I’ve been having some great discussions with Ariana Friedlander – she’s a marketing professional based here in Fort Collins.  She wrote an article yesterday entitled 5 Reasons Why Not Knowing How To Do Something Should Never Stop You From Doing It.  It’s well worth a read!

I work with people all the time who struggle with this – they know they want to move ahead, but struggle to take the next step because it all seems so scary.  Sometimes they rely on me as a coach to help “give them courage.”

But I don’t really.

What I do is to help them build their OWN courage, from the resources they already have inside.  All I do is to help them put words to it, talk through alternatives and impacts, and come to their own realization that things are rarely as scary as they first seem.

That’s one of the fascinating things about business coaching.  Here I am, without as much expertise in my client’s business as they have, and through acting as an intelligent sounding board, they make huge progress.

It’s not uncommon that the outcome of a coaching conversation will be that the client will come in not knowing which direction to take, and leave with a clear direction and sense of resolve.  But I didn’t give them the answer.  What actually happened was that I helped them think through the alternatives in a somewhat-structured manner, come to a decision, and develop a commitment to move forward.  And when they know I’m going to come back in the next session and ask them about their progress, they start becoming more accountable for actually taking action.

When you’re faced with a reluctance to move forward, go read Ariana’s article, and if you’re still struggling with it, go talk it out with your mentor or coach.  Talking through it with your toaster MIGHT work, but only if you don’t need some intelligent questions back at you.

Advertisement