ABOUT YOU

You eagerly seek change in some area of your life, but struggle to ACTUALLY make that change happen. Whatever it is: losing weight, changing your career, being more confident, sorting out your head; it has been on your mind for a while. Wait, let’s rephrase that: A REALLY LONG TIME!!

You might have kick-started your attempt full of enthusiasm, but after a while your motivation goes out of the window and your energy levels wear off. So far you’ve GIVEN IN and consequently GIVEN UP. Looking back on these experiences, you might feel quite annoyed, guilty, down, or maybe even pretty frustrated about that. You still might feel like this at this very moment. That’s OK.

YOU’RE NOT SUPERMAN, YOU KNOW.

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The big city: Rotterdam
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Fresh from uni this picture was taken at the start of my short-lived 'career' as a consultant in energy at a small consultancy firm in Rotterdam

I STRUGGLED WITH MAKING CHANGES AS WELL

I’m not sure how long it’s taking you to make a change, but it took me almost two years to build up the confidence to follow through on what I wanted; another career.  Freshly graduated from uni, I started as an energy policy consultant in Rotterdam. To any outsider it seemed like I made it, it seemed like a move that made sense. And looking back on it, yes, It did make sense. It was a move that meant security, a secure income, an opportunity to work yourself up the ladder. But after a while I realised it wasn’t for me.

Working behind a desk from 9 till 5, week in week out. Working on policy documents I sincerely believed nobody really read, and if someone did, it wasn’t followed up. I was writing about topics that at that time matter to me, topics like climate change and the energy transition. But the truth was, I wasn’t making any difference and it all felt so abstract and therefore meaningless. Unfortunately, that feeling only grew as time passed…

 

I decided something needed to change

So almost two years into the job I decided to pay for an expensive 9-day NLP Practitioner training. That’s where – well let’s say – I had my epiphany and found the courage to chase that was on my mind for so long. One of the exercises we did really helped with that: a wooden inspiration board. No more than 15 by 15 inches. On one side, the idea was to write all the good stuff you wanted to have in your life. The other side was specifically reserved for those things that needed to go out of your life. Sounds quite simple, doesn’t it? I spend a few moments at it over the next couple days and eventually I had my own visual inspiration board. A board that I could hold, almost like a compass telling me where to go. My trigger words were sun, sea, beach, adventure, action, focus, love, swim, cliffs, follow your guts, trust yourself, action, start a business, the outdoors, and more exciting stuff.

Looking back on it, most of those words stemmed from a tremendous holiday experience in Wales only six months earlier. That inspiration board, however, set in motion my action to submit an application letter to a local coasteering business in Pembrokeshire and potentially leave behind my career as a consultant.  After a few funny email conversations with the business owner Cleo “I’m wondering accommodation and transport, etc. Netherlands to Pembrokeshire is a mammoth daily commute….”, I got a chance to fly over for the job interview.

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I decided to take on the gamble, booked a flight and traveled over for to West Wales for two days. Long story short, I got lucky and got the job and two weeks later my life was totally different.  Instead of sitting behind a desk I was out in flip-flops on the beach in Abereiddi. Sure, the pay was a lot less but the main thing was that I was happy again about what I did on a day-to-day basis and those actions and new daily responsibilities made me feel more confident that I was doing the right thing. 

The morale of the story?

Actions of confidence come first, feelings of confidence come later. Everybody’s story is different, but most of us have something going on in our head that we aren’t really willing to share yet. A thought that continues to linger in your mind. Maybe a picture of where you want to go, a person you aspire to become, or something exciting you just would like to try. Deep down, just like me, you know the change that’s on your mind might be worth pursuing as well. I didn’t know at the start that my move was a particular good one. It looked quite stupid at the start to be frank. After being an outdoor pursuit instructor I became a behavioural therapist. After worked for 18 months as a therapist I was ready to progress into a role as training advisor for adolescents.  Now I’m a life coach and NLP practitioner.

As Steve Jobs said, you can’t connect to dots going forward. You can only connect them going backwards.

All I’m trying to say here is you need to stop complaining, start believing, follow your gut instinct and give it a go. Take an action, no matter how minuscule it is. Set a few new dots, move forward towards it and see where it takes you. Its better than doing nothing, isn’t it?

SO, WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU?

Although you’re the expert of your life sometimes you just need that little bit of help to deal with the challenges life throws at you. A gentle nudge in the right direction so that you can clearly see and figure out the exciting path that lies ahead of you.

A coach can be that person for you and is someone who:

  • you can trust in a safe environment where you can feel completely understood.
  • listens to your story, with full attention but without judgement.
  • gets you from your A to B.
  • helps you begin to see and become more self-aware of the fruits of your own potential and resources within you.
  • makes you feel able and confident enough to step outside your comfort zone.
  • challenges your fake limitations and negative self-beliefs that are holding you back.
  • holds you accountable, maintains commitment, and regularly follows-up on your goals.
  • can help you clarify your mission and purpose.

My credentials

I have plenty of academic baggage to show you how to make behaviour change happen and last but purposely choose to remain down to earth and practical. You don’t want some academic talk full of jargon, you want simple tools and techniques you can apply immediately.

That said, professional development and understanding the theory behind practical usage is important to me. Therefore, I have obtained the following qualifications:

In 2017 I completed my final assessment in Cardiff to become a Qualified Life Coach with ILM (Instute of Leadership and Management). I'm also listed on the UK life coach directory, a nationwide database of qualified coaches and NLP practitioners.
In 2015 I completed a nine-day training to become a certified NLP Practitioner. I learned various NLP techniques, including submodalities, Swish patterns, anchoring, learning strategies, metamodel, milton model, and your subconsciousness (time line therapy, hypnosis). Also other techniques were included, such as Mindfullness, EMDR, EFT, TA, Hypnose, Timeline therapy, RET, and Wim Hof (Iceman).
I work with learners aged 16 to 19 who have either dropped out of education, or had poor experiences of formal education. Each of their stories is different but what most of them have in common is that they face(d) social, domestic and emotional issues. The youngsters join the engagement programme with the aim to reengage and eventually move on in employment or further education. To do so my role is to care, nudge, and guide them such that they feel comfortable and confident enough to move forward on their own.
As a formerBehaviour Therapist working for Skybound Therapies, I dealt with behaviour change and motivation on a daily basis. I provided fun and positive interventions for individuals with learning and/or behavioural needs. Working together with families and schools to ensure that the children, adolescents and adults I worked with reached their full potential. As a therapist its my role to be responsible for the direct implementation of behaviour programmes such that kids and young adults with disabilities (not just autism) can reach their full potential.
As a coasteering instructor at Celtic Quest Coasteering I introduce visitors to an unforgettable adventure on the Pembrokeshire coastline. Encouraging clients to try something new, stretch themselves, step outside their comfort zones. Be that a 1m belly-flop jump into a calm glass sea or a 12m jump into a boiling turmoil of waves.
I have a Master in Consumer Studies (Wageningen University). My specialty lies in Behavioural Economics, a branch of economic research that adds elements of psychology to traditional economic models in an attempt to better understand decision-making.

HAVE A LOOK FOR YOURSELF

To see how we can work together and see if life coaching is something for you.