What exactly is coaching?

I hear it all the time. “Hmm, I’ve heard of coaching, but what exactly is it?”

Well, it’s spending time on yourself – investing in the most important person in your life – you!

It’s working with someone who can help you sort out what’s important for you to focus on and also work out what’s stopping you become all that you know you’re capable of.

It’s checking in with yourself, connecting with the true you, who you may have forgotten about for a while. Daily life, work and all the normal stuff seemed to take over for a bit but now you want to regenerate and remember who you are and move on with what you want in your life.

It’s not therapy – though issues from your past may come up, your focus is on starting with where you are now and moving forwards from there.

It’s creating your own reality, taking the next step, making a vision for your future, rekindling some old dreams and dreaming new and better ones – ones that may raise some eyebrows by those who think they know you, but who have no real idea how amazing you really are.

Most of all, it’s having fun, enjoying the wonderful process of becoming you – all that you hoped you’d be, do or have.

And yes, it’s often hard work, but of the enjoyable kind – after all, it’s working for yourself, not someone else. And it’s also rewarding for both you and your coach, when you make some changes and see the results as they start to work their magic in your life.

So what does the coach do?

As I said, it’s all about you.

Firstly, as your coach, I listen – a lot. When was the last time someone really listened to what you had to say? …without jumping in with a solution for you, or a story about something similar that happened to a friend of theirs, or well-intentioned advice, or sympathetic nods in not quite all the right places?

As your coach I act as a mirror, reflecting back to you what you’ve been saying, or not saying – your underlying concerns and values and priorities. By describing and discussing what you think about and how you think about it and what you do about it with your coach, you get clearer, more focused – gaining insight and clarity into yourself and the way that you work.

As your coach I’m a catalyst – you may have been meaning for a long while to get round to the important things you’ve always wanted to do, whatever those things may be…

I will ask you the difficult questions you know you need to answer.
You don’t have to answer them.

I will give you some challenges to do during and between the sessions.
You don’t have to do them.

I will provoke some sideways thinking.
You can choose what you take away.

As I said, it’s all about you.

Your coach is your supporter, neutral and non-judgemental, believing in you all the way, whatever you decide to do or become. While your family and current friends, may like you just as you are, and may give you lots of encouragement when you say you’d like to do this or that, you may find that just at the moment you are actually about to quit your job, launch your own business, buy the ticket for that trip you’ve always wanted to go on or move in with the love of your life, they, with all the best intentions, suddenly change their tune. ‘What on earth do you want to do that for?’ ‘Are you mad? ‘What’s happened to you?’ Sound familiar?

Your coach is still there, through the transitions, the tough bits and those times when you’re not sure if you did the right thing. And I’m also there to hear your success stories, your previously unbelievable achievements and your ever-expanding ideas and dreams just waiting for you to bring them to reality.

Which is why I do this – I love being part of the fascinating, amazing and transformative process that coaching is.

Try it for yourself – drop me a mail and set up your complimentary coaching session now.