When You Learn How to Coach Yourself, You Remember You Can Trust Yourself, and the World Opens Up…
Here we are in 2021, and I’ve been hearing a lot from clients, colleagues and heck, even reading my own journal about what we’re going through. I wonder if you can relate to any of these statements:
”My brain (and heart) are on serious overwhelm and I can’t seem to get clarity OR traction on stuff I want to move on.”
“My normal coping mechanisms aren’t available right now and I need a backup plan.”
“I’m conflicted/indecisive about a lot of things and I feel pressure to sort it all out.”
“I need and want support but I don’t have the budget to hire a coach for everything.”
“I don’t have words for some of what I’m going through – how can I get help if I can’t even talk about it?”
“I just want to feel like I’m on track and making progress again.”
If you said yes to any of these things, you’re most definitely not alone.
I get it. As someone who, in the last 5 months has walked through the death of my Dad, the death of a cherished colleague, postponing my master’s degree, and more, it’s been a stormy time to say the least. You have your version too, am I right? Of course you do.
What if I told you that the best thing I’ve ever done – the thing that got me through a very difficult period in my marriage, among other things – was learn to coach myself with a fiery, yet kind determination? Would that make you curious how to do that for yourself? If you said yes, I’m so glad, because that means you’re in the right place.
How to Coach Yourself is my newest 5-week course, and it’s about power. Specifically, your power, learning to trust it and discovering that YOU can coach YOURSELF incredibly well.
Through this hands-on, small-group experience, you’ll learn to get to the heart of your own sticky issues, access your better self no matter what life throws you, and to get beyond your busy, distracted mind.
In addition to the self-coaching skills, this course is about the power in you to know what’s right, what’s wrong, and trusting with fullness and conviction that YOU have the best answers for you.
While great coaches are worth their weight in gold, you ultimately know best, right? And yet, it’s easy to forget. I want to say ‘out loud’ what so often isn’t said: it’s not always the right time to have a coach, and it’s never the right thing to solely rely on them. In fact, despite ‘popular wisdom’ what I know for 100% sure is…
You CAN coach yourself well —particularly when you have a structure to coach yourself from, and support to use it.
Once you have a self-coaching framework, you’ll be able to turn to it whenever you need, time and again over the years to come. You’ll get ahas. You’ll tap into relief, and release from stress. You’ll feel more secure, no matter what chaos surrounds you. You’ll also:
- Find new ways to cope with change, both for you and the people you love. From socio-political changes to overhauls in the way we work and relate, there is a LOT hitting the fan right now, no doubt. Well, what you learn in this course will help you meet this moment.
- Take back the driver’s seat in your coaching relationships. Great coaches are great! And How to Coach Yourself will ensure you get the best out of coaching sessions, before, during, after as well as – in between coaches!
- Become capable of holding space better for your clients. Learning to coach yourself is an uplevel that will help you be abundant and resilient for your clients. This is critical because when helpers and leaders suffer, the people they’re trying to help suffer. I know you get it. Let’s resolve that by equipping you with self-coaching skills.
”The premise of the whole program was just REFRESHING!
To actually be encouraged to coach ourselves, to trust our own wisdom, and to make ourselves important enough to put our self-coaching sessions on the calendar is simply wonderful.
I am deeply moved.”
– How to Coach Yourself microclass participant
In this 5-week class, we’re also going to have a lot of fun — I hope that’s okay, because frankly, we need it.
We need a place to be emotional, to connect genuinely with each other and ourselves, to feel a full range of emotions without judgement, and to understand that we.are.going.to.be.okay. Not just okay actually — we’re going to be proud of getting through what we’re going through — and we’re going work together towards the greater good while we’re at it.
So that you know what to expect in each of the 5 weeks of class, here’s what we’ll cover:
Module One: The 5-Part Framework
We start with the big kahuna: the 5-part Self-Coaching Framework. Two of these parts are fully customizable to you. (The others are as well, but you can also easily use them “as-is.”)
As we get started, you’ll also learn how to understand self-coaching, when and where to use it, and what not to use it for. Note: there are a lot more places you can use it than not!
Module Two: Hands-On Application
In this module, we get real with the so-called monkeys on your back, the stuck or inflamed places in your life and work. I’ll guide you to practice the Self-Coaching Framework on the problems, dreams, difficult people, etc. of your choice.
There will be time for personalized mentoring here. That’s where we’ll review your self-coaching so you’re not just comfortable but confident and effective with it. Through this we’ll refine, strengthen and stress test your skills.
Module Three: Anticipating Resistance
In the third class, we’ll go back to tackle the customizable parts of Self-Coaching questions and — specifically — go deeper into resistance. This is one of the richest parts of the self-coaching process. You know yourself really well, even if you don’t think you do. I’ll guide you to excavate evidence from your life – and use it to create the most resilient, resistance-proof questions for you to self-coach with.
This is deep stuff and can be – candidly – electrifying! It’s the kind of discovery process that — once done — unearths precious insight you can return to many times in the years ahead.
In fact, the process itself will also be reusable, so you can refresh your insights as your life unfolds.
Module Four: Deeper Self-Reflection
Next we’ll engage with the self-coaching reflection process. One of the biggest outcomes of getting coached by someone other than you is perspective, and connecting dots in fresh ways. While there’ll always be a place for someone else’s perspective in our lives, this class is about helping you get better at this for yourself.
Imagine the power of getting fluent with alternative perspectives as a matter of habit, which I’m eager to teach you. We’ll start with two universal ways to see things that humans don’t naturally do. These are default assumptions/biases that will feel really good to uncover.
Module Five: Integrating Self-Trust
In class five you’ll apply everything you’ve learned and self-coach yourself, right on our call. In turn, I’ll supervise, provide compassionate feedback, and give you all the final tools you need to consistently reach for your own inner wisdom in the “real world.”
At this point, you’ll have grasped how powerful, trustworthy and effective you are at guiding yourself. Now let’s make sure you not only feel it with your whole self, but we also give you ownership of self-coaching. To help you remember –and seal in– your new skills, you’ll receive a certificate of completion (perfect as a visual reminder of this learning achievement.)
When you powerfully reclaim your trust in yourself, you let down some learned protectiveness and through that, you become more free. This course is for that, and nothing short that.
So…what’s the investment for the 5-week immersion? It’s pretty straight forward:
It’s USD $350 or 3 payments of $120.
Exactly what you get:
Five Live, Interactive group calls
This is where the teaching, demos/practice, coaching, and Q&A will happen via Zoom.
Each class is 90 minutes, with time afterwards to address overflow questions.
Note: You should know that I’m the kind of teacher who’ll add an extra class to maximize learning if that seems wise and helpful. Obviously, I will update you as and when that happens.
Weekly Exercises
These are sample scenarios to support your self-coaching practice between classes. A favourite is the “Family Reunion” exercise, which helps you self-coach a different way to handle conflict with family members.
Online Support & Community
In our Facebook pop-up group, current students and alumni of How to Coach Yourself will connect, give and receive support, and get laser coaching from me.
For less than the price of a single 1-on-1 coaching session, How to Coach Yourself starts February 24, 2021.
To choose your preferred payment option, click the blue button:
Note: If you took the H2CY microclass, hooray! You can use your $35 credit here. Just type in the code: 35CREDIT at checkout.
As with so many people, I’ve had both fantastic coaches and not-great coaches. Learning to reliably and consistently coach myself is one of my biggest personal wins.
This class represents the framework, mindset, heart space and energetic of decades of coaching myself, and helping others lean on themselves.
As you can probably tell, I’m over-the-moon to declare How to Coach Yourself as my teaching and coaching focus for 2021.
It’s high time to share the gifts of self-coaching with you. I care so much about your path –not just as a happy individual human— but also as someone who’s engaging with clients, your community, and the challenges facing us as a human family. Becoming excellent at coaching yourself will impact all of that, and the bigger picture, too.
Here are just a few more ways you’ll be able to use your new self-coaching skills:
- when you’re trying to create a new vision for your work or life
- when you’ve been procrastinating or stuck in a loop
- to figure out why a relationship isn’t working and what to do about it
- to design support for taking action that is new to you (ie create new habits)
- to clear foggy thinking, or a sense of high emotion
- to sort out why you feel like you’re not getting anywhere despite trying
- when you need to have difficult conversations
- when you’re trying to help someone with something complex
- when you need clarity or a decision
Contrary to popular opinion, you do not have to have a coach in order to be a great coach, or to be a great leader.
What you do need is a habit of sharpening the saw, of examining your skills, of calling for your best. This class is a booster shot, a vitamin pill, a jet pack for you to be your own best support system.
So whether you’re happily in the habit of having a coach, you’ve never had a coach before, or you’re somewhere in between, I hope you take a listen inside and ask yourself…
Would it help to know myself much, much better, and be able to work through my own stuck places more elegantly and powerfully?
If you said yes, I would be thrilled for you to join me in class. It would be my total honour to welcome you.
Finally, here are a few comments from prior students of How to Coach Yourself:
”Every coaching school should teach this!!!” – HTCY participant
”With this, I can coach myself on wriggly issues that I used to fake my way out of with a coach! I’ve fooled a lot of coaches, but I can’t fool me.” – HTCY participant
“So much less expensive than hours talking to a coach. Self-coaching is my new daily habit. Sometimes twice a day.” – HTCY participant
Got additional questions? Here are some answers!
What are the exact dates and times of the calls?
We will have five weeks of classes in total, on consecutive Wednesdays:
- February 24, 2021
- March 3, 2021
- March 10, 2021
- March 17, 2021 and
- March 24, 2021.
Calls will be 11:00am to 12:30pm, pacific. Convert your time zone here.
What if I can’t attend some of the calls live?
You’ll receive video recordings and worksheets so you can catch up. If you have to miss a week, you’ll still get plenty of practice in the other weeks.
Will I be able to download and save the recordings?
Yes, they are yours to keep safe so you can refer back as many times as you like!
Will it be insulting (or rude/redundant or something else…) to my current coach if I take this course?
What a thoughtful, honouring and smart question! <3 In short: no. You can take this course alongside being coached by a real-deal awesome human coach. Getting great at self-coaching will supplement and make your 1-on-1 sessions even richer. Plus, great coaches don’t depend on clients to feel good about themselves! They know that one day you’ll leave the ‘coaching nest’ and 100% want what’s best for you, including you being confident about being an agent in your life.
I’m not a coach, is this for me? I don’t have any formal coach training, will this work?
Yes, the Self-Coaching Framework we’ll be covering is a way of communicating with yourself, which you already do as a human being! What you’ll learn will help you communicate more effectively — especially in sticky, heart-tender situations at work and in your life.
If you like to ask questions, and have a curious and open mind, this will definitely be appealing whether you have any training or not. In fact, some of the biggest fans of the Self-Coaching tool are not coaches at all!
I have my coach certification and lots of training, will I be bored?
It’s very likely you’ll be the opposite of bored – we’ve had trained and certified coaches, seasoned professionals in psychology and other fields, as well as experienced facilitators in our self-coaching classes so far, and they’ve been delighted to lean in.
Will I be able to use the self-coaching framework with my own clients after taking the class?
No, this is a class designed for your personal use.* There will be plenty to engage with on that level, so I suggest you enjoy thoroughly embracing it, and let this be learning that is focused on you.
*That being said, I am in the research stage of creating a program to license this for use with your own clients. If you are interested, I’d be glad to know. The first step towards that would be taking the program for yourself.
A friend sent me this info. It sounds interesting but who are you anyway?
Ha! Hi. Fair question. Nice to meet you, first of all. The short answer is, I’ve been teaching and coaching for 20-ish years, and I’m FIERCELY committed to quality coaching, and holding a high bar for excellence in the profession. I’m one of the only coaches I know who’s consistently served a roster of 1-on-1 coaching clients for 20 years. AND I treat every coaching session and teaching opportunity like it could be my last, because well, it could. You can read more about me here, including a timeline of my journey.
Okay, where do you stand regarding inclusion, and creating a safe space for this class?
As a cis-gendered Canadian-born Taiwanese (a visible minority with ‘model minority’ privilege – she/her) I’m committed to creating a brave space that maximizes safe learning, failing and respectful dialog. I expect everyone’s best efforts towards a transparent, non-discriminatory and kind classroom. You have my promise I will uphold that for the group and myself.
What kind of tech setup will I need?
Classes will be held on Zoom technology in a password-protected room. Although it’s lovely to see you, you’re welcome to attend via audio only if you prefer. This is not a heavily visual class.
What else will I need to be ready for classes?
When you sign up for the course, you’ll receive some questions for reflection. Filling this in will help you get the richest experience from the class.
Will I get coaching, or suggestions/advice from you on the issues or scenarios I work on in class, like places I’m stuck in my business or life?
The focus of the course is giving you the skills of Self-Coaching so that will be our priority. However, *yes* — if you would like direct coaching and guidance on your situation, there’s room for that in the overflow portion of the classes.
You’ll also learn from your classmates, and the coaching they receive on their self-coaching, so there will be multiple layers of learning.
I’m super busy and feel like I’m overwhelmed. Should I take this class?
This class is intended to help you get less busy. So if you’re busy and want to slow down, taking this class should help. If you’re busy, don’t intend to make intentional space for the class, and will feel like you’re behind before you start, I suggest you say no for now.
An outcome of this course is often that the most important things become very clear. It’s one of the benefits from getting good at self-coaching.
Do you offer refunds if the course isn’t right for me?
I hope the course experience is clearly described here, however if you discover it isn’t right for you, I will be glad to refund the full tuition when you request it by the end of the second week (March 5, 2021.)
Will there be space for questions in the course?
Yes, there will be time for questions in each class, and you can also ask questions in the Facebook group for the class. This will be a group of smart, committed thinkers, like you. I hope you’ll create some great new connections.
What can I expect after I register?
You’ll see a confirmation page, and then you’ll receive two emails (1) a receipt for your purchase and (2) a more detailed welcome email to get started.
Where can I ask any other questions?
Email us at info@andreajlee.com and we’ll be glad to get back to you! To register now for How to Coach Yourself, click on your preferred payment option here:
Photo credit from top to bottom: Pepe Reyes on Unsplash; Debby Hudson on Unsplash