#21 What do you do with your frustration?

Who is okay with frustration? My guess is no one.
Who, then, is trying to solve it? Some.
And who is open to changing their ways? A few.
Who is then more fulfilled and more aligned with themselves? The same few.

I’ve combed through my 10-year career and examined the 10 clients with whom I haven’t managed to reach the highest potential outcomes that I expected for them.
Frustration at its height!

Why do most of my clients see extraordinary results, while others see only ordinary results, and in some rare cases, downright low results? 
Indeed, in the same frame time, my expertise, my skills and my method are merely the same from one client to another. My personality also doesn’t change. My beliefs, my motives, my commitment are similar too. So, this is why it is so intriguing and meaningful to dig up this treasure trove of insight.
Should this lead me to believe that these differences in results varies entirely according to on my clients?
No.
First, I don’t want to think this way. I don’t want to defend that logic because it would be highly disempowering. I prefer to take responsibility for things that I am dissatisfied with in order to get a chance to change it.
Secondly, I want to be accountable for that because I want to offer the best services to ALL of my clients. If there is room to improve and make changes, I want to know what it is about.
And, If I cannot change it, or If I don’t want to change it, it is still my duty not to accept to work with these clients. Filtering my clients is not solely in my own interest, it is a favor I am doing for them too. You would certainly appreciate being told that you would get more for your time and money working with someone else, wouldn’t you?

Now that said, my mystery had to be solved.
“What combination of factors fosters over/under performance?”
Thanks to this detailed examination, here are the three cornerstones that I can use as a grid to anticipate red flags and better manage my mutual performance with my client: 

1.  The clients (Their Will / their Need / their Commitment / their Resistance / their Self-awareness) 
2.  The goal (Clear enough / Ambitious enough /Achievable enough /Accurate enough) 
3.  The right timing (Their context and reality) 
   
   

What is your mystery behind situations in which you feel frustrated?
What isn’t a good match for you? (Notice that I am not asking “what is a good match?”. When you already have a track record, it is interesting to go one step further to look at the dark side of things and really confront yourself.)
What are your cornerstones that you should pay closer attention to?
What will you say “No” to? 

Explore it to help you question those patterns of interest, as it did for me. Apply it to your own playground.
Frustration is a call for changes. And these changes involve YOU as the leading role.
Own it.