Page 104 - Talane Miedaner - Coach Yourself to a New Career_ 7 Steps to Reinventing Your Professional Life (2010)

92 COACH YOURSELF TO A NEW CAREER

like great fun, it can’t be real work or become a profitable business.
If we are having fun or doing a task with ease, it doesn’t feel like
“hard work.” This response may have to
do with the Puritan work ethic: if it is
The best mirror is an fun, you shouldn’t be doing it for work.
old friend. This is a common subconscious belief.
I know numerous coaches who have
—GEORGE HERBERT difficulty charging for their coaching
because they love doing it so much and
get so much fun out of it. If you have the
belief that work must be difficult and challenging before you can
be paid for it, then the place to start is getting rid of that negative,
limiting belief!
My company just lost a prospective client because he was so
convinced work had to be hard and a struggle that instead of build-
ing a business around his dreams, he decided to hire a coach who
would strictly hold him accountable to his weekly goals and actions
in commercial real estate, which he hated. In my company, we work
with dreams. If you hate doing something, you’ll never ever be the
best at it. There will always be someone who loves doing the same
thing and will soon beat you to that client or prospect. Now is the
perfect time to figure out what you’d really love to do!
Ask as many friends, family members, teachers, coaches, and
colleagues as you can get your hands on the six questions listed
in this section. Take notes on what they say, or provide them a
photocopy or e-mail of the questions to answer in writing. Do not
make any comments or judgments about their responses. Your
task is to simply gather as much information from as many people
as you can and graciously thank them for their time and input.
If you interview them in person or by phone, imagine you are an
independent journalist gathering important information for a
story about a very interesting person (you!). You can say things
such as, “Hmmm . . . that is interesting. Tell me why you think
that.” Then jot down the answers. Do not get into an argument