Personal Thoughts - Page one - Page Two - Page Three

Challenge

 

When I started to think about having a journal of my own thoughts and experiences in life and in particular, in coaching, my immediate internal reaction was similar to that I experience when faced with a challenge. I immediately thought "why do this, when it would be so much easier not to!" My challenge was to change the task of starting a personal journal into something I wanted to do as opposed to something I needed to do. It was all about my having a choice and that then started me thinking about some of the challenges I had in the first 12 months of setting up my business.

 

So now I feel that I want to put down some of my personal thoughts, it seems a much easier task, than previously thinking I ought to, or needed to do it.

 

Going back to 2001, I hardly recognise the life I then had. It was a very good life, which involved doing what I am really passionate about and that is personal development and coaching. The environment was very different as I was employed by a major global company and enjoyed all the benefits that working at middle management status brought - great car, long holidays, amazing amounts of money, pension, phone, laptop etc etc. I believed what I was doing was really making a difference and that although there were constant challenges and changes, I would do what was expected of me in that corporate role and in most cases I would deliver more than was expected.

 

My life was great, I was earning more than I had ever earned in my entire corporate career, so why was I sensing a feeling of tiredness and lack of energy? Why was I finding it hard to leave behind my corporate role and concentrate more on my own personal life and in particular my relationships with those closest to me?

 

The reality was that I was facing a major challenge over what I really should do with my life, but instead of seeing it as something I really wanted to do, I saw it as something I ought or needed to do. I thought "why bother, everything is okay as it is, and anyway making a change feels too much like hard work".

 

Luckily, because I now believe that sometimes when you're stuck, someone or something comes along to create the necessary momentum (something all coaches have to do occasionally with their clients!), my life challenge was decided for me - my role within the organisation was made redundant!

 

I say "luckily" because within 48 hours of that "challenge" occurring, I found myself taking total charge of my life and deciding for the first time that I really wanted to do something else. I felt that a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders and although I had never been faced with the prospect of not having regular income, it really didn't matter. I now had given myself permission to explore what was really important for ME and that was such an empowering experience. However it was also somewhat frightening. Now, I was allowing myself time to really work out what it was I wanted to be/do/have, it didn't seem to be the challenge it should be. Surely it wasn't meant to be that easy?

 

I now realise that it wasn't that easy, it was still the biggest challenge that I had experienced, the difference was that I saw it and experienced it as something completely different.

 

Nowadays, I still have challenges most days. I sometimes feel that I am so far out of my comfort zone, it hurts! The big difference is that the challenge of discovery and growth is so great, that I just need to face it. In fact I set myself a goal of finding a challenge each day and seeing it as something that I truly want to do because it makes me a better coach and trainer, a better person and reminds me that this journey has only just begun and the choices I have are endless.

 

Some of my challenges in the first 12 months:

 

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us"
Ralph Waldo Emerson