Turning Ceilings into Floors
It’s 7.30am and I’m sitting at a desk in my hotel room in central London. I’ve been awake since about 5am.
My Oura ring says my heart rate was slightly elevated last night. I’m not surprised. I’ve just completed module one of Ankush Jain’s Career Coaching School (AJC) for the third time, and my mind is buzzing.
For two days I was in a room with 40 coaches … but they are much more than coaches.
They are powerful creators. Change-makers. Compassionate, loving humans who are awake to who they really are and the difference they are here to make.
People had flown in from across the UK, Europe, the US, even India. One drove twenty hours from Slovakia just to be in the room for a single day. Another flew from California to be there for only a few hours. Photo above is me with AJC colleagues Deryl Sweeney and Ralph Corkhill.
The energy was off the charts. The commitment was next level.
We explored topics like 10 out of 10 listening, the power of agreements, acknowledgements, compersion, and the flimsy door distinction. I’ll say more about those last two in future newsletters.
We also did a beautiful exercise using our bios … not a list of achievements, but a deep reflection on who we really are.
Much of the content wasn’t new to me. I’ve been on the AJC twice and have worked with Ankush for nearly five years.
So why was my mind buzzing? Why was I so lit up when none of this was brand new?
Because of a distinction Ankush has often shared with me: turning ceilings into floors.
Take listening, for example. Whatever my best level of listening was before this weekend … that was my ceiling. But now that I’ve seen a new possibility, that old ceiling becomes my new floor.
And so it continues. Each insight creates a new ceiling. The old ceiling becomes the new floor. The growth never ends.
That’s what had my heart racing this morning. I was seeing new ceilings everywhere.
A new ceiling for how I listen.
A new ceiling for how I acknowledge.
A new ceiling for how I create agreements.
A new ceiling for enrolling clients, creating powerful experiences, and living from my document.
A new ceiling for who I am being in the world.
As I sat with all of this, I thought of something Margaret Mead once said:
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
That’s what it felt like to be in that room.
Forty committed coaches. Changing the world. Or as Ankush would say, raising the consciousness of the planet.
And as I sat among them, ceiling after ceiling turned into floor after floor … and new levels of possibility opened up.
I’m buzzing this morning, knowing I have two days of client and prospect meetings ahead.
Me being on the AJC is good news for all of them.
As one client said to me last week when I told him I was coming here, “Better you, better me.”
That is exactly how this works.
When I shift, my clients shift. When I move ceilings into floors, new possibilities open up for them … in their lives, their businesses, their relationships.
New ceilings. New floors.
What about you?
Is there an area of your life where you need a ceiling-to-floor shift?
Are you playing small, stuck in old stories, or holding back from who you really are?
Is there a part of you that knows it’s time to show up differently?
If so, call me. I may be able to help.
Much love,
Peter