A Chance to Sample the Benefits of Coaching

I have a question for you.

"If you always do what you've always done, what happens?"

In an industry renowned for creativity, you'd think that nobody would be guilty of always doing what they've always done. But the fact is we do!

The answer to my question is simple. You'll always get what you've always got.

This is one of the simplest and most profound statements about behaviour and the habits we develop in our lives. Is it so true, don't you think?

Consider it in the context of things that repeatedly show up in your life that are wrong (or right). Relationships. Arguments. Stress. Debt. Choosing lousy jobs. Being overworked and so on.

The fact is that until we step back and review what's going on in our lives and why it's happening, we may never break the cycle.

We need an annual life review law as they have for cars.

Every country has laws regarding the roadworthiness of vehicles that travel on public roads. And each vehicle is normally required to be tested once it reaches a certain age to ensure that it is roadworthy. In some countries, this test is conducted annually. In others, it may be every two to three years. 

We take care of the roadworthiness of the cars we travel in, but what about the lives we live? How 'lifeworthy' are they? Many of us get annual health checks to ensure our health is in order, but how often do we check in with ourselves and ask about our life overall. 

I'm increasingly speaking with people that say to me.

"Cheryl, my job is not worth all the effort. I've got to get out of the rat race and do something more fulfilling!"

And this sentiment comes from people across many disciplines in fashion, from designers to sales managers to university lecturers.

Increasingly people are looking for more purpose, more fulfilment and less striving.

When It All Gets too Much This is What to Do

We often hear about the issues regarding sustainability in the fashion industry and unethical trading in many quarters. And the spotlight is rightly so on the big issues, the big culprits and the big brands that cause so much suffering on our planet and amongst our wider communities.

But there is a too often hidden issue around sustainability that is much closer to home than many ignore. The sustainability of the workload we tolerate, the crappy bosses we might work for, and the poor rewards many get for it all.

How many of us are pushing ourselves to the point of exhaustion? Or tolerating a lifestyle driven by commercialism and false brand promises? Or trying to keep up appearances when deep down we know our path is too well-trodden and no longer the one we should be following? But we're so wrapped up in the routine of it all that we never take the chance to break free, even just for a moment, and catch ourselves spinning around on that wheel in the mouse cage we've built for ourselves.

Sometimes it just gets too much.

When this happens, it's time to take stock and review your Wheel of Life; a tool Life Coaches use to help their clients assess their lives. I frequently use this tool myself.

• Is my life balanced?
• Am I fulfilled?
• Do I know where my life is headed?
• Am I living with a true sense of purpose?
• What needs more attention?
• Where can I ease up?

Your Wheel of Life helps you quickly and visually identify the areas in your life to which you want to devote more energy and attention. It helps you understand where you might want to cut back and reconfigure your activities and priorities.

Once you have completed your Wheel of Life, the challenge is to create a more balanced life by taking deliberate actions.

Here's my gift to you for reading this post, a free Wheel of Life coaching tool complete with instructions. You can reuse it many times and edit it to reflect your unique themes for your life. To download it, simply follow this link.

Often making these changes can be difficult, especially when there's nobody to hold you accountable for failing to make the changes you say you want. It's easy to get away with not making change happen and to carry on doing what you've always done. Guess what happens then? That's right, and you get more of the same.

That's where the use of a professional coach can add real benefits.

Getting Further Support From a Coach

Life Coaching can help you to produce extraordinary results in your life, career and/or businesses. Unlike counselling or therapy, Life Coaching is forward-looking and focusses on achieving positive results in your life. It helps you to get clear on where you want to go and how to overcome the challenges on the way, so you remain inspired and able to achieve your goals.

Your coach can show you techniques and simple but effective strategies for helping you close the gap between where you are now and what you want to be at some point in the future.

Typical Benefits of Coaching

These are the typical benefits that people get when they use a professional coach.

1. Clarity - a coach can help you gain clarity on specific issues so that you can gain peace, purpose, and a sense of meaning in your life and be clear about your goals.
2. Direction - a coach can help you gain better direction in what you are doing, where you want to get to and how to get there.
3. Better work/life balance - when you have clarity of purpose and a real direction in your life, you will find that you will achieve a much better work/life balance knowing what to spend your energy on and why.
4. Better relationships - coaching can help you see how your relationships work and improve communication between you and the important people in your life.
5. More energy - the results of coaching flow throughout your life. You will feel more energised and full of life. There will be a spring in your step.
6. You centred - coaching gives you important space to consider yourself as an individual so that you can care and support yourself, something many of us neglect to do. This space gives you the chance to dream and figure out what's important to you now and for the future.
7. Personal development - with coaching, you will fund that you can explore ways to grow your life and expand it to the next level for a richer, more fulfilling and purposeful one.

A Chance to Sample the Benefits of Coaching

I've shared with you a link to download your free copy of our Wheel of Life tool. This also comes with a complimentary coaching session with my business partner Mark, a co-founder of We Teach Fashion and The Fashion Student Hub. He has been a professional coach and trainer for over 25 years, working with clients at all levels from CEO to team leaders and supervisors. He's offering you a complimentary coaching call to help you get further benefits from using the Wheel of Life.

If you'd like to benefit from this offer, please simply download the Wheel of Life, and we'll provide further details of how to book a time for the coaching session that suits you.

Download the Wheel of Life here.