Life Coach Experience

One of the most significant things that happened to me this year, was deciding to work with a life coach.   As I revealed in an earlier blog post, I have been working with my life coach, Vicki, for the past 6 months.  I was not the first in my circle of friends to get a life coach. Two of my friends have gotten coaches (career or life coaches) before me.  These coaches helped my friends to varying degrees, but nevertheless, I was impressed by my friends' courage in taking steps in their personal growth, and vowed to eventually make similar steps of my own.  Beginning with my meditation retreat several years back, I have been making my personal growth a priority.  I consider my working with a life coach as continuation of what will be a life-long quest for self-discovery.

The above picture has nothing to do with the subject of this blog post, but who can a resist a cute kitty picture?

From what little I know of the profession of life-coaching, a life coach is similar to a sports coach, except instead of guiding, critiquing and cheering on the players of a sports team, a life coach guides, critiques, and cheers on a person in their life's endeavors. I decided to get a coach because I felt that I was getting myself into difficulties at work time and time again, and at work place after work place.  The only common denominator to these work situations, it seemed, was me.  So I decided to get an outside perspective to aid me to see what I was doing wrong, to help me to have the correct conversations with coworkers, and to present myself in a better way.

By hiring a life coach, I expected to get a toolbox of skills and techniques, and rules of thumb to help me navigate my work perils better. I am getting these things, but in addition, I think I am getting something a little deeper.  (As a side note, not all coaches are created equal.  A friend of mine who hired a life coach was asked to attend karate classes, and to attend Toastmasters to pump up her confidence, and to improve her public speaking skills.  The coach even went clothes shopping with my friend for work clothes. I thought that my friend was very brave to try on a new persona. But I felt I could hardly recognize my friend anymore after her coaching sessions were over.)

Vicki and I speak for an hour on a biweekly basis.  The conversation is conducted over the phone. Coaching sessions are not inexpensive.  For the cost of hiring a coach, I could be buying a couple of expensive pairs of shoes every month.  Before each coaching session, my coach sends me a list of pointed questions to ask myself:

What are the roadblocks I am now experiencing? What is it you are not willing to bring up? What do I want my coach to help me with during this call?

In addition to these questions, I have also been e-mailing Vicki twice before each session.   This can be something that is bothering me, a success, or whatever.  Finally, after each coaching session, Vicki writes her coaching notes, which contain "homework", usually reading assignments, and insights from the coaching session.  I have been using the insights to guide me in how I behave towards myself and others, and revisiting these insights as need be.

To be continued...