A friend told me about visiting a favorite aunt. This aunt had been unhappily overweight most of her adult life and now, at 70, is trim and healthy. My friend exclaimed over the change and the aunt said:
“You know, I finally made myself my own project.”
I had to sit back and roll those words over in my heart. Helping my clients be their own projects is what I do as a professional coach.
Most of us spend our lives absorbed in other people’s projects: our children’s babyhood/childhood/adolescent project, our teachers’ and bosses’ projects, our parents’ and partners’ projects.
Making yourself your own project is intentional. It is careful and thoughtful. It means – amidst the busy complexity of life – that you matter.
What is your project?
Maximize Your Career in Your Current Organization
From a University of Washington Professional and Continuing Education webinar: Prospective clients sometimes ask me how I have the credibility to coach senior executives in industries I know nothing about. Challenging question, right? So I have a choice here: I can answer in a way that risks sounding defensive, talking about my experience and my degrees. I like to do something really unexpected instead.
I like to talk about knots.
