Why Coaching?

A few weeks ago, I had lunch with my amazing, fantastic friend, Lindsay Guentzel. Lindsay and I have known each other for a while now, and over lunch we talked about how to move forward on goals, especially when life gives you so many options. Lindsay is one of those people who sees opportunity in everything. She's got this incredible energy that she uses to make things happen in her life. In November 2018, she traveled to St. Thomas to volunteer her time to help with hurricane relief efforts. She shares her amazing gifts and love of cooking whenever she can. She tells stories and hosts conversations where people feel welcome, loved, and respected. She inspires me all of the time with her outlook and the action she takes to keep moving forward.

I was thrilled when Lindsay reached out to me to have a conversation on WCCO Radio about coaching. Lindsay framed it up to essentially ask, "What's the benefit of having a coach in your life who is helping you to stay accountable to your goals?" We had a fun conversation that you can listen to on the link above, and here are a few summary points:

• Coaching is great for people who have a plan and want someone to keep them accountable; AND coaching is also great for people who have no idea what to do next, who feel stuck, and unsure of what to do. Coaching allows people to see the opportunities that are in front of them.
• Coaching is an excellent opportunity to pause and take stock of where you are at in life and where you want to go. You can re-evaluate your skills and align them to find joy at the intersection of your personal and professional life.
• Coaching can help you right-size your goals, so that what feels insurmountable becomes much more manageable. Coaching taps into your own wisdom to draw out what you want to do.
• Coaching can figure out what is the next right step that will bring you closer to your purpose. Coaching helps build your confidence to move forward.
• Coaching doesn't just help with the "doing" of life. It also helps with the "being" of life. Coaching can help create greater satisfaction with life overall.

​One caveat I want to make in reference to the recording is the difference between coaching and therapy. Lindsay mentions how she sees coaching is like a mix of someone holding you accountable to your goals and unofficial therapy. Many people make a connection between coaching and therapy. Sometimes that happens because people have past experience with therapy so they compare it to what they know. Other people think coaching is like therapy because we're talking about things like feelings! But, therapy and coaching are not the same and are two very different things. Through my coaching training with IPEC, we talked about the difference between therapy and coaching:

• Therapy helps clients fix problems, overcome issues, and often manage mental health. Coaches do not work on mental illness nor helping clients fix or overcome problems.
• Coaches focus on solutions. Rather than analyzing the past, coaching helps clients tap into their own wisdom to achieve success in the future.
• Therapists usually help clients figure out "why". Coaches help the client focus on "how".

I am not a licensed therapist. I am thrilled and proud to be a Certified Professional Coach! If you think you could benefit from any of the things that I talked about with Lindsay, reach out! I'd love to talk with you about what coaching can do for you.