I was recently lucky enough to spend a few days in Rome with some friends of mine. While I was out there I got to thinking about how some of the events over the last few months leading up to the trip to Rome could be documented as an example to others of how you can use coaching in your life to help you to achieve what you may have previously thought of as the impossible.
I am a runner. In order to unwind and have a little “me” time I love to get out into the countryside, enjoy the fresh air and just run. It’s something I’ve done since my children were babies; I no longer had the time to go out for long peaceful walks on the moors so I started running instead – you can cover a lot more ground in a shorter space of time and still be out there enjoying the beautiful Devon (in my case) countryside.
Belonging to a running club I also have a lot of friends who are runners. Many of these have run marathons (just over 26 miles) and I also know people who have run ultra marathons (further still!). I have always been proud to know these people who have achieved these incredible results and been happy to partake in their enthusiasm when they have shared their stories of how they got across the finish line. But quite honestly I never really thought I would run a marathon. I thought about the strain it would put upon my body and how hard it must be to keep going when every part of your body is screaming for you to stop. I was happy to stick to half marathons and 10k runs instead. (Although I was tempted by the thought of combining my running with another passion of mine for travel whenever I read about the locations of some of the long distance runs in my running magazine.)
Anyway, late September in 2010 a friend of mine told me and some other friends that she had entered the Rome marathon and would we be interested in joining her. Well, of course the bit about Rome really made my ears prick up. I’d never been there before. It didn’t take me too long to decide though, that really with all my other commitments it wouldn’t be possible for me to join her in Rome. I thanked her for asking and said that if she decides to do anything like this again I would love to be involved, but right now my life is just too busy for me to fit in all the training and then spend time away from my family leaving my husband (who also has a very busy life) to look after our children.
I wasn’t too disappointed as I hadn’t allowed myself to get too excited in the first place – and I really was very busy. But I did mention it in passing to my husband, expecting him to back me up and agree it would be too difficult to add more to an already jam-packed schedule. So you can imagine my surprise when he said that if I wanted to I should go for it and if I didn’t I’d kick myself because how often do you get an opportunity to go with friends to a new location to do the thing you love doing? Wow! So I thought a bit more about the logistics and discussed it further with my husband. And I started to let myself get just a little bit excited about the idea. The next day, after sleeping on it and then bringing the subject up again with my husband – just to make sure he was really on board with the reality of the time I’d be spending training and how he could help with the childcare arrangements. And then I allowed myself to get really excited and got on to my friends and said, “I’m in!”
Here’s where the coaching comes in to it. I had set myself the end goal of running a marathon in a foreign country on March 20th 2011. In coaching we like our goals to be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timed). Well this goal was pretty smart from the outset. When someone comes to me for coaching we may spend quite some time on the end goal ensuring that all the SMART criteria are met as well as ensuring it is inspiring and personal to the individual setting the goal among other things.
Then we’ll take a look at some of the other things that need to be considered in order to meet this goal. These could be considered as mini goals or session goals each to be examined further at a different coaching session as necessary. For running a marathon abroad these may include:
- A meal plan to ensure healthy eating whilst preparing for the marathon
- A trip to the doctor to ensure all the vital pieces of equipment are functioning properly
- Having the right running kit, clothes, GPS watch, etc
- Finding the right personal trainer
- Joining an exercise class or the gym
- Finding other people to train with on the longer runs
- Finding the right training program that will fit in with your lifestyle and your estimated finish time
- Planning childcare to fit in with your training schedule
- Finding and booking flights and accommodation for your time away
- Arrangements for getting to and from the airport and to your accommodation on arrival
- Entering the marathon and fulfilling all the entry requirements
- Planning your days whilst away including registering at the marathon village
- Anything else you can think of!
It is unlikely in this case that a separate coaching session would be required for each of the items listed above. This is just an example of how lots of little things need to happen before the end goal can be successfully reached. You might start by putting the above list in order of priority so you know what has to be done first. (It’s no good not having good trainers until after you’ve done all the training as you’re likely to get injured resulting in the training program not being completed.)
At the end of each session you would come away with an action plan of at least one thing you are going to do to move another step towards reaching that final goal. Session by session you then can be safe in the knowledge that your coach will be encouraging you and keeping you motivated with effective questioning (and listening) to ensure that you are consistently moving forward to achieving that goal. Also supporting you as necessary if you find yourself stumbling over obstacles that might be holding you back in some way.
So, having a coach will keep you motivated, focused on your desired outcome and supported to overcome any limiting beliefs which have held you back in the past. And you don’t have to run a marathon to reach your goals. That was just something that I chose to do. For “marathon” you could substitute, “Getting a new job”, “Finding a new home”, “Becoming more confident”, “Having a better work/life balance”, “Being a better parent”, “Passing my driving test/exams”…..the list could go on and on.
If you’ve got something that you want to do but for one reason or another it just won’t happen without a little support, then maybe it’s worth considering hiring a coach to get the ball rolling. That might be all you need to get the momentum going and then nothing can stop you – the world is your oyster and you can achieve all that you set out to achieve.
So, to finish, my friends and I went to Rome and we ran the marathon. The whole experience was fantastic and one I’ll never forget. I thoroughly enjoyed every step I took in Rome both running the marathon and walking the lovely streets. Setting myself the goal of combining two of my passions – running and travel – ensured that the run itself was really amazing. I wouldn’t quite say I was walking on air, but the tears streaming down my face as I went over the finish line were tears of joy, and writing this brings it all back..….just thinking about where to go for my next run now!
