Ok, so we have all been there.
So busy that you feel you can't keep your head above water.
This is terrible to admit because I am a coach specializing in building businesses that allow you the freedom to have time for the things most important and valuable to you.
But I am still human. Meaning I, too, fall back on old patterns of behaviour and ways of doing things that DO NOT SERVE ME OR MY GOALS.
So this is the story; this is what happened and how I almost became my own WORST client.👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼
I had a call scheduled with my coach/mentor.
👉🏼 First off, I was not ready for the call. I was scattered. Half prepared at best with my notes & goals. I had not taken time for myself before the call, had not eaten a healthy meal, and felt overwhelmed by everything happening around me.
I had actually said to myself prior to the call, "Man, I don't have time for this right now"
"WTF" There I was, using ALL of the reasons I needed to be on that call more than anything as my excuse for not having time for it.
But it gets worse. WAY WORSE.
On the call with my coach, I said, "I need to put a pause our coaching"
To which he replied, "A pause? What does that mean?"
I shared everything in my life with him, "aka all my excuses," and he listened.
I also told him that if this were one of my clients asking for a pause, I would say NO. (To answer your question, YES, I could hear the words coming out of my mouth) but seriously, that is what I said as I asked him to go out of protocol for me. (In hindsight, I think I was justifying my ask by saying, "I know what other people do, but I am not them, I am not a quitter, my reasons are legitimate, when ‘other people's are not")
My coach agreed to consider my request and get back to me.
Twelve hours later, I received an email from him, agreeing to my request to pause, with a list of terms.
I opened the email and started my resonse:
“Hello COACH, thank you so much for honouring this request. Your terms are absolutely reasonable. I will use this time to get myself back on track so that I feel more in a position to engage in this process fully….”
THIS IS WHEN IT HIT ME!!!! A METAPHORIC SLAP ACROSS MY FACE (that left a mark)
Who in the world needs a coach when things are going well? When everything is smooth. (ok, you do need one always, as the journey is ongoing)…But stay with me.
The value of coaching is in your ability to step in when it is the MOST uncomfortable to do so.
If I wasn’t going to lean in now, what in the world would change to create the space for me to lean in the next month or year?
Here I am, with the expectation that my clients step in when:
They say they have no money
Their lives are hectic
The vision is far greater than current circumstances dictate
And there I was, trying to duck out when it got a little bit uncomfortable.
I laughed out loud as I shook my head.
But I still didn’t jump to edit my response.
I walked down to the beach and asked myself,
“If I couldn’t fail, what would my decision be at this moment?”
”What would I do right now if all my legitimate excuses became my reasons?”
I walked back to my desk and emailed him.
“Charge my card; book our next chat immediately, we are moving full steam ahead”
Coaching IS the most valuable thing you can invest in. PERIOD.
There are people experiencing successes that you desire. Right now. At this moment.
But, like all of us, you spend more time, money and energy trying to figure it out yourself. Trying to reinvent the wheel.
Let go of the story that tells you how much coaching/mentorship costs you, and ask yourself, how much is it costing me NOT to invest?
I guarantee you from my own experiences and my client's experiences that your NO will cost you Millions.
LEARN from someone else's wheel and THEN make it your own should you, at that point, see greater value. And from there, you get to put your hand out to mentor/coach someone else.
If you are hanging onto your excuses…Ask yourself those same two questions I asked myself:
“If I couldn’t fail, what would my decision be at this moment?”
”What would I do right now if all my legitimate excuses became my reasons?”
Comments