Governments around the world have implemented incentive programs to stimulate the economy and protect the environment.  I'm proud that my own City of Toronto took a stand for the environment this Spring with a by-law that forces us to think twice before we use plastic bags.

When I saw CAA magazine's Fall 2009 cover story, "Renovation Nation" about Canada's home renovation credit, it got me thinking about how incentives work to motivate people – or do they? Here are some topic ideas to explore this question with your own coaching niche:

• Career coaches: Top 5 reasons to move on from a job that is not working
• Life coaches: Top 10 healthy rewards for accomplishing a goal
• Money coaches: How government incentives can help you to save money and improve your life
• Parenting coaches: Positive reinforcement strategies for peaceful parenting
• Business coaches: How incentive-based payment is a win-win for everyone on your team
• Marketing coaches: Top 5 ways to use bonuses and time-limited offers as incentives for sales

Writing prompt: Whether you want to get your readers thinking about how to create or implement incentive programs, or you want to motivate them to take action with an incentive program of your own, how will you write about this topic in your newsletter or blog? Please comment below and let me know!

In honour of Caribana weekend here in Toronto, the theme for today’s writing prompts is “flash your feathers.”

• Career coaches: 5 ways to broadcast your accomplishments without bragging

• Life coaches: 5 ways to celebrate your strengths

• Money coaches: The 5 things you should never scrimp on

• Parenting coaches: 5 ways to build up your child’s self-esteem

• Business coaches: 5 missed opportunities to reinforce your brand

• Marketing coaches: 5 tasteful ways to use client testimonials

Writing prompt: Use one of these titles as a jumping off point for an article or blog post, or simply type the phrase “Flash your feathers!” at the top of a page and see where it takes you.

I was thinking the other day about how conflict and anger can so often be boiled down to simple fear. One person or a lot of people who are afraid they will lose something they cherish or not get something they covet.

We see it in the house, in the workplace, in the car (!), around the corner and around the world (sadly, just take your pick of stories in the International news).

Writing prompt: Here are some ideas for how you can explore the connection between anger and fear in a coaching article:

• Career coaches: 5 ways to respond calmly to an emotionally-charged conversation at work
• Life coaches: 5 ways to get re-centered instead of lashing out
• Money coaches: The 5 tricks that collection agents use to trigger your emotions and how to rise above them
• Relationship coaches: 5 questions to ask yourself before you confront your spouse in anger
• Parenting coaches: 5 ways to address the real reason for your child's tantrum
• Business coaches: 5 ways to keep business from getting personal
• Marketing coaches: The ethical approach to using scarcity as a marketing strategy
• Spiritual coaches: 10 ways to cultivate faith when you're facing fear

I was quite impressed by the television commercial that GM has been airing over the last couple of days, following their filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday.

Talk about taking a coach approach to failure! In fact, seeing this commercial actually left me with the feeling that the "real world" was finally coming into alignment with the "coaching world" that I have been part of since 2002.

Writing prompt: Whatever target market you serve as a coach, I bet that you have a thing or two to say to them about reinvention, failure and starting over. Why not write some of those things down in an article or blog post?

With GM Canada workers voting today on an agreement designed to keep GM operating in Canada, I started thinking about the skill of negotiation, and how it shows up in different parts of our lives.

Here are some suggested coaching article topics:

• Career coaches: 5 steps to negotiating your next pay raise
• Life coaches: 5 situations where negotiation and compromise can save your relationship
• Money coaches: 5 services you could be paying less for if you just asked
• Parenting coaches: 5 tips for negotiating a curfew that everyone can feel good about
• Business coaches: 10 ways to communicate your value so that customers will happily pay what you're worth
• Divorce coaches: 10 negotiation strategies that will keep you out of divorce court

Writing prompt: How could improved negotiation skills help your specific target market?