Cathy Liska Blog series by Joann Evans
Joann Evans holds a B.S. in microbiology and chemistry. She is also a certified Paralegal. She has 20 years’ experience in quality assurance, control and engineering in fields such as pharmaceutical, medical device, IVD, biotech and blood banking. This blog series is her journey through being coached and then earning her coaching certification.
Each time in our coaching sessions I have found it a bit hard to think of all the possibilities even when we explored the pros and cons. Knowing the limitations of my ability to see all possibilities amplifies the value of coaching and within business a more collaborative method of problem solving can be seen. The bottom line is that the more minds you place on a problem the more potential solutions you have before you. Therefore, the significant value of coaching is realized. This session gave me a great start to the homework I now have. Cathy forwarded to me notes from our meeting that I can use to get it started. The nice thing about having a coach working with you is that I can be sitting on a sofa with my eyes closed and fully engaged in visualization
 looking and exploring in my mind what I really want. I can also feel it without interruption. At the same time my coach, who is my partner, can record information for me removing this distracting task. My coaching partner can also guide my mind when I am stuck. There were a number of times when I just couldn’t think of something more to say and she asked questions and helped me expand my thinking. That is a skill I want to learn in the coaching certification.
Again, Cathy interrupted me when my mind just wanted to move backward into the past. I continued to pay attention to her comment that 77% of our thoughts are negative. I didn’t like that statistic. I don’t like being negative but I do know that for a significant number of years I have been fully surrounded by negativity both at work and from one family member who is no longer with us. So, I know I can make corrections again and now only allow positive people to surround me. I can do this!
I will focus on work and health. I want to develop a plan for each option. We planned for me to live with each option for a day for each professional path to see how it feels and reflect on the choice. In the next meeting we will talk about progress. The coach training will help me with the process for this work.
