I’ve known Dave Brown for over 25 years. He has been coaching me to achieve ‘balance between my professional and personal life’. I have a personality type that drives faster than my body could keep up. For years I pushed myself at full throttle. A pace difficult to sustain. During our coaching sessions, I discovered how I ‘sacrificed my wellbeing’ at times for the sake of accomplishing my goals.

Dave offered strategies, support and insight to help me find a level of balance. that I had not found on my own. As a result I can now be more effective in everything I do.

Coaching is a powerful process, and Dave Brown is an excellent coach

CHALLENGE: To be an effective director, I needed to stop doing the work and start leading the work – to effectively delegate and guide my team. Promoted to managing 18 scientists, who were formerly my peers, was a enough challenge. Faced with accomplishing a company goal within a given time constraint. With no history of how to complete it.

RESULTS AND OUTCOME: By managing up, I was able to acquire the budget necessary for critical equipment purchases. And vital staff training and education. I was promoted to Sr. Director within a difficult market for research and development. the investors attributed to the firm’s effective accomplishment of corporate objectives the company received a third round of funding. A direct result of my effective leadership.

The valuable coaching sessions with Dave Brown produced tangible and intangible returns for me on both the professional and personal fronts. From relieving physical stress, to increasing my potential at work, to actually finding a wonderful partner… These goals were met with positive outcomes. Dave has a unique ability to assist me to understand and eliminate ‘road blocks’ to my success, and to live my life with greater intention

Although this can be a quick read, the lessons are slow to learn. Breaking The Trance of Stress is really more of a guidebook to creating awareness about our stress and then building new habits to manage that stress. Mr Brown manages to distill a lifetime of coaching experience and wisdom into easily digestible chapters. Each chapter ends with simple, though not necessarily easy, practices to resolve the subject issues, which may be turned into regular habits that may then be neatly stacked to come to one simple conclusion: suffering is optional.

‘Breaking the Trances of Stress‘ is a quick read about the deep-rooted self-inflicted barriers that hold us back from becoming who we want to be.

I have had the pleasure to work with Dave Brown and before I met him, I was reasonably successful. I was also stuck and I didn’t understand why.

Having worked with other executive coaches I was skeptical about the value I would get from Dave, but his approach was different, and after a short amount of time I began to realize that I was the one that was holding myself back. It wasn’t my knowledge, my work ethic, my organizational skills or my communication skills. I was solid in every one of those categories. What it all boiled down to was me and my own emotions and my lack of control over them.

Breaking the Trances of Stress is a short book that you can read during your lunch break, but its context is powerful and life changing. In a day and age where stress can take control and become a chronic issue, Dave’s approach simply asks you to look within yourself and realize that “suffering is optional” and helps you build the tools to take back control of your life and emotions. It is then and only then, that you will be able to realize your own potential.

This book is a must read for anyone in today’s crazy stressful competitive business landscape or even if you just need help in your personal life …