When I first discovered coaching back in 2012, I posted this on my Facebook:
“Can anyone recommend a life coach?”
Two of my friends commented, “You!”
I was flattered but I thought they were simply stroking my ego.
This is Part 1 of my story of going from therapist to coach. It starts with a moment where I couldn’t see what my friends could.
Why I asked in the first place
I had just spent a day with Gabby Bernstein.
Then she flew back to the States, and I was still in London, buzzing, and with no idea where to start.
I wanted someone to help me launch myself as a coach or a helper or someone who gives back.
One-to-one, hands on, someone to help me take off.
What I thought a coach was
My idea of a coach was limited to sports.
In my mind, a coach was someone who could play the game so well that they were better than the players they coached.
And a “life coach”? That was someone like Gabby or Tony Robbins.
I was neither.
What my friends saw
But my friends saw something I didn’t.
They saw someone who cheers others on. Someone who sees a higher version of them and is unapologetic about believing in it.
They saw it years before I did.
It took me a long time to understand that what I thought of as just “being a good friend” was already coaching.
[Optional: how long did it take you to believe it?]
The coach I did hire
I did hire a coach, by the way.
One session with Liz Green, the Manifestation Queen.
She was incredible.
She had me do a 21-day YouTube challenge, and that challenge launched my entire YouTube channel.
That journey eventually brought me clients. It made me a better speaker. It helped me communicate my ideas and turn them into frameworks.
One session. Years of impact.
That’s what a good coach can do.
I still do the cheering-people-on thing
Here’s an example.
A friend of mine has millions of followers. She’s passionate, honest, and always in integrity. But in rooms full of intellectuals or politicians, she gets nervous.
Her partner is extremely logical and can debate anyone.
So I told her: you don’t have to change. Just be yourself, and bring him with you when it fits. He can be your bodyguard on the intellectual and public level, so you feel completely safe being you.
Your gifts complement each other. As a team, you’ll be invited into rooms where you can make an international impact.
That’s coaching.
Not fixing the past. Moving toward the vision.
And this is where it gets personal if you’re a therapist
Therapy is great. It’s necessary.
It helps people make sense of their past and stop being hijacked by it. So they can be present for their family, their work, and themselves, and respond to what’s happening now instead of slipping back into old, childlike reactions.
Coaching helps people move forward.
Once someone has a grounded presence, it’s time to look ahead and do the hard things that bring them closer to their vision.
I know many of you are frustrated.
You work day in, day out with people who don’t want to take the next step or do the hard work.
This frustration is telling you something: your work needs to evolve.
The way you serve your people can grow to include coaching, so you can help them go from their present, embodied selves to achieving incredible things in the future.
If that’s you, I wrote this series for you.
My path wasn’t a straight line, though. In 2013, I started my first coaching business, and a few years later I paused it.
Read what happened next in Part 2 →
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