Why I hired a coach
Over the past three months, I’ve been asking myself big existential questions…again …again …and again.
The mental soundtrack in my mind has sounded like:
What do I want my life to feel like in five years? Heck, I don’t even know what I want it to feel like in a year.
I know what I care about, am good at and the impact I want to have, but how do I put those pieces together?
How do I balance growth with my operating principles?
What's the right next step? What if I invest a ton of energy and resources in the “wrong” path?
You can guess that churning through these questions (with no new answers) left me feeling…
Distracted.
Frustrated.
Stalled.
My mind has been a loud, chatty place.
And it hasn't felt great.
Now, these questions have all come up as my business is growing. Getting to answer these questions and create a strategic plan is an opportunity and privilege, but it still hasn't felt easy.
I share the internal fog I've been in because:
I empathize.
Every single prospective client I talk to has been wrestling with some form of these questions for months and sometimes years by the time we get on the phone.
These questions are some mix of:
I've had a lot of success, tried a few different paths but have never found “it” or the industry and function I feel meant to work in. How can I meld my strengths and passions to find my purpose?
I’ve spent so much of my life investing solely in my career. My priorities are evolving, how do I continue to have a big career while creating space for me, my family and other personal priorities?
I've found myself in an unexpected and challenging work environment (i.e., toxic boss, weak business performance, acquisition or layoff) and its impacted my self-worth. How can I (re)build my confidence to go after the future I want?
I've been wrestling with these questions for too long and just feel so stuck. What do I need to do to start moving forward?
Somehow the age-old question that we've been asking ourselves for years – what do I want to do with my life?! - has gotten more complicated.
Not having answers to these questions makes my clients feel…
Distracted.
Frustrated.
Stalled.
And importantly, like they're not living up to the potential they know they have.
It's not fun.
The more I sat with my questions, the more I realized I didn’t want to sit with my questions for long.
I felt myself defaulting into the trap of “I don’t know [the answer]” and using that as an excuse not to move forward.
You might guess where this is headed…
I hired a coach.
I have enough pattern recognition reflecting on the past decade of my career to know that the easiest and quickest way for me to get moving is to work with a coach.
I benefit immensely from having a partner to help me explore macro questions, create a path forward that feels good and aligned and to start taking action.
I also really wanted to “de-risk” the next move in my business.
My new strategy is important as it will influence my future growth, earning potential and personal brand. Thus working with an expert who would ensure I asked the right questions, considered the right options and invested my energy in the right direction is a worthwhile investment.
If you are reading this email and thinking, “oof, these are exactly the questions I've been wrestling with…”
Firstly, I see you and understand deeply how unmooring it is not to have clarity on what's next.
Secondly, consider working with a coach. It can be me or someone else. I truly believe coaching is so powerful in helping you create the future you want.
If you're interested in working with me, I only have four spots left to work together in 2024. Let me know what you've been wrestling with and schedule a time to connect here.
Let's get into the driver's seat and go after your future together.
P.S. I promised to let you know what I was doing instead of running CalmOS this fall – this is it! I planned to kick these questions down the road until early 2025 after CalmOS wrapped. Well, joke was on me. These questions kept getting louder and louder until I had to act on them.
I think part of my hesitation in running CalmOS was knowing that I needed to start answering these questions, and had to create space to do so. Here we go!
