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?

I came across a local news blog post about Michelle Obama's vegetable garden at the White House, and then I followed up with a little more reading at the New York Times. It is exciting to think about how this seemingly small effort has the potential to influence so many important issues in the U.S. and the entire world – healthy eating, sustainability and other environmental, social and health concerns.

Here are some coaching article ideas that sprouted for me as I considered this topic:

• Parenting/Family coaches: 10 must-have's to start your own family garden
• Food/Cooking coaches: 10 vegetable side dishes from your organic garden
• Life coaches: 10 reasons that gardening is good for your soul
• Money coaches: 10 ways that healthier eating can save you money

Writing prompt: Did these topics spark any ideas for your newsletter or blog? What's the connection between your specialty area and the Obama garden?