Coaching & Personal Development

GROW Model Graham Alexander, Alan Fine & Sir John Whitmore, 1980s A four-stage coaching structure — Goal, Reality, Options, Will — that ends with a specific commitment, because a conversation without commitment produces nothing but interesting ideas. Ikigai Japanese concept; popularised in the West by Héctor García & Francesc Miralles, 2016 The intersection of what you love, what you're good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for — the overlap is a business with a genuine reason for being. SMART Goals George Doran, 1981 (various expansions since) Convert vague intentions into actionable commitments — Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound. A foundation for milestones, not a constraint on ambition. Pomodoro Technique Francesco Cirillo, late 1980s 25 minutes of single-task focus plus a scheduled break — 20 minutes of real single-tasking beats 2 hours of fragmented attention, every time. Getting Things Done (GTD) David Allen, 2001 Externalise every commitment into a trusted system so your mind is free to think rather than remember — the weekly review is the cornerstone. Deep Work Cal Newport, 2016 Distraction-free concentration that pushes cognitive capabilities to their limit — increasingly rare, increasingly valuable, and the discipline most likely to compound your creative output. Bloom's Taxonomy Benjamin Bloom et al., 1956; revised by Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001 A hierarchy from Remember through Create that forces the question every course builder should answer: am I teaching people to know things, or to create things? Parkinson's Law Cyril Northcote Parkinson, 1955 Work expands to fill the time available — deliberately short deadlines force decisions, prevent perfectionism, and consistently produce work as good as open-ended time allows.