How has The Midas Touch started and how it can help me?
I want to start by thanking all of you, the subscribers (and readers), for your decision to subscribe this newsletter.
I was in shock when I saw the number of subscriptions rising fast in the hours and days after I published the first edition .
The last time I check the number of subscribers, there were 3730 (on March 2 at 11 36 PM GMT). and the video that I shared on that newsletter has 39 views (also on March 2 at 11 36 PM GMT). I understand that the video’s duration (more than 20 minutes) has made the big majority of you to not watch it.
I hope you received some value by reading the first edition, published 2 weeks ago.
In today’s edition, I will explain how the Midas Touch was born, and what uses it has.
1) The Midas Touch Strategic Reflection tool
This tool is very easy to use, and it requires only one resource– a coin, any coin, of any value, from any country.
I had the initial insight of this tool, on September 2017, while attending a positive psychology workshop on the ICF Italy Conference in Venice.
The trainer / facilitator was saying “Everybody wants to be happy, preferably, all the time! Of course, that’s not possible. So, he asked the audience “What can you do when you are not happy, energized and fulfilled?”
The audience gave some suggestions, even great ones, that I honestly don’t remember. I remember what I said, as it left everybody in the room looking at me as if I was crazy.
I said, “If you are not happy and satisfied… you can monetize that!”
These words came to my mouth without a conscious thought, they were the result of a sudden powerful insight — and people stared at me with strange faces.
Without seeming affected by people’s reactions staring at me, I immediately stood up, picked a coin I had in my wallet, and showed to them saying:
“Well, here’s a coin, and like every coin it has 2 sides. It’s very easy then, one side represents the current situation, that you said you don’t particularly like. So, if you are not happy… just flip the coin to the other side! What learnings, options, alternatives and solutions that exist, that you can see now, that you could not see before, because you are too attached and pressured by the current situation, that blinds you to possibilities?
People’s faces shifted to a more welcoming and agreeing tone, even some expressing a huge surprise due to the simplicity of what I told them.
There was a man seated on my right side, that in sequence of what I said, told “WOW! It seems like the Midas Touch! Everything he touched turned into gold!
Again, without thinking consciously, I wrote the letters M I D A S in a piece of paper and expanded my thoughts fast:
M — Moment — Represents the future Moment — when you are happy(er) than now
I — Ideas — What ideas do you have about the options/opportunities for the future, to make that future moment happen
D — Decisions — What decisions do you need to take to start moving and to keep being focused on to arrive to the future moment
A — Actions — What actions are needed to make the journey to the future moment
S — Solutions — What solutions (resources) are now visible and possible, that inspire you to see broader, act accordingly, be motivated to overcome the obstacles that will appear as the journey to your future moment is not a straight line?
So, in about 2 minutes, the core idea of The Midas Touch came to me, as a sudden insight, that has evolved a lot over these almost 4 years and a half and is a robust holistic strategic reflection tool to help and support individuals and also teams.
Most people know the story of ‘King Midas’ and ´The Midas Touch´”.
Instead of being connected with the King Midas greediness, “The Midas Touch”, helps you see the gold, see the possibilities on the other side of the coin.
In fact, all that happens in our life can be OUR GOLD if we look at those events and situations from a greater perspective:
· what can I learn with?
o this / with my current situation / this unfortunate event, etc
· what opportunities are there that I am not seeing now, because I can only see what is in front of me now?
· What is possible in the future vs what is not possible today?
Just by using a coin, you can greatly help yourself uncover and unblock what is possible, that you cannot see or perceive, because the current situation is putting a heavy toll on you. Or you may start positive things in your not so positive current situation.
An actual personal example from me:
Thursday of last week I started to have very high fever, and on that day and Friday, I had to be in bed the whole time. On Saturday I didn’t have any more fever, however, my son told me at the end of the day that his girlfriend tested positive for Covid-19.
I had tested myself before, on Thursday and the test was negative.
Sunday, I bought more auto tests and did a test at home — Sunday night… positive… Monday morning … positive. So, on Monday morning I called the Portuguese Health Authorities to ask for a PCR test, to find out if I really have the Virus or not.
I am still waiting for the results of the test, and fortunately, so far I haven’t had major symptoms besides those 2 days with high fever.
However, yesterday I was very happy to see a benefit of this situation for me, in the other side of the coin. I went to the scale, and I saw that from last week, I have 1.3 Kgs less, which I am very happy with, as I want to run for longer distances and times this year!
With the impact of the fever on my appetite, I am eating less and the weight is reducing — not my direct goal though.
My goal is as I wrote above — I will run for longer distances and times this year!
The Midas Touch is included in the Book “We Coach”, a compilation of about 200 coaching tools and models, with contributions by more than 80 coaches. This paperback luxurious edition is sold out, and 2 volumes were created: Coaching Tools: Volume 1, Coaching Tools Volume 2 available for pre order.
The Midas Touch is featured on Volume 1.
2) Interview published on YouTube
Last year I was interviewed by @Aishwarya Jain, of People Hum.
The conversation was about coaching and also about The Midas Touch.
You can watch the interview here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOQDAeu4FzM&t=23s
3) The Midas Touch Coinmunity Group on LinkedIn
Since we are now living even tougher times than the last 2 years, with an exponential uncertainty for all of us, and for people to connect and start to support each other, I have also created a group on LinkedIn — The Midas Touch Coinmunity, that I suggest you join, at https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9025827/
Many of you, the subscribers, are experiencing very tough situations and not being able to see any possibilities for your lives to improve in the short term or your teams and organizations are facing immense challenges that you cannot see how to overcome.
Since I cannot talk and support all of you directly at the moment, I kindly ask you to join the group, introduce yourselves, and if you feel that by sharing very briefly what is the challenge you are facing, you can start to get some suggestions or help, please do so.
You can also message me directly, share your challenge and ask for a conversation with me. Or if you want me to share it anonymously in the group, so that you can get support from the group members, additional perspectives, alternatives, and solutions to what can help you, please mention it as well.
It is my pleasure and purpose to help you improve your life, so that you Flip the Coin and are able to find Your Gold.
In order for me to better provide you value and support you better with the content of this newsletter, I appreciate that you can share your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions about what you have read in the 1st and this 2nd newsletter, and what you would like me to address on the 3rd edition, to be published around mid-March.
It was a pleasure writing for you today, and I sincerely hope it is a pleasure for you reading this, and that it provides you a way to start shifting your mindset to exploring more possibilities.
Thank you very much for your subscription, for your time reading this, and for your attention, it truly means a lot to me.
Wish you all a good rest of the week and weekend, with all the conditionants we all have in these highly challenging times.
José de Sousa
PS. If you feel stuck, experiment picking up a coin, choose one side to represent your current situation, have some deep breaths, merge with the coin, and let some thoughts and emotions about the current situation come to you.
Please do not let yourself dominate the rest of your day with these thoughts and emotions. Decide to explore this for a maximum of about 10 -15 minutes.
After that, flip the coin to the other side and do the same : have some deep breaths, merge with the coin, and let some thoughts and emotions of what’s possible, of the future you want to come to you.
What is it there now? What options, alternatives and solutions are you seeing now?
Has it helped? I hope so and look forward to hear from you soon.
If you like what you read here and want to learn more about The Midas Touch, and how it can help you and your organization think and reflecty more strategically, send me a message on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jose-desousa/
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