People have asked me: what do you do as a life and career coach? A great question, as the term “coaching” is used in many different ways, by many different people. This is why I decided to write a little bit about it. The video gives you the brief summary.
I will touch upon the following topics:
- What coaching is in my definition
- How it can help you
- What it is not
So what is coaching?
To answer that, let’s have a look first at the bigger context in which we live our life.
It would be too simplistic to think that everything in life is simply “makeable”. We are heavily influenced by our context. Context comes from where we live. Our cultural and societal norms influences us by labelling and boxing certain behaviours. We are also influenced by who we are surrounded by. The voices of our parents, teachers, and friends are whispering in the back of our minds. And obviously we are influenced by what circumstances we live in. Luck and misfortune are part of life and we have to deal with things out of our control, such as the current pandemic.
In the midst of all of this contextual influence, we are working out our life and make our choices. No wonder we sometimes feel we are being lived, and not in charge ourselves. This is where expressions such as “getting caught up”, “the rat race”, “feeling lost”, “getting stuck” or “hitting a wall” come from. All of these expression share one thing: there is something happening to us.
To me, coaching is about empowering you to grab the steering wheel of your life. Because there are so many things we can design for ourselves. Life is not fully ‘makeable’, but we can make do with what is, and consciously decide where and how to focus our attention. Coaching is taking the time to listen, to explore, discover, and make your own deliberate choices within the bigger context of life. This is how it helps you live more purposefully.
How coaching helps.
Through Purposeful Growth Coaching, I help my clients to deep dive into what is really important to them. What impact they want to have in this world? What fulfils them? Basically where they want their time and energy to go.
Living purposefully prevents you from running into the trap of getting old and feeling regret for all the things you DIDN’T do.
Another important aspect of my Purposeful Growth Coaching is taking action. There is work involved to move you forward. You do this work outside of the coaching sessions, but in the sessions we’ll design what the work should be.
So coaching helps you to get into action, to get unstuck by courageously step out of your comfort zone. It is a motivational, challenging yet supporting experience to help you grow in your own speed and time.
Lastly, what coaching is not.
Well, it’s not therapy. Yes, we talk a lot, but not with the intention to heal you. You are not broken. In coaching you are seen as capable, creative and resourceful in finding answers for yourself. It’s not about the past, it’s focused on the now and the future you want for yourself.
At the same time it’s also not Consulting or problem solving. I’m not advising you on how to live your life, how to get that promotion, how to make that next step.
My role is to hold the space. I ask the questions that let you find your own answers. I help you see what’s going on. I challenge you. I hold you accountable. I motivate you. All of what is happening during coaching sessions, is done with the sole purpose of helping you grow.
Read more about my coaching HERE