Today, I coached a client and right after that I got on an hour-long call with my own coach – she makes sure that I keep growing as a professional coach and that I hold myself to high standards when working with my clients.

It was interesting to see the exact same themes surfacing during both coaching sessions. My client, who is currently job-hunting overseas, realised that she had been neglecting most of the personal goals she had set for herself upon arriving in her new location.
Then it was my coach’s turn to point out that I was moving away from my goal of balancing work and personal life by investing all of my available time and energy into my business.

So what happened? Clearly, both my client and I decided, maybe unconsciously, that our work is more important than anything else. So much more important, in fact, that it warrants walking away from our non work-related goals. Sure, it means compromising on our values… but isn’t that the reasonable thing to do, because work is, well, so important?

Guess what? I am not buying this argument anymore. Of course work is important. However, my health, happiness and personal growth are important too. I would even say that they are primordial. So why is it that when I have to make a simple, everyday life decision (such as, do I go to bed early or do I work an extra hour?), work always wins?
There is a disconnect between my values and my stated goals on the one hand, and my actual behaviour on the other hand. I am not OK with that and I have to find a way to bridge this gap.

But not tonight.
My coach and I decided that from now on, if I go to bed, say, an hour late, I have to slash one hour off my work schedule the next day. Yikes! Off to bed I go…

Emmanuelle