen

With an emphasis on family care for more than 24-years, Dr. Caroline von Fluegge-Chen has created a unique program of promoting peak performance found only at Balance Atlanta. She combines specialties of family chiropractic, functional medicine, and BrainCore Therapy to address structural integrity, optimal brain function, and body chemistry balance.