Are You Stuck?

Allow me to admit something, I am a list maker. I love making to-do lists. It helps to set my day in motion. It helps me keep track of what I have done and what I still need to do. I find it very beneficial to my production.

As much as I am good at daily lists, I seem to struggle with longer term lists. Late in the year, I like to make a list of goals I want to accomplish in the following year to come. I have the lists, I start the list, I make progress, and then I seem to fizzle out somewhere in the process.

I can list hundreds of reasons why I don’t complete my list and some reasons can be more valid than others. However, in the end, I am still not doing what I intended to do. This frustrates me more than I can effectively relay with words. I have looked at different ways of increasing my chances to no real avail up to this point.

One of the things I have done to help me is that I have pursued certification as a life coach. The training I went through has given me additional tools in helping me stay on track with my goals.

As part of my ongoing growth in this area, I am working with another coach and together we coach each other. This gives us the benefit of being a coach as well as honing our coaching skills. It is a win-win situation.

Last night was the first time I got to be coached (by my new coaching partner) and let me say, it was very beneficial. I don’t normally have a person who just sits, listens, and asks challenging questions. During my conversation, I came to realize that one of the things I struggle with is being intentional. Basically, I have good intentions, but struggle with follow through.

Now that I have identified this, and I have also verbalized it both to myself and my coach; I am sensing a whole new level of accountability. Feeling this new level of accountability is doing wonders for my willingness to follow through. I have a new sense of excitement surrounding making progress. This will do wonders for me.

If you can relate to my struggles, maybe coaching can be of benefit to you. For further insight on this, take a look at an excerpt on the difficulties of change and the benefits of accountability from the book Christ-Centered Coaching: 7 Benefits For Ministry Leaders.

Intentional change is significant for adults who are on a treadmill of routine. Often adults haven’t learned anything significant to apply to their lives, and they haven’t made any big changes in a long time. One day is pretty much like the one before and the next one. Because they have done the same things in the same way for so long they often don’t have the systems in place to facilitate learning or to discipline themselves to remember commitments to themselves. Making significant change takes a lot of intentional, focused effort.

 

Simply speaking out loud to another human being often creates just enough incentive to follow through with your action plan. Talking about what you will do out loud with your coach clarifies the steps you want to take, helps you establish a time line, keeps your mind focused on your goals and the vision that is within reach, and solidifies the reasons for taking this action. Your act of voicing what you want to do will increase your excitement about the potential results of your action. You will actually motivate yourself to follow through with your commitment. Your coach will support you in being accountable to yourself.

How could a coach benefit you?

If you are interested in coaching, you can contact me here.

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