Coaching yourself

Getting things done

Greetings from 2016.

Hi, it’s me! I wanted to say welcome to the many of you who have recently discovered the newsletter and hello to the new coaching clients who recently joined the practice. I’m so happy to have you all in our community.

Has everyone read How Coaching Works? How about Safe From Work, my piece on maintaining your identity during times of career turbulence?

The intelligent community

18 months ago I wrote The Opposite of AI. This was my reaction to the cultural paroxysms of dystopian AI panic gripping us last Spring. It’s aged well so I gave it a light zhooshing this morning.

The AI apocalypse breathlessly predicted by literally everyone has…well, not quite materialized. AI has not quite appeared in the skies over our major cities. It has not quite replaced professional people in every job. So, the difficult work of destroying our planet remains in the capable hands of us human beings. Who, as you all know are making slow but ruthlessly steady progress at that job.

Everybody get back to work!

Coaching

I would like to invite you all to visit http://Bizlet.org/coaching and consider the new and improved coaching subscriptions. Options now start around $350/month. I am here to help you with your job search, career change, freelancing, small business, agency, or any other career or business challenge.

I am looking for clients who may not have been able to afford coaching in the past. If even this lower fee is problematic, please let me know. I will try to find a way to make it work for you.

Photo by billow926 on Unsplash

My best advice for everyone who isn’t getting coaching or therapy is in my essay titled Don’t Listen to your Therapist.

You really shouldn’t listen to me, either, or to your spouse, parents, or children about your career or business problems. You should talk to them.

I’m half-joking. You probably should listen. The most important thing for me, when I’m facing difficult problems, is to spend the time organizing my thoughts well enough to tell somebody about them. One way to do that is by writing about them (which I do badly here, and thank you for your role in that!)

I also learn so much, and you will too, from finding out how your ideas sound when you say them out loud. You need to start talking about the impossible, improbable, unlikely, and just plain irritating career and business challenges that you’re facing. It matters less who you talk to, and it matters more that you talk about it.

Are you waiting for the universe to deliver the perfect mentor, manager, executive sponsor, or coach to help you solve your problems? Please start talking to someone — anyone — about it instead.

Your hairdresser or barber is a great place to start. I started my career working for some years first as an assistant in a beauty salon, and then as a licensed cosmetologist. I consider myself empowered to assure you on behalf of all of the world’s hairdressers: they will not mind.

Have a great week. See you all soon.