Are you progressing?

What an honour it is to be a coach.

I feel blessed to work with the women I work with, within my one to one coaching practice and this week was no exception.

A reoccurring theme this week was the theme of progress.

What does progress look like when you are trying to navigate tricky work dynamics (via zoom!)?

What does progress look like when you are home-schooling and trying to work from home?

What does progress look like when you are a perfectionist?

How we measure and ultimately acknowledge progress is as individual as the person.

One of my roles in the coaching partnership is to acknowledge the progress made by a client, because when we are in the situation ourselves, it is hard to see that we are making progress. Or if we know we are moving forward, we don’t think it’s enough, or it’s too slow, or it’s the wrong progress.

How do you know if you’re moving forward? What is ‘enough’ progress? How slow is too slow? What is the wrong sort of progress?

As an endurance runner, one foot in front of the other is progress. Near the end of a long training session or an event, no matter how slow, one foot in front of the other is progress. The measure is the finish line, one foot in front of the other will get me there.

We can be too quick to decide that progress is not happening fast enough, instead of focusing on slow and steady.

There is progress, and there is sustainable progress. I have been in marathon races where I have beaten 20-year-old young bucks, who have made fast progress at the start, but never made it to the finish line because they went out too fast at the beginning.

In some circumstances, progress is stopping. If you are someone who is always on the go, at the expense of your mental health and wellbeing, progress is to stop.

If you are someone who struggles to say ‘no’ progress is the first ‘no’.

One particular client this week felt she was not progressing fast enough, so we went through the goals and changes she wanted to make at the start of our work together.

By the time we had finished going through what she had written, she said “Wow! I had no idea how much has changed and how differently I think, and it’s only been three months so far!”

By default, our minds will always look for what is missing, and unless we recognise this for ourselves or have support in realising how far we have come, we miss our growth.

So today, acknowledge where you have made progress, no matter how small or slow.

Progress is progress.

Wishing you a weekend of slow and steady.

Kemi xxx