Monthly Archive

The Ethics class only has one part, which I feel is the dumbest thing ever. For such an important topic, there’s not much time here. Linda gave us some various scenarios that she has encountered and then asked us for the conflict and some possible solutions before telling us what she did. However, she reiterated that there is no one right way to handle a situation - there can be many paths to go down that are all ethical. You must decide what sits best with you.

It’s tough, as a new coach and as someone who will have to deal with these conflicts on her own for the first time (aka not having a boss to bring problems to), to figure out What Would You Do?. Linda encourages us to try to come up with different dilemmas and then figure out how you would deal with them, and I feel that would be helpful. I just know that there are a hundred+ dilemmas and a hundred+ solutions for each one, and I’m unsure how I would feel about handling each of them. Hopefully this will become clearer for me when I tackle to homework in this section, since I know there are a few pointed questions there. I also want to make sure to re-read the ICF Code of Ethics, as I know this will be my guidelines for my practice.

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Today I am grateful for movers. Knowing I have to pack and unpack my whole apartment sucks - but knowing that someone else is going to move it is pretty awesome.

This was the last part of the Creating Confidence class, and it was mostly about testimonials. I always thought that testimonials were a very cut-and-dry procedure, but this class helped break down how to get a great testimonial, how to communicate to your clients what you need, and how to build your courage to ask for a testimonial. As our action item, she wants us to ask two people for a testimonial - and if you haven’t had any clients yet, you should ask those that you have helped move forward in the past. While I found this class very helpful, I am not comfortable asking those that I have not coached for a testimonial for my coaching practice - it just doesn’t seem ethical for me.

At the end of the class, Linda asked us all to write down five things to do differently that would improve your confidence. Here’s my list:

- immediately turn around negative thoughts
- become “professional” by getting business cards and a website
- tell everyone about your coaching who asks you “what’s new?”
- try to “coach” anyone who comes to you with a problem
- think about who I can ask for a testimonial and ask them for one!

If you can’t tell by the title, Session 12 is the last coaching session I have with Joanne. I can’t believe how far I’ve come in just three months! I found Joanne when I asked for help with balancing my classes, my new job, my theatrical life (particularly writing and performing a one-woman show), and my social life (not isolating myself from my boyfriend/family/friends). Even though I was the one putting so many things on my plate, I was also the one making myself stressed and miserable, putting a ton of pressure on myself to be all things to all people. With Joanne’s help, I was able to change my perspective and realize that I’m the one who controls both my time and my attitude (imagine that!). She helped me brainstorm ways to say “no”, how to not let my To Do List run my life, and how not to feel so tired and dragged down all the time. Two weeks in to a work/rehearsal/sleep schedule (those are the only 3 things I do now) 15 hours a day/4 days a week, I’m neither stressed nor miserable nor sick nor bitchy - and that’s a huge jump for me. Instead, I realize that I agreed to this schedule because it would allow me to incorporate what I love to do with what I have to do for a living, and I figured out in advance the challenges that came along with that and met them head-on. I’m also allowing myself to step back and take breaks - vegging out in front of the TV for an hour, taking a full hour away from the office for lunch - without making myself feel guilty for doing so. It’s literally a whole new world for me.

But I’m not sad this journey is coming to an end, because I know that in Joanne I found a coach, a colleague, a mentor, and a friend. I look forward to swapping challenges and accomplishments while building our businesses, and maybe one day we’ll appear on Oprah together!

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Today I’m grateful for my one day off, and not stressing on how I’m going to fill in!

I was feeling SO lethargic for the last 2 hours, and that class totally energized me! I have to recognize and award myself for being the first person to share my bio with the class, as I was excited to receive feedback from not only the teacher but from the other 12+ students in the class.

I did post my bio on the discussion board last week, and Linda commented that she wanted to know a bit more about how I felt when I was trying to find my new path. So, here is Draft 2 of my bio:

“Since I was a little girl of 6 years old, I always wanted to be an actress. Being on stage is where I belonged, and it took me places. It took me to New York City, where I majored in musical theater at NYU / Tisch School of the Arts. It took me on a cruise ship around North America where I sang my heart out for a year. It took me to Studio 8A in Rockefeller Plaza, where I got to be on “Saturday Night Live”. It even took me to The-Closest-Movie- Theater-Is-An-Hour-Away, PA and The-Town-With-A-Gas-Station,-a-Consignment-Shop,-a- Pizzeria,-and-a-Gun-Store, New Hampshire.

And all of a sudden, the life I was pursuing for 20 years wasn’t what I wanted anymore. I didn’t want to leave my home in New York City, where I built an incredible life for myself. I didn’t want to spend my “days off” sitting at auditions to sing 8 bars of a song and wonder where the day went. I didn’t want to get a job and have to pick up my life with one day’s (or one week’s) notice. I didn’t want to be a 35 year old waitress/ hostess/ temp/office manager. I wanted my days to mean something, to be valuable, to matter.

So I got a real job. And another one. And another. I went through seven jobs in four years, constantly trying to find “the perfect fit”. I’d get restless easily and fairly despondent, thinking that there was nothing else out there for me that I could devote myself to passionately and enthusiastically. One day I declared, “Enough! I refuse to accept that there is nothing else out there that I’m going to love doing!” I decided to put some chutzpah into my search. I was going to find My Perfect Career.

I enrolled in a Career Change Workshop at NYU, and through a series of personality tests, exercises, and conversations with my classmates, I realized that I wanted to help others find their own path, especially “creative types” that thought they wanted one thing their whole life and now have to rewrite their plans. I wanted to help them figure out what they wanted to be When They Grow Up.

But I didn’t want to limit myself to Career Coaching. I wanted to help people along with all their life challenges, but not in a Hippy-Dippy or a Tell-Me-What-Your-Parents-Did-When-You-Were-Five way. I wanted to be their springboard, their partner, their confidante, their cheerleader.

I wanted to be their Life Coach!

I went full throttle into taking classes at the International Coach Academy, where I’m enrolled in the Certified Professional Coach Program. I will then be certified by the International Coaches Federation, who “exists to Build, Support and Preserve the integrity of the coaching profession.”

I’ve been training my whole life to be a coach. My communication skills, my enthusiasm and sense of humor, my desire to help people find their passion, and my people-loving-personality makes this the role that I was born to play.”

I received very positive feedback, but that’s the norm for this place! However, I appreciated and valued the comments I received (very honest & thorough, my passion shone through, etc) and I also want to look into how I can incorporate how I relate to others in there (which was a suggestion that I received). It will be tricky in terms of not making my bio too long and not stretching the truth since I’m a virgin coach, but I see how it would be beneficial to have another paragraph on WHY I think I’m (going to be ) a great coach.

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Today I’m grateful for my one day off, and for an extra hour of sleep.