THIS IS OUR STORY, IT'S ONE MANY OF US SHARE
Control Goal Soul has been created by us, Gareth Jones and Adam Stones: two British friends who, for over 20 years, have shared life’s ups and downs with joy, honesty and - sometimes - vulnerability. We created CGS as both an aggregator of our personal and professional experiences, as well as a simplifier of all this knowledge.
Both of our work is rooted in our passion for positive change; helping organisations and individuals to power up through Purpose. But, crucially, we also understand the importance of making things simple if you want to tackle the complexities of life. We both worked in London in senior roles in international organisations, focused on communications and organisational strategy, before relocating to Australia and The Netherlands. Gareth is the founder of Melbourne- based brand strategy consultancy The Drawing Board. Adam is the founder of Amsterdam-based communications consultancy, A’DAM Communications.
The idea for the CGS model emerged in 2016 whilst Gareth was completing his altMBA. Motivated by a need to address his anxiety and panic attacks, Gareth’s key insight was that to take control, he also needed to nurture what was feeding his soul, as well as set himself a goal to channel his energy (in his case, running his first marathon). It was by distilling everything down to these three focuses, and by having these work in collaboration, that he was able to change the way he engaged with the world around him and achieve his ambitions.
When Gareth told Adam about his idea, it immediately resonated, as Adam had been leading the communications strategy for a national business mental health initiative. Adam jotted down his thoughts into the three areas - adding his own ideas on how the model could even expand - and immediately felt empowered to take control of his own anxiety, and to set the direction of his personal and professional development with clarity and confidence.
We both used CGS periodically after this but, without the additional layering it now has, CGS was only ever able to provide us with a lifeboat. In March 2020, like you, we found ourselves in isolation. Our shared life experience then took on a strange synchronicity with both of us having to stop work to become full time carers for our baby sons, and both of us experiencing intense anxiety again - this anxiety was fuelled by concerns for global events, health, work, finance, family wellbeing, and even whether or not we were being good dads. Without mentioning it to each other at first, we both found ourselves turning back to Control Goal Soul for direction. It immediately helped us to get back on track, so we discussed how we could take it further, to not just get in the lifeboat, but to also plot a course and raise the sails.
Realising that we might be able to help many others to secure the same benefits we had experienced, we embarked on a series of zoom calls, brainstorms and model developments - using our combined experience of development coaching and training - to take CGS forward; to establish the model which anyone can use to create their own simple plan for personal transformation. We believe that just as the present is a result of our past decisions (or lack of them), we have an opportunity to write our future by the actions we take today.
Control Goal Soul worked for us and we believe it could work for you. We’d love to get your feedback so we can continue to refine CGS and use it to help more people.