Why I Joined The Life Coach School Certification with Brooke Castillo

I’ve completed a lot of training in my lifetime. This is proven by the fact that I earned a Ph.D. in 2013! But even since earning a doctoral degree, you may be surprised to hear that The Life Coach School Certification process is the certificate I’m most proud of. It’s the first one that I earned simply because I wanted to. I didn’t do it for external validation or praise. I did it for me.

Let me take you back to the beginning of the story. In 2016, I was going through a career crisis. I was finishing up my third year as an assistant professor in my dream job, but it had been a difficult year for me. I was struggling with teaching. Our university president had just resigned. And a project I was emotionally invested in came to a screeching halt. 

I was devastated. I found myself searching for what was next. 

Getting Started with Life Coaching

So I dipped my toes into coaching that summer and into the fall. I found Brooke Castillo’s podcast in a random search and started listening. I proceeded to complete a foundational course in an ICF accredited program and then got to work coaching. My first paid coaching client started in January 2017. 

I was thrilled to be doing something that I felt connected to. I started coaching more clients, but then I started to run into a wall. While some of my clients were taking actions and getting results, some of them weren’t and I didn’t know why. I wanted to help them.

As I continued listening to Brooke’s podcast, I absorbed more of her wisdom. (Honestly, I was very suspicious of the fake nails and eyelashes. That’s not how we typically roll in academia! I wanted to see authentic evidence.) As reticent as I was, the more I read the books she recommended, the more I realized she really knew what she was talking about.

In the summer of 2018, I began wondering about my business. I questioned whether I should keep moving forward with it. If I should continue spending my free time coaching. But then it happened, as if by magic: Brooke revealed her first online certification cohort.

Something inside of me screamed YES. You have to do this! You must make this happen. I had heard the siren call when she first opened up Self-Coaching Scholars and ignored it. Now was my time and I wouldn’t let the opportunity pass me by. 

But I was PETRIFIED of spending that kind of money. I had spent less money on my car than this program cost. I had never paid for tuition in school as I was always on scholarship or fully funded in graduate school. (I took out loans for living expenses, for sure.) But this? This was a huge deal. I was on a mission to get out of debt and this felt like moving in the opposite direction.

The Life Coach School Certification

Even so, I took the leap and signed up. That’s also when I had my first experience with quality coaching for myself. I hired someone to help me work on my money beliefs (fortuitously, she’s now my accountant). A Life Coach School certified coach helped me to process through my thoughts and fears as we geared up for the program starting in October 2018. I had so many thoughts to manage but, through that coaching, I overcame my constant worrying.

And then I became unstoppable! 

Learning all of the tools and techniques from Brooke, I knew exactly how to help my clients get results. Now I have the model and I can understand what keeps a person from taking action. It’s because of the feelings that drive them. Circumstances are neutral. But it’s thoughts that create feelings. And the good news? I get to choose my thoughts.

I couldn’t have anticipated the monumental results I got simply from showing up for myself. Just from being coached, I was able to: 

• Become a time ninja as I balanced coaching and being a professor.

• Figure out with my husband how to reconnect after years of him traveling and me “being busy.”

• Become a confident mom when we adopted out of foster care.

• Reconnect with my own mother after years of not talking.

• Earn back all of the money I invested in certification (and more) within 6 months.

• Give myself permission to trust myself and make decisions for myself instead of asking everyone else around me what I should do.

• Stop outrunning myself.

• Deal with my emotions (boredom, worry, overwhelmedness, etc).

• Realize I wasn’t supposed to be happy all of the time. (100% happiness is a myth.)

And then I created an amazing result. Brooke asked me to be on the podcast.

Brooke Castillo’s Life Coach Podcast 

Her podcast is regularly in the top 250 list of all podcasts. This was huge. If you had asked me in 2016, when I started listening to her, “Do you know you’ll be on a future episode?” I would have looked at you quizzically. In 2018, I might have said, “Yeah, maybe in 2025?” 

But here I am, on one of Brooke’s episodes in 2020, sharing my enthusiasm with the world!

Related to that experience, I was also flown out to Dallas for a photo/video shoot to talk about my experience in Coach Certification. It all happened in the same week and I only had about two weeks to prepare. You know your true priorities when an event like this happens - I could have easily said my schedule was full or I was too busy. But I dropped everything!

In order from top left to bottom right - Andrea Scalici, Lauren Cash, Elizabeth Salazar, Lisa Hatlestad, Lindsay Dotzlaf, Janet Archer, myself, and Carrie Marshall

I was privileged to spend the day in Dallas surrounded by other incredible women. The conversations in between videos (and in such a fancy house!) were mind-blowing. I saw the evidence of what it’s like to put yourself in the room with smart people. These women were mirrors for myself and what I had also accomplished. 

As I soaked everything in, I heard earth-shattering statements just casually mentioned on the car ride or at dinner. We all helped each other to shine brighter. That trip gave me so much energy to move forward. 

Although Dallas was magical, I did need to come back home. But after being surrounded by these encouraging women, I am more trusting of myself now. I used this experience to anchor myself, to remember how far I’ve come and where I’m headed.

Is Life Coaching for You?

I want the same kind of energy and motivation for you to accomplish your dreams. I want you to “trust your knowing”, as Glennon Doyle puts it. When an opportunity taps you on the shoulder and you feel pulled to it - you go for it. That’s what certification was about for me. Listening to and acting on something I truly wanted to do, just for myself. 

You probably have things like this too. Are you pushing them away or leaning into them? Even if it’s scary. It’s time to take the leap! 

How to Make Actionable Steps Work in Your Daily Life

Do you have trouble sticking to your plans and to-do lists?

You're not alone. A lot of people know the nuts and bolts of time management and productivity. They know what they "want" to be doing or that they want more time in their day. But it seems really hard to execute the plan. Or they start out really well, for a week...and then it all falls apart. 

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you know I'm all about being productive for a purpose. So I always start with helping people figure out the purpose behind wanting to "accomplish more" or "get more things done." Do you know why you want an extra hour in your day? After gaining clarity on your "reasons why," then it's time to figure out how to take actionable steps.

After gaining clarity on your purpose, then it's about figuring out where to start.

Often when I'm helping clients or students figure out where to begin with steps, they need to start with tracking. It sounds too obvious almost. But seriously, ask yourself these questions:

• How much time did I spend surfing the internet when I wanted to be working yesterday?

• How much time am I actually commuting?

• Exactly how much time did I sleep last night?

• What did I eat for lunch yesterday?

These are the kinds of questions people have vague answers to usually, but can't point. So I recommend tracking. Hour by hour, track your time and where it goes. I love tracking and somehow I still managed to not realize how much time I was spending on Facebook last month. I had turned off my StayFocusd browser extension and thought I wasn't spending "that much time." Oh I was spending lots of time. Almost an hour a day (broken up into tiny moments, but it all added up quickly). StayFocusd is back on and it reminds me when I'm getting close to my daily limit. You'd be surprised at how much awareness comes from tracking, even from just a day.

After tracking and gaining awareness, it's about pinpointing something small.

Time to get a tiny snowball shaped and formed. Something to get the momentum started. Eventually it will turn into an avalanche, but for now, form one small snowball. What is one place you are "wasting time" in your day? And what can you do about it?

• Can you go to sleep 15 minutes earlier (replacing browsing updates)?

• Can you delete an app that keeps distracting you?

• Do you have to be the one completing the action? In other words, can you outsource something small?

• When are you most able to focus? And can the task that needs the most work move to that time slot?

• Have you thought about actually scheduling "down time" instead of crashing into it from exhaustion?

Just try one thing. For at least a week. Be consistent about it and see what kind of results you get. Does it help? Does it not help? You're on a mission to conduct mini-experiments here. Some things may not work out and that's okay because they are tiny and can be changed.

Along the way, most people benefit from some type of accountability.

Whether or not you need accountability on each of your goals depends on a lot of things. One of my favorite resources for this issue is from Gretchen Rubin's Four Tendencies. I'm an upholder, so I keep myself accountable for most of my own goals. But a lot of people are obligers and need the extra support from a friend, a colleague, a coach, or someone else on a regular basis. If you're not familiar with her tendencies, be sure to check them out. Knowing your own tendency helps you know what works best in for you.

"Don't compare your start to someone else's middle."

A classic line that several people as a reminder when working on goals. As you start to get the ball rolling on taking action and asking someone to help keep you accountable, you might start to look around. And you might start to notice that lots of other people are "doing it better" than you are. They seem to have this productivity thing all figured out. They seem to manage their time really well. Be careful of the social comparison - it's a slippery slope. Stop and remind yourself that it probably took them months if not years to get to that point. You're beginning today. They are somewhere in the middle. Encourage yourself by talking to others who are in the exact same boat with progress.

When the ball is rolling along steadily, shift to the bigger picture.

After gaining momentum for several weeks or months, try to step back and see the bigger picture. Are tasks on your list becoming "less urgent" thanks to your new steps? I'm always working with people to move out of the "important, urgent" part of the Eisenhower box. When everything is both important and urgent, it can be overwhelming to make any progress. Reducing the amount of things in that one section can help you focus on the rest of the tasks you want to accomplish. 

So tell me, what's the next small step you want to start to take action? Leave a comment below!

Inspiration to Keep Going When You Want to Throw in the Towel

All this talk about the Olympics has me thinking about how much the athletes have accomplished and will accomplish during their event. It is amazing to watch their stamina and skill. Lots of people are posting about past Olympic events and the feats of accomplishment.

Have you seen this clip from Derek Redmond's 1992 race?

What pain and agony he must have felt.

Watching that clip for the first time brought tears to my eyes. First, the pain he must have experienced when his hamstring tore. Then, the pain he felt while trying to get back up and run. The emotional pain sinking in was really powerful. Can you imagine training that hard and for so long to have the chance of winning disappear in an instant?

But he got back up and finished the race.

I'm pretty sure if my hamstring tore like that in front of thousands of people and surrounded by medical care - I'd be more than happy to be taken off the track on a stretcher. "That's it! I give up!" How many times have we said that to ourselves about our goals? "I'm done!" But Derek took a few seconds and got right back up.

And he didn't finish it alone. He had support.

It was Derek's father that ran down to help him. Derek didn't have to fend off any officials - his dad did it for him. And his father talked to him as he finished. Having a support system, whoever it might be, is so crucial to finishing our goals and accomplishments. Who do you rely on for support in your life? Does it vary depending on the goal?

So the next time you're feeling like throwing in the towel and giving up...

Remember Derek Redmond. He knew he wanted to finish that race and so he did it. You can keep going with your goals too and make it happen. Build your support system and remind yourself of the reasons why you want to finish your goal. You can read more details about Derek's race here. And tell us below in the comments how his story inspired you!

What happens when you get derailed from your goals?

Have you ever made an awesome set of plans and goals?

You made a long to do list. Or finally had that conversation with your parents about your future. Or you declared to the world on social media that you are going to accomplish your goal no matter what. Nothing can get in your way!

And then those plans quickly get derailed.

You have to work over time. Your family plans a surprise that takes up your time. You get sick. Motivation goes right out the window and it feels like you made those plans for nothing. Your long checklist now feels impossible. Sometimes a rough day turns into a rough month or year.

Feeling completely derailed from your goals is a case of "all or nothing" thinking.

Once we get derailed from our goals, it is easy to throw our hands up in the air and say, "Well, I give up." If we don't start our plan exactly on the day or time we intended, we decide to give up on the entire month. Or if we check a few things off our to do list, but ignore the rest for a few days, we crumple the list up and forget about it.

All or nothing thinking is also referred to as black or white thinking. Read more about it in this article. Either "I'm going to accomplish this exactly the way I intended and do it perfectly" or "I won't do it at all." That's too simplistic. We all fall for this cognitive trap sometimes.

Instead, recognize there are may be multiple layers to accomplishing your goals.

Alright, so maybe you didn't get to studying yesterday for that upcoming quiz. But that doesn't mean the whole thing is ruined. Study today - even if it is only for fifteen minutes. Or if you were starting a new sleep habit and got distracted for a few weeks - try it again tonight.

Little habits and actions add up to a lot of change in the long run.

Every action and habit adds up over time, even when you skip a few days or get derailed. The most important part is to get back on track. Don't view the derailment as a catastrophe - just view it as one step. Two steps backwards and one step forward, right? You can even reach out to someone in your life who motivates you and can get you excited again about getting back on track.

Recommit yourself to your goals.

And tell us in the comments - what else has helped you get back on track when you get derailed? 

Why You're More Productive Than You Think (And Just Need Clarity)

So you think you have a problem with productivity.

Almost everyone struggles with productivity.  We want to be superhuman and accomplish all the things all the time! But that's really difficult. When you do finally find the time to work on something important to you, you feel like you're not using your time wisely. And that makes you look into productivity tips and hacks around the web, including finding this blog post. And you get into a cycle of thinking you have a productivity problem.

Yet there are tasks you complete everyday.

Make a list of the tasks you do everyday. What are they? How often do they occur?  Tasks that you actually complete tend to be both urgent and important. I will pay this bill today (important) because it is due by midnight (urgent). I will drive my sister to practice right now (urgent) because she relies on me for a ride (important). I bet you will find dozens of examples of tasks you regularly complete because they are both urgent and important. (Note - If you're struggling to get out of bed or complete anything on a daily basis, please seek out medical care.)

This concept of urgent and important is part of a larger matrix known as the Eisenhower Box, crafted after President Eisenhower's ideas on productivity and time management.  A great visualization and spreadsheet example lives over on James Clear's website.

But the tasks that gnaw at you are the ones that keep getting pushed aside.

These tasks are important to you, but not really urgent. I think I should exercise (no urgency, but important for your health).  My friends mean the world to me (important), so I'd like to call them more often (no urgency). I really want to make a difference in this world (important), but I don't know how to make it pay my bills (not urgent to figure it out).  We all have hopes and dreams of goals we would like to accomplish, from big to small.

So tasks that aren't important or urgent keep getting in your way.

Instead of prioritizing our time for the bigger goals, we get lost in the tasks that are neither important or urgent.  Things like scrolling through all of our Snapchat updates (or other social media).  Binge watching the latest television show (is that really on your bucket list?).  Mostly tasks and things that could actually be deleted or dropped from our lives. If we truly valued them, we would consider them as important as treat them accordingly. Instead, they should just be eliminated from our priorities and goals.

There are tricks for making yourself do the things that are important to you.

Force yourself to make them urgent. Get into the mentality of "I must do it today." Each day adds up to your overall goal. How can each goal be broken down into something that must occur regularly?  "I want to exercise" could turn into "It is important for me to exercise and I must complete it every other day in order to see results." Be specific about your goals and include an accountability partner if it helps you.  A coach can help you target these steps as well.  Anything that can make your goal urgent will help it move into the box of things that actually get done.

Next time you think you have a productivity problem, think of your goals where they fit in the Eisenhower Box.

If your goals need realigned in the Eisenhower Box, do it! 

Now it's time to share. What tricks do you use to make tasks both urgent and important? Please comment below.

Want to get on track and stop procrastinating? Get access to my tips for reclaiming your time with the form below.