Blog series by Joann Evans
Joann Evans holds a B.S. in microbiology and chemistry. She is also a certified Paralegal. She has 20 years’ experience in quality assurance, control and engineering in fields such as pharmaceutical, medical device, IVD, biotech and blood banking. This blog series is her journey through being coached and then earning her coaching certification.
One thing of interest to me that I will be working to pay special attention to is living in the future and not living in the past. The last 4 years have been extremely hard and I keep reliving it which keeps me there. Two times in our session Cathy re-directed me to think about the future. The second time she asked if I understood what she was doing as she guided my thoughts in a different direction. I, embarrassingly, didn’t know but now I do. I guess this is how growth works and is one reason for coaching certification. I can’t say if she did it more than twice.
Another question that Cathy asked was, “What legacy do you want to create?” It is a question that evoked a lot of emotion in me as a result of my last two jobs. It breaks my heart how some, I f
eel, may remember me in a way that is not good. I just wish I knew what I did wrong. Because this evoked such emotion, I know I must work to fix this area of my life. I want to be remembered in a good way for work product that matters and enhances the lives of others.
Cathy also asked about accountability and how to accomplish this. I like to think that I hold myself accountable but do I? How do I ensure accountability in this process other than truly through myself and an internal commitment to reach determined goals? Cathy, through this process, can attempt to help me be accountable but in truth, in the end, the only person responsible is me. This portion of the process scared me the most because of the avoidance I know that I have been feeling and/or displaying this last year. I am worried about going back to work in a career where I no longer see true collaboration. I know in my heart that the biggest challenge is to make a true decision on a professional path forward to reach the end goal.
In this session, again, I was extremely amazed at how Cathy was able to succinctly and effortlessly mirror back to me exactly all of the key points that I had expressed for dream goals. I know how difficult it can be to capture conversations. Again, her voice was instrumental in guiding the visualization exercise helping to make it real and more powerful. It peaks my interest in the coach training.
