Coaching can provide many benefits in both our work and personal lives. But lots of people skip trying coaching, often because they are a touch sceptical about it. It's good to be sceptical, to a point - being curious is even better...
by PANEL WRITER Marcus Grodentz
As a life coach I build my business – one conversation at a time.
I invite people I meet to have a free two-hour coaching conversation with me. Life coaching isn’t something you can really advertise and sell. It has to be experienced.
Some people are absolutely horrified by the idea of having a coaching conversation. They feel they are perfectly well-balanced and happy with their lives and certainly don’t need ‘counselling.
But I am neither a therapist, or a counsellor.
A number of people take up my offer and I would like to tell you about one of them. Let’s call him Trevor (not his real name.)
Trevor is a self-employed man happily married with a couple of children. His business is doing pretty well although like all people he would like more clients.
He started off our conversation with me by saying this:
“ Marcus. Things are pretty good with me at the moment. I love my wife and kids. We have a pretty good life. A few more clients wouldn’t hurt but all in all I’m OK. I am sceptical about coaching. I have no idea what it could possibly do for me – but hey I am curious.”
At the end of our two-hour session we had discovered:
· The self-limiting beliefs around money that stopped Trevor closing more deals.
· Why he always put other people first and did nothing for himself.
· His problems with prevarication
· His problems with time-management and how he could free up space to spend time on himself.
· His passion for playing and teaching classical music – something he had given up years ago and would love to do again.
What opportunities in work or your personal life are you not seeing and missing out on because you have become sceptical and lost your curiosity?
Do you just live your ‘default future’ – the one where you just do the same thing every day, day after day?
Young children are always asking ‘why?’ – they are endlessly curious.
Rediscover the child in you.
It’s good to be sceptical. But be curious as well.
Let me know what opportunities you have pushed away because they scared you.
And, if you are curious enough, contact me and let’s have a coaching conversation and see where it takes you.
Marcus Grodentz is former head of communications for Gloucester City Council and now runs Novus Life Coaching
image via Library of Congress
