Photo by PhotoMIX Company

Between work, family, and the general busyness of our lives, finding a moment to pause and reflect on our own goals and values can sometimes be a struggle. Fortunately, all it takes is a small amount of time to lead you towards more focus and clarity in life, career, or general well-being.

I recently hosted and facilitated a Reset and Recharge workshop with partner coaches, Amy Lauer and Tres Jimenez. Amy is a transformational leadership coach and Tres is a creative catalyst who coaches on career. My coaching focuses on career and well-being. The focus of our workshop was to create a community where each attendee could create space to reflect and focus on what’s important to them as we start the new year.

Photo by Dominika Roseclay

Change is hard for many reasons but 4 stand out to me.

1. We’re too busy and stressed out to focus.

2. The unknown is scary.

3. We tell ourselves the same stories that keep us stuck.

4. We feel alone.

Photo by Akil Mazumder

What exactly is coaching and how is it useful or impactful? Coaches get this question a lot so I wanted to share the definition, a real life example, what the process of finding coaching can look like, as well as the types of breakthroughs someone can make.

Coaching is partnering with a client “in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires the client to maximize their personal and professional potential. The process of coaching often unlocks previously untapped sources of imagination, productivity and leadership.”

Photo by Karolina Grabowska

I coach because I want to add some more good in the world. I coach because I want to help people think differently about themselves. I want to help people get out of any negative thinking that keeps them stuck or makes them feel like they can’t change. I coach because growing up and throughout my career, I would have made more conscious choices and built better habits if I had the right information and a coach supporting me earlier on and keeping me accountable along the way. Here are some of the reasons my inner critic took over my mind for years.

I’ve been doing a lot of research on the topic of boundaries and how women in particular have a hard time with them. Many of the women I talk to say they would love to have boundaries but they just can’t set them because it’s too hard or not well received, both at home and at work. The guilt with setting boundaries is so profound that they would rather just say yes knowing deep down that they really should say no. Saying yes comes at the expense of their well-being.

In our fast-moving world, it’s challenging to slow down. We’re always on the go, always trying to make things happen faster, trying to quickly finish that big project at work, or get that next promotion. And most of us think it’s unnecessary to slow down and make time for rest. Some of us go through the day so quickly we don’t remember what we did. We go through the motions of life without really being present in what we’re doing. We’re stressed and have been consistently for the past few years for many external reasons.