FAQs About Coaching to Success

What is Life Coaching?

Life coaching focuses you on your goals and dreams and remove the barriers that have been getting in the way of you achieving them. Through focused thinking, you can create and action a plan.

My coaching is not about telling people how they should live their lives and it’s not about fixing people – most people don’t need fixing. It’s about helping people finding the confidence to live their lives to the fullest, to be all they want to be.

What are the benefits of life coaching?

It helps you be a better you, be the you you want to be.

To do that you have to know what and who that is. That isn’t always as easy as it should be. You know that feeling when you think you should be happier than you are but you don’t really know why? Well, coaching helps you work out what is missing and then it helps you achieve it.

This isn’t about being someone different, it’s not necessarily about the big things in life, it’s about making you the best you you can be.

By working out where you want to go, then you can work out how to get there. This may be related to a project, a promotion or even a total career change.

It’s about giving yourself valuable space and time to think things through. By clearing away any untrue assumptions you may be making, you clear some limits on how you live your life.

Take time for clarity and focused action saves you time (and energy) in the long run.

Let’s face it, a happier you means you are better able to help create a happier world around you, means you can support your family too.

Is a Life Coach an expert in most areas of life?

Heaven no! I mean I’ve done a lot, been through a lot, worked a lot of things through but I do not claim to be an expert in everything.

But, I am an expert in helping you work things out.

I’ve not always been a coach so I do know what it’s like in the ‘real world’. I’ve worked at the pointy end of business so I have a good idea as to where you are. I’ve worked in all sorts of businesses, at various levels; been a boss, a colleague and a mum.

Just look at a successful athletes, they have a coach but they still need to have the talent to run their own race

Is it true that you must experience problems to benefit from coaching and that successful people don’t need it?

No. Coaching is about personal development and enables you to grow and increase your achievements.

Based on both my own and others’ experience, this especially applies to very successful people, coaching has helped them succeed even more. I have worked with clients as they launch projects and to help them create the impact they want to following a promotion.

It’s not about problems it’s about success.

Is Life Coaching just a fancy phrase for mentoring?

There are similarities but whilst mentoring often focuses on receiving advice from someone who is very experienced or is considered an expert in a specific subject, coaching is a different relationship. It’s about increasing your own insights into your abilities and strengths, because this is what will help you achieve your full potential and become who you really want to be. Not who you, or someone else, thinks you should be.

It is based on the belief that people have the internal resources that enable them to achieve bigger and better results across all areas of their lives. They just need accountability and focus.

Is Life Coaching like sharing thought and problems with a friend?

Coaching focuses entirely on you and involves the identification of goals, be it for the session or longer term; outlining how to achieve them; and addressing any barriers to enable you to increase your effectiveness, happiness and productivity in all areas of your life.

Unlike a friend, I, as your coach, have no emotional agenda of my own and can remain independent, non-judgemental and non-critical throughout. My focus can be entirely on you, with no need for you to tell me anything other than what you need to for your own benefit, and you definitely won’t be crossed off my Christmas list for it being all about you when we meet.

Is Life Coaching time consuming?

On average the sessions take place every two or three weeks and normally last between 30 and 90 minutes (as suits you as we agree in advance). It is often done by Skype which is very effective and eliminates traveling time and costs. All I ask is that you are true to you, and fair to me. The work you do between sessions is important, but it’s for you not for me.

As I said earlier: it will save you time in the long-run by keeping your target and your aim straight.

How long have you been doing what you do and how did you get to be an Executive Thinking Coach?

In many ways I have always been doing what I do. I have spent over a 15 years working on transformation projects in major blue chip organisations, dealing with people who are being rocked by changes and empowering them to take charge and think of ways to create a new, positive normal. I have always focused on the people side of change even when deeply involved in systems projects.

I have gone on to train as a trainer, delivering courses such as: Personal Impact; Assertiveness; Public Speaking; Communication; Train the Trainer and the like.

I always seek to bring the real world into all these exchanges. From my studying of various coaching disciplines, I decided that the person I most wanted to be was a catalyst for other people’s greatest thinking.

So, I studied the Thinking Environment with Nancy Kline and now I am here, looking forward to coaching you to your greatest thinking.

Who are your clients exactly?

I work with people just like you, who are really good at what they do, however, they are not taking the time to think through the challenges they face at home and at work and are generally feeling overwhelmed, adrift or guiltily ambitious.

These may be high powered female execs who are surprised to find how motherhood changes their world yet keen to regain some kind of control. They know that spending time in advance working things through gives them opportunity to shine more and actually saves them time at work, precious time they can then spend with their family’s. Win win really.

Or, women driven to make a change.

It’s not just about the quantity of time, this time is of better quality too; if they have got work straight in their heads, got it all out and have a plan so to speak, they are able to be more present at home.

(I do also work with forward thinking organisations who are keen to capitalise on their internal intellectual capital and harness all that thinking for innovation and growth – see Treetop Thinking)

How are you different from other “Executive or Life Coaches”?

I could tell you I have been there; holding senior management positions; being a qualified accountant; working across industries as a management Consultant AND as a Mum; and, that what this does is give me perspective on what I find most valuable as I balance my home and work life.

For me, that is encouragement, and space to work through things.

I could mention that my discipline focuses not just on the thinking of the individual alone, but, also individuals in groups

I am here to give you direction and focus; I’m here to provide you with the tools and time you need to get results. (What this looks like for you ,will be defined by you, in your first session.)

Ultimately, you need to find the right coach for you. Someone who you can work with and trust. If you want to see if I am the right coach for you, schedule a discovery call and we’ll chat.

Why can I not just do this for myself then?

Have you ever successfully managed to schedule an hour or so a week to work through issues? Have you managed to keep that hour completely free without interruption of your focus?

You know, I was like you: I always thought coaching was something weak people needed; just a frivolous prop to make them feel important.

I have discovered that there is an accountability factor that makes an appointment with someone else more important than one with yourself.

And that, most of all, it is the attention and unconditional support of another person that sparks great breakthroughs; especially when there is no vested interest for that person.

(Mind you, I do get quite excited when my clients get promoted.)

Is coaching value for money?

Coaching enables you to take control of your life and ensure you live it to the full, in line with what brings you success and happiness. It is an investment in yourself – on scrutiny, it makes sense to regard it as a necessity rather than a luxury.

We only have one life, make damn sure it is as enjoyable and fulfilled as it can possibly be!

What type of personality do you work best with and what is expected of me?

Please know I’m very selective in who I work with and I cherry-pick my clients, choosing to (gently) turn away people who aren’t suited for the way I work and won’t get the results for which they would have signed up for. (It wouldn’t be fair to them.)

If you want someone to tell you how and what to do, I’m not the coach for you. If you want an assistant to organise your life for you, that also, is not me.

If you want unconditional support, enthusiasm and genuine interest in your thinking and your thoughts, then we will work brilliantly together.

I expect you to show up, and give yourself permission to think purely for yourself and I will provide the tools for you to do this.

Why The Thinking Environment?

Because the Thinking Environment and I both believe in the Positive Philosophical Choice and that is that human beings are by nature good, intelligent, loving, powerful, multitalented, emotional, assertive, able to think through anything, imaginative and logical. Behaviour to the contrary is seen as the result of assumptions generated over a lifetime by events, conditions and attitudes in a person’s environment.

How will this work?

Our coaching sessions will last 30 -60 minutes, longer if it is one of my premium sessions. These sessions will take place in person or by Skype or FaceTime, (phone only in emergencies), and will be scheduled over a week in advance.

This time will purely be for you to work through the things you want / need to focus on. I also have a series of questions and tools, part of my I can, I will, I am ™ system that are really useful to continue your development. We will come up with a coaching plan to achieve your goals

The process each session will start with is this:

First I will ask you a very simple question – ‘What do you want to think about today, and what are your thoughts?’

You talk about whatever you would like to think through, whilst I give you all of my attention – listening silently for as long as you are busy thinking, whether you are talking aloud, or in the moments when you are thinking purely for yourself inside your own mind.

Then we will take this and work towards your goal in the session, and agree on the work you will undertake before our next meeting.

What if I don’t achieve my goal?

The important thing to remember about coaching is that I cannot do the work for you. You will get out of it what you put into it.

I will hold you accountable and keep you focused, but there are of course no guarantees. While I will help overcome obstacles, the important person here is you.

Coaching will definitely increase your odds of success.

What are my options for getting started with you?

Look at my packages, see which feel right for you and contact me for that discovery call I mentioned earlier.

How do we get started?

Great! Did you know that one of the most prominent characteristics of successful people is that they take action?

I’m guessing that this is what has got you here in the first place.

Since this feels right for you, then go for it. Look at my packages and then contact me to schedule a getting to know each other chat, that way we can make sure we will work together well.

If I’m not sure I’m ready to get started, how can I sample your work at low cost to see if it’s the right solutions for me?

I don’t offer a free consultation, that takes too much time away from those who are ready to commit. Part of the reason for my website is so that you can get a feel for who I am, and, what I’d like to do to help you.

I am, however, happy to have a brief phone or Skype conversation to see if we are a good fit for working together. A getting-to-know-you-call as it were.

Or, to get started today, join an online or group course

Contact me today and we’ll schedule a chat.