Making coaching work for me

So I get the question a lot - how do you work full time and still manage to fit in the time to workout, have a family and coach on top of that? I get it - it seems crazy. But like anything, if you enjoy something, you make the time for it.

Coaching for me is immeasurably rewarding. I think about how much I struggled for so long to figure out how to make exercise a regular part of my life, how I "dieted" but without calling it a diet, how I mentally beat myself up for not losing the weight, not finding the time to workout, for failing yet again to stick to a plan. Now I get to help support people, friends and strangers, who are in a similar place and working through the kinks together. I get to help be a part of the solution rather than being stuck in the problem as I was for so long. Yes, this does take time but it also gives me innumerable rewards (both personally and financially.)

When I first started coaching, I heard people say that you could "build a business in as little as an hour a day." Other coaches made references to the "power hour" that people were doing where they shut off all distractions, ignored their newsfeed and tv and just cranked out work. For some that works. For me I'm more of a slow and steady kind of girl.

Here's what a typical day looks like for me:

4:20 AM alarm goes off (this is MY CHOICE - I like the mornings, it's quiet, I get my workout in before the world is awake and things get in my way, and it helps me get my mind in the right place for the day ahead)

4:45 AM check messages, post in my challenge groups (Beachbody)

5:00-5:45 AM workout & stretch

5:45 AM shower & get ready for work

6:30 AM leave for work

6:45-7 AM check in and respond to messages in my groups, reply to emails

7 AM - 4 PM work (with a 10 minute check in on Facebook/email mid-day over lunch) (teaching)

4:30-8:30 PM family time

8:30-9:30 PM check in on groups, emails, blog, read, etc. (Beachbody)

10:30 PM (ideally!) bedtime

Yes, it's busy and I love it. As I said, like anything, it's a matter of balance. If you love something and want to make a space for it in your life, you can and you will.

Coaching allows me to:

• stay accountable to myself and my own fitness (I can't and won't ever tell other people to do something that I'm not myself doing daily!) 

• One of Beachbody's asks of coaches is that we "be a product of the product" and it's something I do every day. I'm not here to be a salesperson or hawk product that I don't myself believe in, have seen or experienced working and which I didn't trust.

• encourage me to keep taking risks 

• Like most people who are first starting out, I was nervous about putting myself out there more on social media. I've since gotten over this fear (a little) and am finding it exhilarating to keep pushing myself to do things that scare me.

• realized that I don't have to be perfect and if anything, I am empowered to be just as honest about the ways that I struggle and slip as I am with my successes. At first I questioned how I could really "coach" other people when I myself am a work in progress. What I've learned though is that it's these challenges and victories that make us all human and as a coach, make me better able to put myself in my customers' shoes since I'm wearing them right next to you!

• to help and support other people who themselves are working through some of the same issues I've dealt with and some that I haven't. What my coach showed me was that I don't need to be perfect. It's not about being an expert because I am not an expert. I haven't gotten it all right and for years I really didn't workout and ate terribly. Yes, I now workout most days but I don't have a degree in anything sports/health-related. I like to cook and eat but I'm not a nutritionist. Coaching isn't about always knowing what to say or do but to use the experience that I have and to share that and when my challengers have questions that I can't answer, to help them find the answers. 

• be a part of something bigger than myself. 

• Too often we get lost in our own worlds and it's hard to really feel like you're having an impact or helping others. I see this every day in my other job. I genuinely hope that I'm having a positive impact on my students are people and learners but that's harder to gauge. With coaching you can more readily see the change and get the feedback and when you help people reach a goal that they've struggled to reach for so long, it's an amazing feeling.

• to meet amazing and positive people both in challenge groups and as coaches. I'm part of a huge network of coaches and my team, the Dream Team, is made up of incredible men and women who fill my newsfeed and my training groups with information, experience and a positive attitude. We come from all walks of life but we're all here for the same reason, to help people live a healthy life. It's enriched my life immeasurably to have been exposed to all of these people and all the while getting training and mentoring from the #1 coach in the company.

So there you have it. How I'm making coaching work for me and just a little bit about what coaching has and is giving me every day.

As I said before, it's not about being perfect, knowing everything or even being at your goal weight. It's about being real, being just as honest about your challenges as you are about your success, and being committed to helping people. If any of those things is true of you, you can find a way to make this business work for you.

So, if you have any questions about coaching, are even a little curious about whether coaching might be something you want to explore, or want to talk more about what coaching on the Dream Team could look like for you, I'd love to chat.

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