Archer Coaching

Coaching you on your path to joyful abundance.

Posts Tagged question

Pet Projects

Jun 5

Posted by Laura in blessing, change, choice, Coaching, education, experience, Making an impact, momentum, performance, planning, Powerful questions, success | No Comments

A lot of people think that coaching only comes into play for big-picture life or career issues. Did you know that coaching can also be supportive of a single particular project?

Coaching is a collaborative relationship in which the client is supported in creating what he or she wants in the present and future. Certainly this is extremely helpful in terms of broad aspects of one’s life, such as finances, career, communication, spirituality, and more. Imagine what might be possible if you had this kind of focused support and energy around a project. What could you achieve?

You might wonder what kind of projects are appropriate for a coaching relationship. The answer: just about anything you can imagine that has a timeline for completion!

  • writing a book
  • creating a business plan
  • developing a workshop or speech
  • training plan for a triathlon
  • starting a club or community group
  • planning a wedding or other large event
  • completing college or graduate school
  • job search
  • work projects, such as creation of an action team or development of a program
  • earning tenure at a university

What are your pet projects? What would you like to accomplish, and by when?

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Making Space

May 18

Posted by Laura in Appreciation, balance, blessing, change, choice, clarity, Coaching, Creativity, Mindfulness, Path, planning, Powerful questions, time, Uncategorized | No Comments

When there is something big you want to create in your life, how do you make room for it? If you want to start your own business, get married, travel a lot, have children, start a new hobby, and so on, how do you create space for it? I’m talking beyond just wedging it into your calendar, saving money, or clearing out a corner of your home.

I’ll give a personal example. For a long time, I’ve held space in my heart and in my dreams for motherhood. In talking with my husband about having a child, he asked a great question: “How will we have a kid when we’re so busy as it is? How will we fit it in?” I realized then that something that large and life-changing doesn’t just get “penciled in” to our existing life. We must create space for it, giving up certain things and changing others so that we might be healthy, whole, and ready.

So I began paring down my responsibilities, specifically by deciding not to step up for officer roles in various professional organizations I belong to. I did some reading about fertility, learned how to chart, started taking prenatal vitamins, and tried to eat better and exercise more. I had some appointments with my doctors to deal with various issues I was concerned with. I put some money in a savings account to use during maternity leave.

I’m going through a similar process of making choices with my business right now. I am evaluating my commitments and side projects, winnowing some down so I can focus on my core interests and my best work. It’s a little bittersweet at times, saying goodbye to something that was fun but no longer moves me in the direction I want to go. But it opens new doors of opportunity, and that’s quite exciting to me!

I’ve blogged before about setting a goal and making sure it is SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timed). Coaching is a way to help people set goals, figure out a plan, and track toward achieving it. Making space is a critical step that might get overlooked by some. We can’t keep cramming our lives full of stuff to do without occasionally weeding some things out and changing others.

What do you do to make space? What do you make space for?

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

More on Balance

Mar 30

Posted by Laura in balance, change, choice, clarity, confidence, Goals, Mindfulness, Powerful questions, Purpose, time | No Comments

Today’s entry is a guest blog from my friend and colleague Julie Seibert of Healing through Organization. She helps people with the mental blocks that can keep us from organizing our world. She had this to say about my blog post on Creating Balance:

I take a holistic approach with organizing and suggest people start with their mind. This means living in the present and not spending time in fear and anxiety. I consider this an important step in getting inside and outside organized. These questions by Geneen Roth are written on a whiteboard in my office. When making a decision I reflect on these questions.

1. Does it lead me toward a fuller life or confine me?
2. Does it bring me closer to my heart or take me further away?
3. Does it open me or close me?
4. Does it allow me to trust myself further or does it make me frightened of myself?
5. Does it enlarge my life or does it make my life smaller?

Take some time to reflect who and what is important in your life. Who nourishes you? Spend time with the people who uplift you. Invited to events you don’t want to go to? Don’t. It is your choice.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,