Monday, September 6, 2010

My first coaching session

So I've recently discovered something amazing that has really had a substantial impact on my life - coaching. While I've become quite a strong proponent of NLP as you've read in my earlier posts, coaching is something I've stumbled upon quite by accident.

A couple of weeks ago I was having a serious dilemma about whether I should move into a place of my own in the suburbs vs sharing a flash place with someone in the city. I was torn - do I value my independence more or the lifestyle of the city? I vacillated back and forth for a few weeks prior to that - quite literally flip-flopping between the city and the burbs... I was beginning to get increasingly frustrated with myself for not being able to decide and commit to the decision for more than a few minutes.

In any case, one of my friends had recently just certified as a professional life coach in Johannesburg and it did not take long to convince me to test it out. I had heard about it before but quite frankly I had thought the whole thing was a bit too Robin Sharma kitsch for me - nothing could have been further from the truth! I had a session that lasted for about 35 minutes and it was completely different from what I expected.

Firstly, there was no advice or suggestions - only questions - and lots of them at that. Most revolved around clarifying for myself what was important to me and some were certainly not easy to answer. The process was amazing though - I felt as though I had pretty much led the session with my friend simply guiding me with appropriate questions. The proof was certainly in the pudding here - after the relatively short session (stand aside therapists!), I just "KNEW" exactly what was right for me with respect to the decision. It was like self-discovery on steroids!

From a customer service perspective it was super - I got to take home the few pages of paper we had worked through the challenge with - certainly more as a souvenier of the process rather than for the actualy content. For those of you who would like to move forward with decisions in their lives and are really feeling quite stuck - I highly recommend Pratish as a coach.. give it a try and you will not be disappointed!