Tag: coaching

a milestone

Posted on by jplatt27

In a few minutes, I’ll lead my first coaching group call. I feel like I’m on the edge of something really big. Something that marks the beginning of something really great and new. The realization of a dream I’ve been working toward for 2 years. I want to take a minute to take it all in. I want to acknowledge all of the love that has gotten me to this point.

It started with my friends not laughing when I timidly tested the waters of this crazy thing by saying “I think I want to be a coach” before I really even knew what coaching was.

My family and Mike’s family not really knowing what coaching was or how the heck it’d ever pay my bills but going along with it anyway.

It was colleagues at my full-time job checking in to see how things were going and asking me to bring my skills to our full-time work.

My husband who has supported this big crazy dream emotionally and financially through the intense highs and lows, times of self-confidence and extreme bouts of self-doubt.

The coaches in my cohort that acknowledged my wide range of emotions as a gift for the first time, and lauded me for it.

The teachers that encouraged me to tap into my intuition and empathy–one of the biggest strengths I bring to my coaching practice.

Friends, coworkers, and strangers that let me practice on them.

My first clients that trusted me to help them believe in themselves.

It was big things like these words from my mom when I started doubting and questioning that this whole dream would even work: “Oh, it will work. Coaching works. You’re different now because of it.”

But it was smaller things too. Like Facebook likes. Or someone saying “that’s great!” when I shared literally the smallest possible advancement in this.

I can’t tell you how all of these doses of encouragement impacted me.

Thank you, all of you.

two ah-ha’s i had during coaching

Posted on by jplatt27

two cups of tea.jpg

I’ve had great sessions with my coach the last two weeks and had some big ah-ha moments. While they stand alone, they also relate to each other. In both cases, I almost cancelled the sessions because I “didn’t have anything to talk about.” I’m so glad I didn’t.

Here they are.

It’s OK to be OK.

This came during my first coaching session of the new year. I had a lot of things to look forward to and not much to really discuss. In the beginning of the session, I found myself almost searching for something tough, frustrating, or bothersome to talk about but nothing really came up or felt authentic to talk about in that moment. As I talked it out, I realized “it’s OK to be OK.” It’s OK to not have a complaint for a week. To be happy where you’re at and excited about where things are going. It’s OK to relish the times when things are going your way. When you’re feeling at peace.

In the my next session, I felt the same way. While I had a little bit of resistance and anxiety come up about some things coming down the pike, I’m mostly excited about the opportunities in front of me. I mentioned my fear and we acknowledged that it’s totally normal.

We kept talking about these opportunities and how they are so perfect for me. How they align really well with who I am, what I love, my strengths. They are perfect for me now and perfect to get me where I want to go in the future. We talked about how they fit into a future I hadn’t really openly considered until then. One thing lead to the next and 45-mins went by. Things came out that I had been thinking about and all these dots just connected. It was awesome. So powerful. And that’s when I realized…

Coaching isn’t only for conflicts and problems. It can also be about taking good to great. 

Uh, duh. You’d think I’d know this. Of course, as a coach myself I do know this.

So often we start coaching to get someone out of a conflict or help them make a decision that’s imminent. That what I’ve worked on myself and what I’ve worked on with clients.

But there is also so much value in talking through future ideas, brainstorming, talking about what’s working, why it’s working, and where we may want to go from here, how we can build on the goodness. It’s so powerful to have a space to talk through those types of things. I loved it.

And now that I know this, now that I’ve learned this through experience, I certainly won’t forget this anytime soon.

(You may have to remind me about the first one though…)

Sending love,

Jo

 

have you met janice?

Posted on by jplatt27

Janice

This is Janice. She looks pretty cute, right? Yeah, don’t let that fool you. She can be vicious.

Janice represents the little voice in my head that tries to keep me small. She says that I’m not good enough, I’m not doing enough. She says that perfect is the only way. That I can do more, be more.

She can be so loud and so convincing. And she means well. She wants to protect me and make sure I live up to my potential. But if I listened to everything Janice said, I wouldn’t step into my greatness, into my power.

We all have a Janice.

IPEC (my coaching school) calls this your Gremlin.

Martha Beck calls this your inner lizard.

Others call this your inner critic.

Regardless of what you call it, it’s that voice in your head that just. won’t. shut. up. The one that says you’re not good enough, pretty enough, smart enough.  That you’ll never be able to land your dream job, that you’ll be single forever, that you’ll never have enough money.

It’s like a little devil on your shoulder.

Giving your gremlin a name is the first step in overcoming the blocks that your gremlin creates.

Want to take the first step in overcoming your gremlin? Give him/her/it a name and persona. That way, when you hear the voice, you can recognize it for what it is.

Want to go deeper? The Calm Your Inner Critic Process might be perfect for you.