Chapter 13
Coaching
‘You succeed because you believe you can.’ Catherine Best
Coaching is an ideal tool to help support your professional and personal development. It enables powerful goal setting, innovation, and can maximise your potential.
But what is coaching? Essentially, coaching is designed to help you identify what you want in your life. Whether you want to lose weight; eat better; gain financial stability or change career, coaching can help you achieve all these things.
Coaches hold you to account. They help you through the challenging times when you have no idea where to begin, they help keep you motivated when you are about to give up and they do all this to help you be successful. That’s fine if your motivation is at rock bottom and you need someone to hold you to account, but not everyone needs that or can afford a coach.
And that’s okay. Success comes from slowly chipping away at your aspirations, saying I can rather than I can’t. It does need you to have a level of motivation, but wherever you are in the chain, begin your new journey.
‘The journey of a thousand miles [truly does] begin with a single step’ Lao Tzu.
and I should know.
Decide what your first step is and take it. Hold yourself accountable.
Many of us aspire to achieve great things. We aspire to lead a fulfilling life but can be held back by procrastination; a lack of self-belief; fear of the unknown or of failure. Through blinkered views we fail to see our capacity or perhaps due to poor self-esteem we experience imposter syndrome.
A lack of time is frequently cited as to why we don’t achieve those goals we so desperately want to achieve.
To achieve success, you have to know who you are. So, be clear in who you are. Be clear in your values. What you bring to the table. Will you achieve everything you set out to achieve, possibly not, but amidst the hard work you should have fun trying.
What is your greatest asset? Where can you make the greatest impact, in your life and that of others?
September brings with it a multitude of opportunities. It’s when I start to think about what lies ahead, I explore ambitions; look for opportunities. I determine what I am good at and look at how I can develop that skill.
I don’t let anything stop me. I don’t let others control what I do. It’s when I get to choose what I want in my life. It’s when I get to choose my own reality; my own destination.
This year, I decided to take the time to see where I am in my life. What I still want to achieve? What skills I want to strengthen and what I am happy to let go. I don’t want to waste a single moment of retirement.
Don’t let thoughts of what might have been get in your way. Don’t let failure or the risk of failure stand in your way. There are times when I have thought I failed, especially with the number of jobs I have had, the times I gave up on something I wish I had kept going with, but that’s all in the past. I can’t do anything about that now; neither can you. Instead be kind to yourself, give yourself a break need think about what can be.
Play the part. At some point today, and make sure it happens, put it in your phone and set a timer, do it when you will feel at your best. Think about the day to come. What have you got planned? What do you need to do now to be fully prepared for when the alarm goes off and you jump out of bed, okay maybe that’s stretching things a bit? It will come with time.
Do you need extra training; qualifications; a great CV? Do you need interview practice or do you simply need to show up?
With so much learning available 24 hours a day, seven days a week on the internet, there is no excuse for not developing your knowledge and skill set. There really is no excuse for staying in a job that doesn’t fulfil you. You never know where these opportunities will take you.
Your challenge for this week…
Open a document on your computer, buy a writing pad or open up a note on your phone and decide what you want your future self and future you to look like. And write and keep writing. Think big, no negative words can be written. No negative thoughts, thought.
