I recently heard a seasoned trainer describe a metaphor for Coaches – with our desire to create, our curiosity, and our eagerness to try new things – in this way:

“Imagine that you’ve come to the beach and you want to dig a hole to find some treasure.  So you begin to dig in one spot…  It’s hard work, but you’re beginning to make some progress.  But then, something catches your eye, and you see a different spot that looks more promising, so you move over and begin digging a new hole there.  But then, you get a creative idea about where treasure would most likely be, so you move again and begin digging a new hole there.  But then, you hear that everyone else is digging in another popular spot, so you move again and begin digging there.

 So what do you end up with at the end of the day?  A broken back, a beach full of holes and, alas, no treasure.”

When I heard this I couldn’t help but fall off my seat laughing, because it’s so true.

This is a metaphor for the coach who does something like this – they begin to follow one particular mentor and system to grow their business, then get distracted by another trainer who looks informed and knowledgeable and has a new cool Tele-Series, which they then sign up for, but then they hear about a brand-new business building Home Study Program from another expert, so they purchase that program and start working through the process, but then they get feedback from a buddy coach that they should really be in yet another mentor’s excellent mastermind, so they put down what they were doing and jump over into that…

You see, there’s nothing worse to sabotage your ability to see true, measurable progress in growing your coaching business than “Mentor Hopping” and joining multiple programs and classes, and buying multiple products, and then “dabbling” a bit in all of them – because the end result of that is that you’ll spin your wheels, exhaust yourself, and end up STUCK!

There’s no better way to get overwhelmed, either.  And when you put in solid effort but you see little progress (because you’re being pulled in so many directions), it can be so disheartening that you simply want to throw in the towel.

This brings me to what I recommend:  ONE MENTOR, ONE SYSTEM.

What I’m trying to say is that it’s much better to commit to ONE mentor, and to work through their proven, step-by-step success system with a real singularity of focus.  Because you won’t be constantly “jumping tracks,” instead, you’ll be working in a very strategic and targeted manner that will surely produce results (to use the metaphor above, you’d finally dig a hole deep enough to hit the treasure!).

Now I’m not saying I don’t recommend changing mentors / trainers every so often, or moving out of one program (that you complete!) into a different and more advanced program elsewhere…  In fact, I strategically evaluate my mentorship every year (sometimes I continue with the same person while sometimes I switch).

What I’m saying is that it’s imperative to commit to one mentor and system at a TIME… and to follow that person’s explicit direction for a specific period if you want to see your actions build upon one another and eventually product those results you’ve been craving!