Coaching and self-coaching

It’s happened again: a coaching session has untangled some knots and opened up new perspectives. A woman had phoned me and asked for an appointment at short notice. She was faced with a career choice between two options, both of which had their pros and cons. It was going round and round in her head day and night; she was really struggling to make a decision.

After an hour’s coaching, the next steps were clear to her. A day later, she wrote to me: „Thanks for the offer and for all your help yesterday (…the rollercoaster in my head has now come to a complete halt; my nerves and brain synapses are still grumbling a bit, but so far I’ve managed to successfully prevent any attempts to set up a merry-go-round of thoughts or an emotional seesaw in the back of my mind). …I’ll be in touch with the final result! (-:“

I’m happy. I often find (though not always!) that in just one hour of coaching, a lot of things become clear that you’d otherwise spend weeks struggling with without reaching a constructive outcome. Of course, coaching does come at a price – not least because professional training courses cost thousands of euros.

That’s why I’m really delighted right now to be holding Christoph Schalk’s new Quadro in my hands: „Self-coaching. Act thoughtfully, implement consistently.“Christoph explains how to coach yourself. It’s possible. At least up to a certain point. Anyone can scratch their own nose or massage their own hands. But pulling yourself out of a quagmire – that’s not something you can really do on your own. You need help from others.”.

But when it comes to the many minor queries and crises, „self-coaching“ offers really good guidance on how to move forward, ask questions constructively, plan processes and find solutions. It also provides valuable insights into specific issues, such as career decisions.

I love it and am working my way through it myself at the moment, even though I’ve already read it whilst proofreading it. And I’m really enjoying it!