Christopher Edgar
Free
Success Coaching Expert

Christopher Edgar Quick Facts
- Main Areas
- Career Transition and Success Coaching
- Career Focus
- Author, Speaker, Personal Coach
- Affiliation
- Purpose Power Coaching
Chris Edgar is an author, speaker and personal coach who helps professionals find productivity and satisfaction in their work using mindfulness and spiritual practices. Chris's book, Inner Productivity: A Mindful Path to Efficiency and Enjoyment in Your Work, is packed with exercises for developing focus and motivation in what you do. You can find out more at www.InnerProductivity.com.
Free Articles & Book Excerpts
Five Reasons To Be Grateful For "Difficult People" In Your Life
http://wisdom-magazine.com/Article.aspx?articleID=693
3 Keys To Developing "Inner Productivity"
http://www.thechangeblog.com/3-keys-to-developing-inner-productivity/
Fostering Peace In The World Starts With Creating Peace Within Yourself ourself
http://www.purposepowercoaching.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/wellbeing-article.pdf
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Christopher Edgar Books
Articles by this expert
SelfGrowth articles and saved writing connected to this expert.
Article
The Yoga of Productivity, Part 2: Awareness and Allowing
In the last article in this series, I talked about some yoga asanas, or poses, that can help us restore our focus and motivation as we work — without even getting up from our desks. In this article, I’ll speak more generally about how yoga helps us develop what I call Awareness and Allowing — two capacities that are key to giving us the efficiency and enjoyment we want in what we do.
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Calling Out Our Doubts
I admit it — I have moments when I doubt the value of everything I do in my life. I doubt whether I’m really interested in my work. I question whether the relationships in my life are worthwhile. I seriously consider whether I’d prefer a life of solitary, cave-dwelling meditation. I think doubt is wonderful.
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Thoughts on "Authentic Marketing," Part 1
I’ve read a bunch of discussions in books and blogs recently on how to be “authentic” in marketing your goods and services—and, in some cases, whether authentic marketing is even possible—and I have some thoughts to contribute. I’ll offer a simple, but powerful, question to ask when you’re working on selling your stuff to guide you toward feeling more aligned with yourself as you do it. My sense is that, when we say we want to do “authentic marketing,” we mean more than simply _not lying_.
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"Authentic Marketing," Part 2: On Actually Caring About People
It’s become common in business literature to say that entrepreneurs who care about others tend to be more successful. Thus, say business authors, it will profit you to act like a caring person. Say “thank you,” smile, look into people’s left eye, let them do most of the talking, and so on. I think it’s true that people who are genuinely conce ed for others’ wellbeing make better entrepreneurs.
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"Authentic Marketing," Part 3: I Can Read Your Mind
It’s not just a line from the Alan Parsons Project — it’s the truth. I know how you’re feeling and what your intentions are. What’s more, everyone else does too. Human beings are extremely empathic creatures. I’m exaggerating a little — sometimes you can trick people into buying your facade. But much of the time, when you think you’ve got us all fooled, you’re only fooling yourself. People See The Concern, Not Just The Technique I think this is the single most neglected fact in marketing literature.
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"Authentic Marketing," Part 4: An Awareness-Building Exercise
In the last part of this series, I suggested that we can actually enjoy marketing when we’re able to tap into our natural compassion and conce for others. As I said, I think this often requires us to let go of the ways we protect ourselves from getting hurt when we interact with another person. For example, if we’re at a networking event, and we’re worried that others won’t take seriously what we have to offer, maybe we’ll loudly brag about our products and services, not letting anyone get a word in edgewise.
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3 Ways To Reduce Email-Related Suffering
When I speak to a group, I almost always get questions about e-mail. “I just get so much e-mail at work and I don’t know what to do with it,” people say. Worse yet, they’ve usually tried several e-mail organizing systems, and the overwhelm they’re feeling hasn’t gone away. I think this is because a lot of suffering we experience around e-mail has nothing to do with how we organize it. Instead, it stems from the ways we think about and react to our e-mail.
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Productivity And “Pushing The Moment”
I shudder a little when I think about some of my old working habits. One of these habits was to do what I now call “pushing the moment.” When I’d be under time pressure, or I just wanted a task off my plate quickly, I’d tighten up my shoulders as I worked — as if I were physically trying to push the project to completion. Not surprisingly, my shoulders used to get sore pretty often. Today, when I work with someone who’s looking for focus and motivation in what they do, we often discover they’re doing the same thing.
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The Benefits of Blankness
If you spent a moment without thinking, would you cease to exist? When I give talks about using mindfulness practices to focus on your work, at least one person usually tells me they “can’t meditate” because they can’t seem to force their mind to quiet. But often, if I get the chance to dig deeper into what’s going on for that person, what I discover is that they don’t really want their mind to be silent. They’re afraid that, if they stopped thinking for a moment, they wouldn’t be able to start again.
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Creativity and Boundary-Setting
If someone told you that a piece you wrote is garbage and you’re a moron for writing it, could you object to their behavior? When I work with people who are having trouble starting a project, this is often an area where they feel blocked. They don’t trust their ability to protect themselves against mistreatment. They feel reluctant to “put their work out there” because they don’t think they can handle the criticism that might come their way. It’s also unsurprising that these people suffer greatly at the hands (or maybe “claws” is the better word) of their inner critic.
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3 Keys to Developing Inner Productivity
Looking at the number of books and articles on organization and time management available today, you'd think the market for productivity strategies was close to saturation, and the demand for more would be dropping. But this doesn’t seem to be true. Instead, it seems like a new book, article, or seminar on productivity comes out every day. Why are people still hungry for productivity advice, even with so many techniques on the market?
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The Waiting Mindset: A Mindful Productivity Tool
Most of us have had the experience, from time to time, of being “in the flow” or “in the zone” as we worked—focusing on the task in front of us with total calm and concentration. In these moments, our focus on what we’re doing becomes so intense that it’s almost like we forget we’re there. We ...
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Favorite Quotes & Thoughts from Christopher Edgar
My Goal Is To Help You:
* Find and pursue your true calling in your career
* Find more satisfaction and productivity in what you do
* Overcome fears and other emotional blocks getting in the way of fulfilling your purpose
* Plan and make the next steps in finding and living your calling
How We’ll Work Together
The process I follow with each client depends on their unique situation. However, I usually start by working with the client to create a list of the features of their ideal career. These may range from concrete aspects of their dream career, like job responsibilities and income, to the feelings–for instance, the joy, significance and peace–they want to experience.
To inspire the client and focus their unconscious mind on achieving these goals, I put them through a visualization where they imagine themselves in a career with all of their ideal features. I also have the client write a letter to themselves dated at the point in the future when they hope to be in their dream career situation, congratulating themselves for what they’ve accomplished.
What if you aren’t sure what you want? I often find that people who believe they don’t know what they want are actually just in need of a good listener. When they find someone who won’t judge or criticize them for stating their desires, and who will treat their wants as important, they discover that they actually have a very clear idea of what’s best for them. If that isn’t enough, there are also techniques that can be used to unearth people’s passions and aspirations from their unconscious.
After we establish the client’s vision, my work with the client usually consists of setting specific milestones for reaching the client’s goals, holding the client accountable for meeting those commitments, brainstorming solutions to challenges the client may face, and helping them overcome emotional blocks in the way of getting where they want to be.
Not everyone I work with is interested in a career transition–some of them come to me just wanting more satisfaction in their current careers, and some discover in the course of our coaching that they can find fulfillment where they are. These people’s goals in coaching might be, for example, improving communication with colleagues, developing the confidence to market their products more effectively, or finding more focus and productivity.
A coaching relationship typically lasts at least a few months. It’s helpful to stay in regular contact even after we determine the client’s objectives and remove any mental obstacles preventing the achievement of those goals. As we move along our paths in life, we often have to deal with unanticipated challenges, and correct our courses accordingly. Having someone around to listen to our conce s and keep us on track as we face those challenges is an immense asset.
Working with someone who is devoted to your success, who will hold you to the commitments you make to yourself, and with whom you can exchange ideas, is an invaluable resource. It isn’t always comfortable—being held to the goals you set for yourself, and taking a hard look at those areas where you’re holding back, can be a strenuous experience. But stepping out of your comfort zone and breaking with your old patterns of behavior are often critical to achieving the results you want.
If you feel called to finding and following your purpose in life, and you’d like a committed partner in your journey, I hope we’ll get a chance to work together.
Contacting Christopher Edgar
E-mail: chris@purposepowercoaching.com
Website: www.InnerProductivity.com
How to get started
If you're interested in finding out more about my book, Inner Productivity: A Mindful Path to Efficiency and Enjoyment in Your Work, or exploring the possibility of coaching with me, please visit my website at www.InnerProductivity.com.