On Being a Powerful Client

One of my clients makes a PPT presentation before every call to reflect on where they are and where they want to go. It's a uniquely intimate experience to see their life so closely week by week and witness where their attention is going (or not).

Last week, these two boxes were in one of the slides and I couldn't help but smile big as I read them.

The thing about coaching is that it has to be experienced first-hand to truly understand. It's even more true for me when it comes to great coaching. I often think about Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart's "I know it when I see it" because it has a certain texture or essence.

We know it when we see it. But this email is not about me being a great coach. It's about a great client and what is required on the path of transformation. And when I saw the words in those boxes, I knew I saw an extraordinarily powerful client.

Courage and vulnerability - The main part of the slide described some negative thoughts, self-talk, and limiting beliefs. All of them on display for the two of us to look at. It takes tremendous courage to reveal what's inside and face it squarely. It also takes courage to believe something different is available.

Possibility - Opening to the idea that our beliefs might be bulls**t is fully in the land of possibility. So is believing there is something to do to move through it. And possibility is a requirement for growth.

Commitment and perseverance - Those old beliefs don't just show up once and never return, especially when they're as old as we are. We get to make recreating them a habit. We get to make feeling our discomfort a habit. All of it on the way to becoming who we truly are.

Trust - All of that is a testament to the trust we coaches get to create with our clients, in creating an environment in which all of this is welcome. And to the trust my client has built over time in themself to walk the path of personal growth.

Of course, I don't "show" that things are BS. My client already sees through the veil. I simply remind them all of the wisdom is inside them already and hold a mirror to who they are or what they're doing. That's my favorite part of these bubbles: seeing my client's request in them (YES!) and trusting their ability to move there as I walk alongside with an open heart.

Moments like these keep me humbled and inspired?by the work I get to do -- that all coaches get to do -- and the trust we get to create with the people we work with. I hope you're similarly inspired today. And I hope you have someone you can trust deeply to see you as you climb whatever mountain you're currently on.

Love.

Matt