Why coaching? August 7, 2013 – Posted in: Confidence – Tags: , , ,

For my first post as a qualified coach it seems appropriate to reflect on how I came to be a coach and write such a blog…

Not so long ago, when I was ploughing through a very difficult and painful time, I was looking online for some inspiration and came across the American, Tony Robbins whom I’d never heard of before. What he said, and the way he worked with people, was so simple, yet so incredibly powerful it left an indelible impression on me and shook up my own self-doubt. Here was someone combining no-nonsense success strategies with a beautiful, loving intention. He called himself a coach. He was helping people to change their lives for the better. I was hooked.

I sought out a coach of my own and devoured a vast array of written materials – a voracious self-education for what I felt deep down would be a new beginning. I knew that this way of working would fit entirely with my character – my own coach had pointed out the parallels between my career as a marketing strategist and my fostering of troubled teenagers. Helping people find success is in my nature. It all slotted into place. An ending of one career and the beginning of a new one, replete with the confidence to take the step and make it happen. Since qualifying as a coach I’ve had the utter privilege of sitting down and working with some incredible people, and found I could help make a difference to their lives. Or more specifically, help them to help themselves.

Coaching is a profound process of barrier-shattering; a slate-wiper of hindering ideas and inhibited self-belief. I know from my own experience that once I developed a deep self-belief everything else in my life fell into alignment naturally. That self-belief gave me the courage to change direction professionally and pursue this new course.

And if you’re reading this thinking that your own self-belief is a constant struggle then I’m here to tell you that it’s not as illusive as it seems. It’s simply like a muscle that needs to be exercised until it performs to a degree you’ve never previously expected from it. Self-belief, and its outward expression – confidence – just needs to be encouraged and nourished. It’s there in everyone, waiting to be flexed. As one of my very first clients told me, “Lack of confidence is pretty much always the thing that holds people back, Jo.” He was spot on, and that’s why helping people develop confidence, self-belief and authenticity is the focus of my work today.

Why coaching?  Simply because I love it!

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