Part of a training course I participated in this week we were asked to reflect on an achievement we were proud of. Â That’s not a notion I dwell on too much, usually because I’m moving on to the next project or task. Â It was a hard exercise for me to face off with my inner voice (known by NLP practitioners as auditory digital thinking) as frankly it’s a level of “woo-woo” that makes me feel uncomfortable. But as a coach I can hardly ask my clients to face their inner demons if I don’t do it myself.
For the purposes of the training I decided that an achievement I was proud of was the life shift we’ve made in the last 6 years. Â I’ve gone from a state of mostly exhausted existence in the UK to a life which no less exhausting at times but one that feels better and much more fun. Â I’m often asked why didn’t I make the sort of life I wanted in the UK and the truthful answer to this question is that would simply have been too hard. It was much easier to just pack everything up and move to a completely different part of the world and start again.
Hard work and a lot of luck has helped us along our way but having a clear view about what we wanted our future to look like has been the thing that has sustained progress. Sometimes the details aren’t clear but that’s when the fun starts as you can shape and change things until you find a level of satisfaction. Â Who’d have known that a notional dream about “living the good life” would have resulted in a growing obsession about where my food comes from and where on earth I can get my hands on a medlar tree or crocus bulbs so I can grow my own saffron.
These are luxurious thoughts but I’ve come to realise this week that my work as a coach helps heaps of other people to take small steps every day to making their life better or those that they work with and that’s an incredibly powerful thing. Â Now all I need is a Jedi outfit and I’ll be good to go.
Medlar Bud in the Orchard.
