What Is Coaching and Why Does It Matter?

I know you are curious about coaching. Like really curious but you don’t want to ask. Maybe you are afraid of hurting my feelings, looking foolish, or worried you are signing up for an hour long yawn fest of how coaching changed my life and with a little bit of grit and an open mind it can change your life, too! (It can, btw.)

But for realz. How did I get into coaching? And why do I feel like it is the one area that humans are greatly underserved?

Coaching is about possibilities. It is about shifting perspectives and looking at old patterns in new a light. It is about seeing the bigger picture, about getting clear on what you want and having a blueprint to get you there. The biggest gift I can give my clients is to see a greater vision for them than what they can see for themselves. Holding space for their fails and successes and listening with an open heart and mind.

So how and why did I become a coach? This profession did not fall on my lap. Somewhere between a childhood dream of becoming a Psychologist, a left turn in the fashion industry and then a full upside down upheaval into the world of motherhood, I woke up one day and wondered how did I get here? Who was I and what did I want? And was I allowed to want more? Why didn’t I feel like I belonged? Did anyone else feel this way? Could I be grateful AND unsatisfied at the same time?

The first step was to allow myself to spend time on finding the answers to those questions. Then came the analysis. What parts of my life felt misaligned? What were my values and how were they reflected in my day to day life? What did I like about my career prior to motherhood? How could I use this information to start something new?

Turns out the common threads in my personal and former professional life were connection and growth. Professionally, I was happiest when my clients were succeeding, when their sales were high, when they came back to see me. Repeat visitors and smiling faces. Personally, I was never without that latest self-help book or lending an ear to a friend in need. I realized that my definition of success was deeply linked to empowering and supporting people in their growth and I knew that in order to feel whole I had to work with people in a capacity that celebrated their betterment.

Then came application. I worked with my own coach to get clear about how I could manifest these realizations into both a new career path and face my own feelings around failure, commitment and making the “wrong” choice. I enrolled in school, I took risks, I was brave.

Coaching is about celebrating our unique selves, it is about going to bed after a long day knowing you acted from a place of authenticity, it is about having the tools to course correct when stuff comes up. It is about loving yourself and being true to your calling. It is about connecting to the person you dreamed you’d be when you were a kid, long before someone told you were too loud, too tall, too shy, too skinny, too ambitious. Before you took every criticism, hardship and negative experience and wore it on your back like a badge of honor.

You can’t hide when it comes to coaching and that is why it is so damn scary.

It’s time to rewrite your future. What are you waiting for?

xo Ali