Learnings from my Challenge

I promised that I would share my experiences from carrying out the 100 coaching conversation challenge when I had had time to reflect.

Well I’m still busy carrying out the sessions (just over half way through) but feel that I can start sharing some of the things I’ve learnt along the way.

Several people commented on how huge the challenge was.  Indeed booking 100 sessions within 30 days is huge on it’s own without the consideration of delivering 100 x 2 hour conversations.  For me though the scale of the challenge has provided my first learning.

You see sometimes a SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timebound) goal just doesn’t hit the spot.  Let’s face it they are often just a little bit boring and rarely are they challenging.  A great big juicy audacious goal on the other hand……well that’s a real challenge and something to enjoy getting your teeth stuck into.  It get us outside our comfort zone and yet it it is audacious enough there is comfort in the fact that we don’t perceive it to be achievable.

If we approach it with a sense of play and fun it just might be amazing to see what we can really do.

Had I started out with an achievable goal I’d have said that one a day seemed realistic and would have set myself a target of 30.  Once I’d achieved 30 I would have hit target and been likely to stop.  However, having that huge goal of 100 to reach I was amazed to reach 50 and completely delighted when the number finally came in at 55.

By having that huge goal that I didn’t expect to be able to reach I felt able to play full out.  I first came across this when I joined Michael Neill’s Creating the Impossible scheme and it’s one I like to use in my sessions.  Impossible and huge goals don’t work for everything but then neither do SMART goals.

 

 

About Clare Wildman

Life coaching from Lincolnshire. Having moved from Milton Keynes I'm now based between Boston and New York, in the UK. Looking forward to welcoming clients to the new coaching room and having the option for walking as we talk or taking advantage of sunny days in the garden.