Reflections on Reflecting
How often do you look in the mirror?
These days, without offices to visit or people to see, it may be less often than usual. But generally speaking, looking in the mirror is helpful for answering life’s important questions like:
Do I have food in my teeth? Do I like how this sweater looks with these pants?
Participating in a coaching session is a lot like looking in a mirror in that sharing information about yourself, including how you make decisions, will be reflected back through your coach who identifies patterns of behavior and brings them to your attention.
A coach who acts as your mirror is an extremely helpful resource, especially for those who have a tendency to get trapped in their own heads. Many of my clients say that coaching makes a difference for them because it increases their awareness not only of what they’re doing but why they’re doing it. A standard mirror is only going to show you what’s on the surface, but a coach is going to reflect what they’re hearing and make observations about the aspects of you that can’t be seen by the rest of the world.
Mirrors don’t lie and, in terms of coaching, what is reflected back may be uncomfortable to see or hear. But that lack of comfortability allows the real work to happen because we’re forced to confront how we’ve operated in the past and determine whether or not it’s serving us. Through coaching, you can look in the mirror and begin to see a new future, one where you achieve your goals and show up exactly as you want to be seen.
I don’t know anyone who likes what they see EVERY time they look in the mirror. But it’s empowering to know that when you see something you want to change, you have the means to do it. And that will take you farther than you can imagine.