How many of you have a mentor or a coach?
Is it a bit of a prickly issue for you. I think the thistle below presents a wonderful allegory for our approach to things we are often hesitant to take on. Do you know that inside this armored flower there is a sweet nut that you can eat if you are smart enough to figure out how to dismantle the flower without annihilating your fingers in the process?
Scotch Thistle
If you really want to help yourself and move your life and career forward, getting a coach is rather like dismantling the thistle without hurting your self and in the process finding a treasure within ‘yourself’. Because after all this is all about ‘you’. Of course we have lots of very good prickly reasons why we don't need a coach or mentor.
However, I highly recommend that you get one. I have been mentored in the past and also by business and personal life coaches, gallerists and other professional artists.
Hmmm ………… I’m sure I can hear some objections floating around in the thought stratosphere out there – after all this is the perfect opportunity for that ‘starving artist’ syndrome to kick in about now……I’m sure you are familiar with the ‘Mr. or Mrs. I can’t afford it” friend who may well be tapping you on the shoulder right now.
Well guess what – you have tradeable skills!
If you don’t have money then you have to get creative – well artists are good at that – aren’t they?
When I first began with a personal coach, my life was pretty much of a mess – not to mention me….. We worked together for three years and I can’t tell you how grateful I was to have her gently keeping me on track.
The first year I worked with her I had bought a coaching package and she was chosen as a match to work with me, as part of that package. As the year rolled around towards its conclusion and my finances weren’t in very good shape, I said to her that I was going to have to let her go the following year.
Well, you can imagine my complete and utter surprise when she said, “Well I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that. I would like to do art classes with you, so perhaps we can do a barter arrangement.” That was about the last thing on earth I expected her to say ! AMAZING!
So we proceeded to swap our time and respective skills.
There are many different kinds of coaches or mentors we need on out journey. Someone with business skills, computer skills, marketing skills, networking skills, arting skils etc. etc...... Who might you need right now to help you?
The thing is – it never occurred to me to even make that suggestion to her.
My questions to you then are: what things might not be occurring to you? What skills might you be able to swap someone for coaching?
As I am writing this post, I am realizing that there’s a lot more to say on this topic.
Do any of you have coaches? Would you like to comment and share your experience – how it may have helped you, what insights you have gained etc.
Until next time – think abundance, be abundant, be creative…..
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