Ryan Hall begins his column on being your best self.
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I get to connect with other human beings on an essential level to support them in their growth and uncovering their greatness. I get to be present to the beauty of the human spirit. I get to be present to the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows.
My job is to partner with amazing people to support them in seeing that they can grab life by the balls and live their lives by their own design.
And I get to do this for a living, y’all!
I am a life coach!
When I introduce myself as a life coach, I get a lot of different reactions. They range from “So you motivate people?” all the way down to a bunch of confused dog looks.
I first came into coaching a little over two years ago. I’d been following this pretty big YouTube personality for a little while. She had been doing comedy videos with her college roommate and friend – a woman named Michelle. Apart from being a comedian as well as a gifted singer, I discovered that Michelle was a life coach. I subscribed to her email newsletter and didn’t think much of it at first.
Maybe a year after I subscribed, Michelle sent out a newsletter that hit me pretty square. This email was about a friendship that she and her husband have with the actress Ellie Kemper. Michelle’s husband is a talented performer in his own right, and he was lamenting that he was stuck in a corporate job while Ellie was starting to hit big as a performer. The newsletter was about sitting on stockpiles of talent.
The post that changed things for me
I was taken by that newsletter so much that I wrote a blog post about it. Michelle read the post, reached out to me, and shortly thereafter we started working together.
At the time, I was stuck in a dead-end job. I was about thirty pounds heavier than I am now. And I had barely a barebones skeleton of my novel.
I worked with Michelle for over two years. But in the first five months is where we made the most progress. I was no longer in that job – I got laid off because the program I was working for got cancelled. I’d lost ten pounds just by putting my wellbeing at the top of my list of priorities. I’d started to make plans to move from Alabama to either New York or Los Angeles to seriously pursue my career as an author. But most importantly to me, I had completed the first draft of my novel Written in The Stone.
How a coach helped me
To be clear, I did the work. But Michelle helped me see that I could find ways around the “stuff” I had in the way to make these things happen. Even though I’m no longer her client, I still see her a dear friend and a trusted mentor.
I became such a believer in coaching that I decided to become one myself. February of 2016 I started a yearlong coach training program with Accomplishment Coaching – the most prestigious program of its kind in the industry.
Early in this column, I mentioned that coaches connect with people on an essential level. I’d like to address that because it really is the foundation for the kind of coaching that I do.
Discovering your essence
Your essence is who you are at your strongest and most authentic. The way I like to explain it is when you’re your most comfortable in your own skin – mind, body, and soul – that’s when you’re operating from your essence. It’s a powerful, empowered place to be and it truly is a gift to the world.
The first step I take with potential clients is having a conversation with them where we can figure out what your essence is. After this conversation, we’re able to distill your essence into five words that lays out who you really are.
By the way, my five words are Possibility, Charm, Zeal, Maestro, and Soul.
Want to find out what your essence is? Let me know. I can be reached at [email protected].
Next week, we’ll introduce you to your survival mechanism.
Photo by the Fremont, CA Small Business Crawl (Irvington District)