I’m sitting in the office of a CEO; it’s our third coaching session and we are continuing to explore and fine-tune his goals.
He has momentum, but something is missing.
I know it, and so does he.
So, I asked, ‘What do you want?’
His reply, well it wasn’t surprising. It was all external, the bit of the iceberg that you see above the water.
We explored some of it.
What it would give him, and what his motivation was for achieving that.
And I asked the question again.
‘What do you want?’
He stared at me.
And then silence, for maybe 5-6 minutes – it seemed a lot longer than that.
And then it dropped.
The things on the list he gave me were all for and about other people.
But not for him.
And gradually it all began to come out.
The ambition that he still had for himself and the things that he wanted to achieve for himself.
We’re now looking at what’s stopped him from achieving this already.
As a coach, I don’t have all the answers. I don’t need to because I know that you do.
Sometimes you have to allow yourself to know what you know.
I asked him how he had felt in that silence.
He told me that he was constantly surrounded by noise and yet the silence felt louder than all of that. But that he understood why I asked the question again.
Sometimes, that period of silence can give us the opportunity to really listen to ourselves – listen at a deeper level – deep listening – silence the noise and strip everything back to get to the core of what we really want for our life and for ourselves.
So, go on, ask yourself.
‘What do you want?’
Don’t be afraid of the silence.
Allow yourself to know what you know.
If you would like to explore the transformative nature of coaching and how you too can reconnect with who you are, don’t be afraid to get in touch.
(shared with permission)
#transformation#theleapcoaching
