Ok, but what *is* coaching?

When I introduce myself as a coach, the first question I get is something along the lines of “What sport do you coach?”. I explain that I coach people on their personal and professional development. In the best case scenario, this opens up an interesting conversation where I get to talk about this thing that I am really eager to share with others.

How cool would it be to convert your worries into sticky notes that you can ball up and throw out? Coaching can enable you to express your thoughts and help you sort the value from the noise.

Brainstorm about yourself

Have you ever felt stuck? You know something needs to change in your career, or in a relationship, or in how your day or week are running. Something is not right, you’re feeling some stress or discontent or even grief. How do you proceed?

Have you ever had a ton of fun during a brainstorming session? It could be a work thing - brainstorming new ideas for a software project. Or coming up with content ideas to reach the audience of your website or social channels. Or maybe you’re planning a party and you get to brainstorm ideas about how to make the event fun for your friends and family. How awesome does it feel to generate ideas? How cool is it to start digging into your favorite ones? Does it feel rewarding to figure out issues with an idea and then workarounds or tweaks to the original idea that make it really hit the mark?

Coaching is applying that brainstorming and problem solving mindset to the aspects of your life that need a change. You bring a topic into a coaching conversation with the expectation that you and your coach will partner together to unpack the issue - figure out what you know about it, what is bubbling under the surface that you haven’t realized yet, and tease apart what’s your legitimate reality versus what you’re feeling and thinking because of assumptions or expectations that have seeped in.

Ah ha moments and action plans

I enjoy being coached because when I take the time to slow down and give myself permission to inspect a topic from a bunch of different angles, I can usually figure out what it is that’s really bugging me or worrying me or stumping me. And it’s not always about problems - sometimes I uncover what gets me excited (energized! inspired! curious!) about a topic and then it goes from being something that I don’t know how to move ahead on, to something that I can’t wait to dig into! Take blogging, for example. I went from scared to stoked by talking through my worries and assumptions and also figuring out what made me actually want to put my thoughts out there. I look back at those learnings whenever I feel the doubts creep in. I’ve seen these same reactions in my clients, and I get a warm and bubbly feeling in my chest when I get to see them make a new discovery or find new energy or even discard an old belief so that they can move ahead with a new perspective or action plan.

So what is coaching? As I say on my homepage, it’s the space, structure and calm to allow you to explore your thoughts. It’s a chance to slow down, explore an idea, figure out something new about the topic and about yourself. If you have trouble letting your mind slow down to carefully consider what’s next, coaching could be a good way to give yourself permission and the environment to do so. If you like exploring and reflecting, coaching can provide you with a partner to join you in that exercise and impart new perspectives and point out logical and emotional aspects of your exploration that you might not be able to see on your own. Above all, coaching can be the creative and supportive space you need to be yourself and be intentional about how you show up in the world.

Do you want to learn more about coaching and how it can support you? Leave a comment below or send me an email with your questions. Or book a discovery call to discuss what coaching could look like and mean for you.