Succeeding despite the Crisis: A true story

Meera:

As you went through the coaching journey in the last few months with me, what really changed for you?

Client:

I would say, my general perspective to life. So normally I would look at things from an external point of view, hoping that I can fix what is happening around me, to make myself happy. What I learned was that I am responsible for making myself happy. Regardless of all the things happening around me, I can make a choice about how it affects me. I realized that I can say, “You know what, regardless of everything happening, I want to be happy!”

Meera:

Wonderful! How has that realization and our work impacted you professionally and privately?

Client:

What has been really amazing about this experience is that despite signing up for leadership coaching to further my career, I have seen its effects in all areas of my life: my relationship with my husband, my relationship with the kids, even my relationship with my sister, my friends, everything has improved as a result of it.
And the reason why is because it has to do with me. Once I change, it affects everything else around me.

Meera:

Wow, beautiful. I remember we talked a few times about imposter syndrome, right? And, not speaking up enough, how have things changed on that front?

Client:

I think a lot of times, when we’re not conscious about what is happening, we kind of just go with the flow and things happen to us. But again, what I’ve learned working with you is that I’ve become so much more conscious about everything. I find myself in situations where I still question myself, “Do I know enough to answer the question? Do I need to answer that question to get visible?” I have now learnt to put these doubts aside. I ask the question, it doesn’t matter whether it is right or wrong. It’s my opinion, so I state it. The imposter syndrome still comes up, where I’m like, “Oh, am I in the right place?” But I’ve developed the ability to be always conscious. And as you say, recognizing and putting it aside is more than half the battle.

Meera:

Oh wow. Yes, it’s a powerful way to handle imposter syndrome. When you label something, it sort of uses its power over you, and your true power emerges. Okay, cool. So, what will you do differently in life going forward?

Client:

Yes. I’ve already started to do things differently. It’s also about taking care of myself. One of the reasons why I initially struggled, was that I was doing everything for everyone else, apart from myself you know? So I wasn’t giving myself enough, and I was running around feeling crazy. So the core thing that I would do differently, or what I have already started doing differently, and I will continue is to always remember that I need “food” as well. You know, I’m a mom, I’m a wife and everything else, but I’m also ME. And I need to take that time for myself. So even if I just sit down and read a book or do some meditation, or I got this nice board, um, in my work room where I basically just write some nice quotes. So I have stayed conscious, confident and humble. I feel amazing that every morning I basically think about something nice that I want to remember the whole day. And I write it on that board I mentioned. So whatever is happening on the day, I keep looking at it, you know, and it just makes me smile.

Meera:

Brilliant. And I know you also started running consistently.

Client:

Yes! I started running. I maintain a regular fitness routine as well. Even if I can’t run, we bike or I generally just dance.

Meera:

If we were to be specific, are there any other results you want to talk about with respect to work or home, or just in general, as a result of coaching?

Client:

I’ve been really wanting to tell you this!. So, remember we discussed about me asking for a pay rise? So I actually did have the conversation. I stated my case as we discussed … and I got it. I didn’t even have to talk too long. You know, I followed some of the principles you guided me with: state the facts, keep it short, simple & relevant. And that was what I did!

Meera:

I am so proud of you! You’ve executed it very well. It’s like a muscle, right? You built that muscle. You now know how to do that, how to stand in your power, in every scenario. So one last question. What would you tell people.. especially to somebody who’s sitting on the fence and considering working with me for instance? What will your advice to them be?

Client:

The LinkedIn post I wrote recently mentioning that I worked with you.. when I was thinking about writing the posts, I was worried about my work colleagues knowing about it. Because I thought they might feel like she needed help and all of that. But what I’ve realized is that needing help is not the weakness. You know, there comes a point where, you know, you personally can take yourself as far as you can to some point, and after that you just need some help. So asking for help is not the weakness in any way, I think it is a strength instead of staying there and struggling, falling apart. The biggest strength you can have is to accept that (you’re dealing) it’s too much and seek help, find a solution, to make life better. So anybody sitting on the fence, I would say the, the first thing is don’t be afraid asking for help, it is not a sign of weakness. So if you accept that you need help and you get that help, then it makes you so much better, a better person. You just don’t wait for things to work out passively, you can actually make that thing you want come to life. So many strong benefits I would say, and it feels great because you feel like you have a hand in making that happen.

Meera:

Yeah, exactly. Awesome. Okay. So we are at the end of the recording. Any, any other final words before we end today’s session?

Client:

Just one more for you specifically, Meera as a person. I think you have a really engaging style. You have a way of, you know, bringing people out of themselves. I felt like I was talking to somebody that felt my pain and could actually talk to me as a human being as opposed to talking to me like I’m a statistic.

Meera:

Thank you so much. That is a very beautiful acknowledgement. Thank you for taking your time, and talk to you soon!