“Exploration leads to understanding. Understanding leads to deeper knowledge. Deeper knowledge leads to greater awareness.”

Although not spoken by anybody famous the quote I wrote above is something I like to use in a variety of different scenarios and I have found it particularly suited to my style of Coaching. Whether there is a challenge that I myself am working through or if I am Coaching a client I have found that each individual statement within the quote plays a specific and important part in its effectiveness as a whole. 

The quote does of course work in its most general state, but by extending the individual statements within it more clarity can be achieved. This works particularly well when the extended version is applied to a specific problem. If you take the quote from above and turn it into the version below you should see what I mean. 

“Exploration of the issue at hand and the potential options available leads to understanding. Understanding of those options and how they might work leads to deeper knowledge. Deeper knowledge of how many possible options work leads to greater awareness. With greater awareness one is better able to make informed decisions that have a greater chance of success.” 

As I mentioned earlier, what makes the application of this quote so effective is that each part of it directly supports the next. In fact it would be fair and accurate to say that using only one part of the whole will not work; for how can understanding of an issue or challenge be achieved without first exploring it fully? How can one have true knowledge of something one does not first understand? 

This quote, statement, or tenet if you prefer, is something that has served me very well through life and is now something that I incorporate into my Coaching practice. I don’t for a moment claim that it is “the answer” but I do feel that it goes some way to helping find the answers that we all seek. 

James Goldsworthy.

AoEC accredited Associate Executive Coach.

Founder of Alternate Visions Coaching.