As it’s International Women’s Day on 8th March, I thought it would be worth exploring this topic, as one of my ten “themes” during my tenth year working in professional coaching.
Many of my colleagues and coaching clients, and particularly business women I know tend to put themselves last when it comes to their personal and professional commitments. Whether you own a business or are a staff member in an organisation, by not investing in yourself, you risk neglecting your own self development and career progression. If you consider yourself and your skills and experience to be your greatest asset, how can you maximise your own potential ?
Investing in yourself, through Training, Coaching and Self Care are my top three ways to keep up self development.
Training: By committing to lifelong learning, and being curious and open to new ideas and experiences, we continue to learn and grow. After completing my initial coach training ten years ago and finding the experience so rewarding, I committed to participating at least one new training or learning event each year. For coaches these include further advanced coach training, but also other learning opportunities through coaching supervision and mentoring towards professional credentials. There are lots of training opportunities out there, so it’s important to be selective with how you invest your time and money. For me, choosing training and certification that’s aligned with what my clients want, such as Emotional Intelligence or DiSC personality profiling is really important, and these kinds of qualifications, or whichever are relevant for your own profession, are a worthwhile investment and add value to your personal and professional brand and unique proposition. Ideally it’s not just about ticking boxes for compliance purposes, but giving you an opportunity to learn new things, meet new people and see things from a different angle.
Coaching: Learning the skills of coaching, and investing in professional coaching for myself was and is one of the most valuable things I’ve ever done – and I’d strongly recommend it for areas such as identifying what’s really important for you, what your priorities are, working on relationships in and out of the workplace, making decisions, being more proactive… whatever areas you feel you could use some support. We are often our own toughest critic – and working with someone to help you get things in perspective and give yourself credit for all you’ve learned and achieved to date can really help with confidence – an area many women struggle with.
Self-Care: Finally, investing in yourself by practicing self-care, taking time out with friends or family, spending time on hobbies or being active is so important – you can’t pour from an empty glass, and if you’re constantly giving and doing stuff for other people, then show a little kindness to yourself and give yourself a chance to recharge your batteries. Most things work better after you unplug them for a while, including you!
If you’re interested, I’m offering a new private one-to-one Vantage half day programme for business owners and leaders; a professional retreat to clarify and align your personal and business goals and create an action plan to keep you accountable – if you’d like to find out more book a free Discovery call with me or email me at liz(at)realize.ie
Liz Barron - Realize Coaching 