Career Coaching: Staying on Target
“You are always free to choose what you do with your life. To make changes in your future, make new choices today”, Brian Tracy.
How’s your plan shaping up? Would you say you’re still on target to create the coaching business you always wanted? If you are firing on all cylinders and are in exactly the place you wanted to be, fabulous. However, if not it’s time to step back a moment and run a quick re-check. Whether or not you have a niche, whether or not this is a full time, make-or-break career move for you, or if coaching is running along side something else in your life, to keep the plan alive and make sure periodically that it’s still the right plan for you is essential.
So, what should a plan of action deliver? A professional career coach from CraftResumes suggest two things above all others, firstly an aim, where it is you want to get to. Secondly, motivation, because without that your plan will be either up hill all the way, or dead in the water.
Oxford English Dictionary:
Motivate:
1. the reason for (somebody’s action).
2. cause somebody to want to do something.
…I’d add another more personal description of what motivation is ‘a reason to follow through with a compelling action or plan.’
Motivation
What’s yours like? Mid way through the year now, are you still on course? Are the plans you made back at New Year still up and running, rosy in cheeks and healthy of heart? Did you tell all your friends about them, asking for encouragement and reminders throughout to stay on track throughout the year?
2000 was the first year I’d achieved some of my major goals. Sure, I enjoyed a successful career, but… well; I just hadn’t been attending to the other stuff. I had always wanted to go back to college, for years in fact, to get more qualifications, meet people, to just stretch myself mentally again. But in the past I’d either stumbled at the first telephone call, or even worse, decided silently to myself whilst having a drink with friends that I really was ‘passed-it’ with regards to all that studying malarkey. ‘At my age I should know better’ I’d been telling myself, ‘just get on with life and stop having stupid ideas.’
Not very empowering, I think you’ll all agree. Remember the old axiom that doctors are the last people to seek help if they’re ill? Well, it was ditto one coach from north London (me) in need of a ‘life sort out’. You might be surprised, but at the time I felt isolated, shy, and stressed. The truth is, of course that even coaches are people just like anyone else, and even we can forget to apply the principles of self-empowerment and belief in oneself. It’s as simple as that. Sometimes even a coach should realize he needs a bit of sunshine on a beach for two weeks, or a good old chinwag with friends, even a few early nights can do the world of good.
Do Something Different
2000 was different for me. I enrolled myself on a programme of coaching, with myself! I made a decision that I would be more proactive rather than reactive with my life. To be honest, I had a personal coach anyway. Most coaches also have a coach themselves nowadays, it’s a case of ‘walking the talk’. However, this time I asked myself a different question, ‘is the coach I’m working with right now the right one for what I now want to achieve?’ And that’s where my first decision came, to find a new coach more aligned with what my focus now was.
Sometimes, especially after a long time, the agenda for the coaching dynamic changes in that it just doesn’t deliver what’s needed, so to switch coach is the honest and intelligent thing to do.
My college registration came and went. My first class, even though used to facilitating workshops and public speaking, scared the very life out of me. But I did it. I talked with fellow class mates, answered some of the teacher’s questions, and had a fabulous time.
I empowered myself, used all my psychotherapy skills. I told other people that I was studying again to move my business forward. I took action. Let me repeat that last phrase; I TOOK ACTION. Because that’s what it’s all about, getting up and doing it.
The result is not just that you achieve whatever it is you set out to do its absolute elation. You feel great - you relied on yourself and followed through.
All That Jazz
Catherine Zeta Jones is a shining example of getting motivated and then staying on track. When at what most would have agreed was the high point of her career; well known throughout the UK, recognition and awards coming via top rated show, ‘The Darling Buds of May’, what did she do? Up sticks and move to America. Remember what the press thought of her when she did that? Stark raving bonkers.
Arriving in Hollywood, suddenly completely unknown again, needing to do castings, attract agents, the whole thing, Catherine set about putting in the work that would again create the life she wanted. An academy award and more than 15 movies later she is established as one of the top grossing actresses in the World. What did she do? She stepped up a gear, she wanted more; she got herself hungry for an even better life.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
This is a man most would agree is an achiever. Born 30 July 1947 in the small, isolated village of Thal, Styria, Austria. As he grew up he turned to bodybuilding to move his life forward, he decided that this would be his passport to greater things. Many movies and now the Governorship of California have graced his life – against all the odds. Whether a fan of his or not, his focus, determination and motivation really did make all the difference for him.
Top Tips to Keep Motivation High
1. Take action.
It really is that simple, and that powerful. Systematically, consciously, methodically take at least one action towards your goal each day – and not an easy, cope out, but something you’d usually put off. It’s the feeling of satisfaction from this type of achievement that really gives that special boost. So, who’d you rather not call, who would you sooner avoid talking to at work, or what step are you putting off because it makes you quake in your boots? Whatever it is, DO IT, and do it today!
2. Do Something Different.
Inject something new and exciting into your life. Have you dreamed of joining an evening class, theatre group, or taking up yoga, for example? The idea is to spice things up a little. If we keep doing the same thing, we can only expect the same result. However, if we add to, enhance, or change we can expect different results. Do something different, and get excited.
3. Model. Who do you admire?
Biographies have always been my favorite area of any library, and it is to there you should head. Research, entertain yourself, and above all get inspired by other people’s accounts of how they created the life they have. For ages, we’ve always been told not to copy others. But to model the route to success of those we admire is a very effective form of accelerated learning. If we can learn how they did it, and avoid some of the pitfalls they also experienced along the way, we can only increase the potency of what we do for our own journey.
4. Build Your Support Structure.
This could also be a supplement to Action 2; surround yourself with other like minded people. If you’re surrounded by the vocal doubting Thomas’s of this World it’s going to make your job of keeping motivated even more difficult. Take responsibility for this. Have a word with them, all the way through to building a new circle of more supportive, like minded friends.
5. Re-assess Your Goals.
Do your weekly reassessment of goals. Keep on top of them. How did you do? Does anything need tweaking? What will be your next steps? Again, map out the next week for yourself. Enjoy the ride.
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