I was lying in bed one night (as cliche as it may sound), reflecting on the day, the month…thinking about how I felt about my work and being really honest with myself about where I was at and where I was heading. Yes, I liked my job (a lot!), but did I love it – like truly LOVE it? I was happy, I was challenged, yet I knew that I kept giving myself permission to push my passion out a ways… “I have time, it will naturally happen, I’m not ready…” And then I called bullsh*t… on myself.
I hit the jackpot when I took an internship in college with a growing company, in the field I was excited about (recruiting) that allowed me to still take 18 credits, be involved on campus and walk to work. But that wasn’t the reason I hit the jackpot. My boss, who also happened to be leading the entire organization’s sales force, had just taken over Talent Acquisition and I was going to get to spend uber amounts of time learning from him. Again, not the reason I hit the jackpot. What I came to realize though, the longer I worked with him, was that he would change my life forever and set me on my path to truly living my passion. You see, the reason I hit the jackpot was that I had found someone, in my first real job out of college, that invested time in me, was interested in the value I brought to the organization, and more importantly believed in me more than I believed in myself.
Not only did he help me build my own brand at the company that I would then end up going full-time with, but helped me build the confidence to take on a new leadership role with a company that gave me the opportunity to do exactly what he taught me to do…COACH. You know that feeling you get when you don’t even feel like you’re working yet you are being told it is the most value you bring to the company? That is what coaching became to me. Spending time with colleagues figuring out what made them tick, what was holding them back and how to get results and see positive change was the best (and most FUN) part of my work.
Years later, I took on a position with a different company and was not getting as much time to coach others. I really enjoyed my work, but could definitely feel the void that something, something really important (my passion) was missing. A few years went by before the life-changing evening I had lying in bed. “I’ll do it some day, it will naturally happen, I am not ready. NOT READY? That’s BULLSH*T!”
The only thing holding me back from my dream of starting my own coaching business was, yep you guessed it, ME! I was done. I was done letting myself believe a narrative that I was telling myself, that I wasn’t ready to start my own business, that I would need to quit my job, that I needed to be PERFECT if I wanted to start my own business. I started to control the thoughts that I was telling myself and let go of the thoughts that didn’t serve me or my dream.
Big Magic -Elizabeth Gilbert
I created NoBull Coaching to help my clients do the same thing I did – to call BULL – on the thoughts that aren’t serving us, the thoughts that you will take that job or promotion when you deserve it, that timing isn’t right, that if only you knew this person or could go back to school or, like me, had to be perfect to follow your dream. It is time to flip the script and start taking control of our thoughts which will allow us to not only follow our dreams but live our dreams TODAY.
I have built my practice on three qualities that I have found, in my life and in my years of coaching, to be game changers in how we choose to take control of our own success:
Personal Accountability
When we are 100% (yes, 100%) accountable for our thoughts and our actions, we give ourselves permission to change.
Transparency
When we are transparent with ourselves and others, we not only connect with others on a deeper level, but also seek solutions much more effectively. I recently heard Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks, say “The currency of leadership is transparency.”
Gratitude
When we are constantly feeling and sharing gratitude, we open ourselves to experience life from a different perspective; a perspective of abundance, joy and enrichment. Michael Neill, author of Inside-Out Revolution shares,
“We don’t create abundance. Abundance is always present. We create limitation.”
Are you holding yourself back, creating limits (that don’t exist), telling yourself lies about when the right time is, what you still don’t have or know? It is time to call bull and GO!
Originally published at nobull-coach.com