CHAPTER THREE

Aligned Thinking Offers Hope

THAT SATURDAY evening at their favorite restaurant, Ray and Carol met Ed and Alanna for dinner. As soon as they ordered their meal, Carol—being the action-oriented person she was—related the entire situation: the frustration of too much to do, too many interruptions, and too little meaning in their lives.

Ray added, “Carol astounded me. In some areas, her situation was worse than mine. We asked ourselves, Who among our friends seem to have their lives together, and how do they do it? We thought of the two of you. You seem to have some secret power we’d like to know about.”

Ed smiled. “Thanks, guys. It wasn’t always this easy. Alanna and I used to have the same feelings and problems that you do, like too much to do and too little meaning in life. Then we attended a workshop led by Coach Eric. He was our soccer coach in school, Ray. Remember?”

Ray nodded. “Sure. Never had a coach who was more positive and encouraging. We won a lot of championships with Coach Eric, didn’t we?”

“Yep,” said Ed. “Turns out Coach’s business is giving productivity seminars to Fortune 500 companies. He helps people get what they really want from life and work by guiding them to become Aligned Thinkers. He’s highly successful at it. Thanks to Coach, Alanna and I learned how to live as Aligned Thinkers.”

“Aligned Thinkers?” Carol looked dubious. “What’s an Aligned Thinker? I’ve never heard that term before. Is becoming an Aligned Thinker complicated?”

“No. It’s easy to learn and even easier to use,” Ed added quickly. “Becoming an Aligned Thinker depends on a set of tools that will help you discover the MIN Secret.”

“What’s the MIN Secret?” Ray asked.

“MIN stands for ‘most important now,’” Ed replied. “It’s an amazing concept that can be used by anyone: homemakers, students, retirees, and businesspeople. It will help you make every moment count. When that happens, you are well on your way to getting what you really want. The wonderful thing about Coach’s Aligned Thinking tools is that they provide a powerful, proven solution to all the frustrations you and Carol are experiencing.”

“Hate to be a skeptic,” Carol said, “but I find this hard to believe.”

“It’s true,” Alanna responded calmly. “Your situation sounds like ours fifteen years ago. At first I didn’t believe I could live as an Aligned Thinker, not with five kids! But once I applied Coach’s simple tools, I went from living a nightmare existence— with all the frustrations you’re expressing—to being an Aligned Thinker, living my dreams.”

Carol shook her head. “If something seems too good to be true, it usually is. Alanna, if I didn’t know you better, I’d think you were putting us on. Make every moment count? With a job, husband, and two kids—I wish!”

Alanna replied, “Coach has a way of making difficult things simple. When he described what an Aligned Thinker is, we questioned whether it was remotely possible to live that way. But Coach Eric made believers out of us by showing us step-by-step how to become Aligned Thinkers. We proved to ourselves that we could really have the life we wanted, even with five kids plus.” She turned to her husband. “Ed, you can draw. Show them the Aligned Thinker circle.”

Ed drew on a napkin and said, “You are an Aligned Thinker when . . . what you really want from life and work drives every action, and . . . every action takes you, step-by-step, back to what you really want.”

Ray and Carol studied the drawing. The more they studied, the more skeptical they looked. “Every action? Do you really mean every single action?” Carol asked.

Alanna smiled confidently. “I knew the definition would cause doubts. That ‘every’ is both the beauty and the simplicity of it.”

“At first, I was also very skeptical,” Ed added. “Once Coach shared the three Life Aligning Questions that impact everyone’s life every day and showed us how to answer them, we discovered the MIN Secret. We found we could align every action with what we really want.”

Alanna added before Ray or Carol could respond, “I was amazed that with five kids, I could be aligned with every action. The Aligned Thinking tools, especially the MIN Secret, make it simpler than I could imagine.”

This was too much for Carol. “MIN Secret? Three Life Aligning Questions to answer? What is this MIN Secret? What are the three questions that can help you align every action with what you really want?”

Ed smiled at Alanna. Alanna smiled back. Then Ed said very politely, “Would you mind if Coach Eric answered your questions? With his years of experience, he found the MIN Secret is more valuable to people if they discover it themselves as they experience the answers to the three questions. He asked us not to share the MIN Secret so people could discover it themselves. Would you mind if we respect his wish?”

There was a short pause. Then Ed added, “I can say that the secret power you mentioned Alanna and I have is partly due to the fact that all our actions are aligned with what we really want.”

This stopped Ray and Carol. They were very curious about the last statement. They wanted to ask more. How- ever, Ed had so politely requested that they honor Coach Eric’s request, how could they do otherwise?

Driving home that night, Ray said, “I’m going to call Coach Eric in the morning. Even before we met tonight, I knew Ed and Alanna had something special. They sure do have their lives together, and now I’m really curious about how they do it. Although I have my doubts about this Aligned Thinking stuff, I trust Coach Eric. I see some light at the end of this black tunnel we’re in—and it’s not just another train coming.”

The next morning Ray made a life-changing phone call.

“Hi, Coach Eric, it’s Ray Walters. Remember me?”

“Of course I do!” said Coach warmly. “You and Stew had a great soccer give-and-go. It was always a pleasure watching you two.”

Ray told Coach about his and Carol’s frustrations, their talk with Alanna and Ed, their desire for the benefits of living as Aligned Thinkers, and their deep doubts that they could live that way. He finally asked Coach if he would guide them.

“Sure,” said Coach. “Let’s meet this weekend. All I ask is that you and Carol make a list of four or five goals that you’d like to accomplish by living as Aligned Thinkers and bring it with you. This list should be so complete that when you and Carol achieve all the goals on it, you’ll be living your ideal professional and personal life.”

This was much more than Ray had expected. With disbelief he said, “Could you repeat that? I’m not sure I heard you correctly.”

“You heard me right,” said Coach. “See you this weekend.”