A fish won’t survive very long out of water. Your passion for coaching faces similar challenges if you aren’t actively engaged in coaching – and in ways that work for where you are at this point in your path.
When you aren’t interacting with the work you love, doubt can creep in. You start second guessing yourself: Do you have what it takes to be a coach?
This self doubt and second guessing gives you a double-whammy in your self trust.
When this happens, your coaching business and dreams can wither a slow, painful death.
Ouch. Who wants that???
Now here’s the good news:
You don’t have to be a fish out of water, gasping and flopping around on the bank.
Here is a simplified version of a process I use with coaches I mentor and train, especially those who have been stuck or struggling:
Imagine your business is a pool of water with a shallow, wading end and a deep end with a high dive.
Now check in with yourself to ask: Where are you in relation to that pool?
I invite you to sit with this question.
Close your eyes and put yourself in this scene.
Notice what you feel. What are you holding in your body?
What is your internal dialogue? What are you telling yourself about where you are in the picture?
Take some time to be with these questions. Journal your experience if journaling works for you.
Above all, let whatever you discover in this process be perfect because it is.
If you find you are not in the pool, remember this, too, is serving you in some way. Knowing that you aren’t in the pool gives you an opening to explore what being “out of the water” has to offer you.
I offer this, too, for your consideration:
In coaching, more than any other profession I’ve ever seen,
your journey is not just the path to your outcomes.
It is the source for much of what you have to offer your clients.
In other words, your lesson may not be as obvious as finding the fastest way to the deep end of the pool.
If this topic speaks to you and you want more, you may find the Coaching With Love program is a good fit for you. If you enjoy the use of the pool metaphor and want to expand your own repertoire with image-based language, definitely check out my language class for coaches.
And please feel free to drop by the free monthly community calls, The Heart and Soul of Coaching. All of these offerings are designed to support you with splashing happily and productively in the pool of success!
Hugs,
Lyn
