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.
It is time for my next session with Cathy and I realize I have now had the experience of what it is like to be coached. After this experience it is very clear why coaching works. I can imagine taking this skill into the workplace and am excited about my coach training for that reason. I think the biggest driver to success is having a partner that helps to guide the solution exploration and ultimately, accountability.
The definition of insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting a different result (Albert Einstein) – Yes, I’m guilty of this insanity. I was doing the same thing over and over again. I kept going back to find jobs in my career and it’s not working. But, when it’s all you know and becomes habit, what do you do? You get a coach (one with coaching certification) to help you make a decision and hold you accountable to your decided path.
In order to aid in the decision making process, I spent at least one day pretending like I was living each particular decision. Meaning, I pretended to be in my care
er option such as an author for a day, a job hunter on another day, and a business owner on yet another. This was a fun exercise because it came with some challenges. The biggest challenge was finding a way to let go of old habits. Even if I could let go of old habits, like looking for a job every day, the preexisting process underway interfered. What I mean by this is that as a general rule I look for a job each day and send out resumes for positions. So, on the day that I was being a writer only I got a call from a recruiter and had to interrupt my day (then I’d go back to it).
One of the things that I did take note of despite the interruptions was that I had certain feelings about doing different things for a living. I have a story I am working on called “Kaboom”. I found that I absolutely love researching for the plot and creating characters. On this particular day I felt free, at ease and strangely where I belonged. On the day that I was just a business owner I made sure to do networking and wrote up a list of actions to do for the business for the day. The problem with this day was that the operation of the LLC I have is limited in scope, so I felt lost on what to do. The reason for feeling lost here was that the skills used and the work to be done were in the same industry as the full time jobs I have been seeking. This was the area that was just felt off in terms of my business.
I belong in a creative place with happy people. That’s what I love about writing. It’s creative and happy. Can I make it happen? Maybe I can! I read an article from a woman who obtained her M.D. and she left her profession to be a writer. If she can then so can I! Maybe writing, being a writer, comes from the soul? How can I do that as or in my career?
