"Coaching Moments" takes a
thoughtful, and sometimes lighthearted, look at how coaching
can be interwoven into our daily lives.
Missing the Boat
by Janice Hunter
The power of words never
fails to thrill and stun me. I started reading a paperback last night
and finished it off this morning as a break from working on half a
dozen coaching projects; by the end, I was sobbing into balls of sodden
tissues, my throat aching, my eyes stinging as I sniffed back and
swallowed tears.
If I'd read the blurb
more carefully, I would have got to the bit where it was described as a
'tearjerker'. I usually avoid anything labelled 'heart-rending',
'harrowing' or a 'tearjerker'. Because of my age, I'm already at the
mercy of the mood swings my young son calls 'horrormoans' – weeping one
minute at anything that involves bereft parents then snapping
murderously at my kids the next.
Tiredness doesn't help,
but it's my own fault I ended up in bed today, an exhausted, frazzled,
biscuit-eating mess – like a small child who's had too much excitement
all at once and can't cope.
I committed a real
coaching sin after I passed Step 2 of IAC certification; I didn't give
myself time to bask in the glow of passing before I moved on to a
flurry of activity and exciting new projects that answered the question
"So what next?". I'd hooked up so many of my Big Picture dreams to
becoming certified that suddenly I found myself working from morning
till midnight, desperate not to see the energy and momentum dissipate.
The coaching world often
leaves me with a sense of anxiety, feeling like I'm about to miss the
boat without even knowing what the boat is. But now I have the feeling
that if I don't act soon to create multiple income streams based on
what I can offer as a certified coach then somehow my training and
IAC-CC designation will simply evaporate.
I love coaching
one-to-one as well as coachwriting, but I often feel like I'm treading
water, trying to keep up with business trends, networking, marketing
strategies, web building techniques, blogging and multiple streams of
income simply to stay afloat. Hard work doesn't scare me and I truly
believe that marketing can be approached as a form of coaching; I also
believe that we attract what we need if we believe in ourselves and in
our products but sometimes the ratio of coaching related work to actual
coaching just feels overwhelming.
So too are the paradoxes
– passions pulling me apart like dogs yanking on a choke leash till I
can barely breathe: wanting to contribute to the family income but
spending less time with my family and being less present than ever
before; working at home to follow the principles of 'right livelihood'
yet becoming more of a mediocre marketer than a masterful coach; loving
my homelife coaching yet shelving my own creative projects and
clutter-clearing to find clients I can help with theirs.
Getting the balance back
and dovetailing my goals would be smart, I know, but another symptom of
being out of whack with myself and permanently attached to a computer
is the dialogue my ego has with my Wise Best Self: "I hear you, WBS,
but I'll get back to loving the details just as soon as I finish
reading this email about reducing the time I spend reading emails."
The main character in
the book I read worked so hard at building a business to provide for
her children, using innate skills discovered through tragedy, that she
missed sharing the wonder of their childhood with them and never fully
appreciated her husband till it was too late to tell him.
Maybe it's OK to miss the boat if it's the wrong boat.
Janice
Hunter is a writer, teacher and IAC certified coach who
currently specialises in homelife coaching – helping people
create authentic, spirit filled lives and homes they love –
and in supporting coaches on their certification journeys.
She lives in Scotland with her husband and two children.
contact
Janice@LovingtheDetails.com, www.LovingtheDetails.com
