Interview with Terry McLean – Life coach

Our favourite life coach, Terry McLean, is back at What’s Up! to give his enlightening talks, this time at our centres in Seville and Bilbao.

We just can’t get enough of this man, his charm, his sense of humour and -especially- his knowledge about how to deal with the harsh aspects of life and ourselves (just as the saying goes… we are our worst enemies!); his talks are a precious chance to learn how to be a better person and follow the road to happiness. Don’t miss out and meet Terry! March 26th in Seville and April 9th in Bilbao.

¿Cómo y cuándo empezaste en el mundo del personal coaching? ¿Qué te motivó a ello?

TM – I started in Personal Coaching by accident really. I was working as  a presenter in large corporate conference when the CEO of the company asked me for some advice on his speech. I can’t remember what I said to him but he liked it so much and it worked so well for him that he hired me to coach his Board of Directors on Presentation Skills. That was 8 years ago and I haven’t looked back since!

A parte del humor que haces gala en todas tus charlas ¿Qué técnicas o conocimientos de tu experiencia en las artes performativas, como actor y cómico, introduces en tus terapias de coaching?

TM – It’s not so much a technique as an attitude. Before every performance, speech or training session I try to put myself in the Audience’s shoes and to imagine what would make it interesting or useful to them. In theatre with teenagers I used to focus on getting the interest of the worst students, the “Monkey boys” and disinterested ones…I put myself in their shoes and found ways of engaging the whole audience. Basically I like to answer the 4 questions in the audience’s head: Why should I listen to you? What are you going to talk about? How do I behave and interact as an audience member and What’s In it For Me?   If i can cover those points and questions then I know I will be engaging the audience at many levels.

¿Cuál dirías que es el primer (y segundo) paso para comenzar latransformación personal de uno mismo? ¿Qué cambios de hábitos básicos aconsejarías?

TM – Ufffff big question!!!.. I think the first step is to observe yourself and realise what your behavioural patterns are…. what are the behavioural choices you make as HABITS? Some will work for you and others stopped working a long time ago but you carry on with them because they are habits, some of them are inherited from your parents and others are ones that you adopted as a young person in order to “fit in” to society, your family, your friends, to get approval, recognition, respect and…. love.   Once you become CONSCIOUS of your UNCONSCIOUS behavioural CHOICES and the ALWAYS POSITIVE INTENTION behind them,  you can change the ones that don’t work for newer “programmes”   So BECOMING AWARE OF YOURSELF is the first step because as Carl Jung said “Hasta que hagas consciente lo que es inconsciente, tu sub – consciente dirigirá tu vida….. y tu lo llamarás… Destino…. o Suerte”

¿Consideras que el aprendizaje de idiomas/inglés puede beneficiar y ayudar al desarrollo personal de una persona a diversos niveles? ¿de qué manera?

I’m not sure really, what seems to be true on a psycholinguistic level is that people who learn more than one language seem to be more flexible and adaptable than monolingual people.. they see/hear/feel more Choices and are more open to alternative or new realities. Flexibility is a key factor in personal development and growth. But from there to make a direct link between language learning and ability to change and grow… would need more research in my opinion.

Según tu experiencia, ¿cuáles son los obstáculos o bloqueos más comunes que impiden evolucionar a una persona?

TM – Fear. You can call it many things but it’s always fear…. Fear of failure,  Fear of ridicule, Fear of Abandonment, Fear of rejection, Fear of Isolation, Fear of indifference even Fear of Success.. which is one you don’t expect but which has been very present up until now in my life. Our lives and everything we have in them are a result of what you most desire divided by what you fear….. There are two forces in nature.. one that pushes you up to greatness an done that holds you back where you are.. where sometimes you say to yourself that you belong…   These forces are LOVE…. And FEAR…   Your life is a result of your capacity to LOVE (yourself, your skills, your talents, your goals, your friends and family) divided by your ability to manage your FEARS

¿Dónde podemos encontrarte si te necesitamos, Terry? ¿Tienes algún curso programado próximamente?

TM – ¡Muchos cursos! 7+8 MARZO “RECUPERA EL MANDO DE TU VIDA” en Madrid! Dos dias de inversión y buceo en TI MISMO!! Un taller precioso, bonito hecho con mucho amor desde donde sales con otra visión espectacular de la vida que quierea vivir, y cambias cosas que pensaste que “es lo que hay” DESDE EL PRIMER DIA!   Más detalles en nuestra página de FACEBOOK: BE YOU – EL CAMBIO POSITIVO!

Y, por último, ¿Algún consejo para desatar nuestro carisma y brillar en el 2015?

TM – SE TU MISMO, LOS DEMÁS PUESTOS ESTÁN OCUPADOS!  Y juntate a BE YOU – El cambio positivo en FACEBOOK y te llevaremos en un viaje espectacular! Un viaje interno hacia TU CARISMA! Pon LIKE en la página y te enseñaremos los 10 pasos para crear una vida 10 para ti…   ….. si tu quieres.