The Magical Essence that Makes you Unique

Last week I was working with some clients who are all former high achievers in the world of sport.  I found it fascinating that they took it for granted that everyone must be the same as they are. I quickly pointed out that the essence of what makes them different to most of the population is that they have ACTUALLY DONE IT - and that is what is worth a lot.

I come across many high achievers in the worlds of business, sport and academia and as a coach, my job very often is to help these people recognise, accept and then leverage the essence that makes then unique. 

There is a great story I heard about the factory owner that had a machine that broke down, meaning that his staff of 500 were hanging about waiting for it to be fixed - the factory owner was going mad with all the delays.  He called the repair man, who came from a long way away, and charged £15,000 to fix the machine. 

Everyone waited with bated breath as he arrived, scratched his head, looked for a few moments and then made two loud taps on the machine in particular areas.  He then said "right that's it fixed". The factory owner was delighted but also aghast that this guy could charge such a large fee for the work.  He exclaimed "what gives you the right to charge all that money and you were only here for a few minutes?" The man replied "It took me 20 years to get all the knowledge to know which two areas to tap, and that is what you are paying for". 

It was the same with these sports people - they had not realised that all the knowledge and experience they had gained and could now use to help others was valuable.  They left with a new outlook on what that magical essence was worth.....