The week Bold Age? shared a radio feature with Usain Bolt

This week, I was invited to share my views on BBC Radio Solent, views about the challenges people face when retiring. Listen from about 41 minutes here to hear my dulcet Derbyshire tones, with the wonderful Katie Martin.

This was all in the context of Usain Bolt's retirement. I agree wholeheartedly with Colin Jackson's take on this; he described retirement as "the rebirth of the individual", claiming that Bolt wanted to take up football, cricket and even acting in his next phase! Heck if Vinnie Jones can do it...

I love this because my mission is to help change the definition and perception of retirement in the UK – to help people rewrite the retirement rulebook.

I stand by this mission because times have changed since the invention of retirement, and times continue to change. We all (as individuals and employers) need to challenge the norms in this field to enable ourselves to have a fulfilling life and career, whatever our age.

The challenge currently is that many retirement role models in peoples’ lives are those who have potentially taken a traditional route. So 'repurposing' in life is the path less trodden. This is why coaching helps.

What is Bold Age? coaching?

As we’ve started with a sporting theme, its perhaps a good analogy to use to describe what coaching is and how its applied to help people plan for retirement/rebirth/repurposing etc. Most of us are familiar with the fact that sports people/teams have a coach. Here's how life coaching is similar: -

1.    The coach doesn’t run the race for the athlete – they help the athlete be at their best mentally and emotionally as well as physically, because as we know, most sporting performances are only in part about technical capability – your head and heart have to be in the game and on form to perform well.

This is the same for life, especially when going through changes – having mental and emotional clarity and calm makes for easier transitions. This is what coaching helps people to achieve.

2.    The coach is the biggest supporter and the greatest critic – I was watching Holly Bradshaw in the Pole Vault this week and her coach got as much camera attention as she did. He was giving her regular prompts, feedback and motivation. Seemingly via the medium of mime!

A good coach offers a supportive ear and, at the same time, challenges clients – because more learning and growth happens when you're just that little bit on the edge!

3.    The coach helps the athlete get to their outcomes quicker than if they tried to do it all by themselves and this is what coaching really helps with. We can all have objectives, dreams and desires, but left to our own devices we allow: -

·      Other people to talk us out of it

·      Our own devil-like inner dialogue to talk us out of it

·      Our motivation to wane

·      Other things to get in the way

A coach is the person sitting on your shoulder providing motivation, tools to quieten the unhelpful inner chatter and helping remove any barriers.

In brief, coaching offers a practical, objective and action focused way of moving from A to B and beyond, and it's not just for athletes!

To learn more about the corporate and life coaching I offer through Blu Lake visit the website.

And, as we extend the Bold Age? offer, have a look at our new (and developing!) website here.

You can call me on 07714 329339 too. Oh, and if you wanted to listen to my five minutes of fame again, you've got 28 days - it's here!