Today I dusted off my blog to find a draft post I started in 2013 about strengths. My WordPress drafts are often used as notes for blog posts, writing/research projects, or a space to capture ideas I might return to later. Reviewing my own StrengthsFinder results made me curious:

• Input …have a craving to know more. Often, they like to collect and archive all kinds of information.
• Strategic …create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.
• Individualization …intrigued with the unique qualities of each person. They have a gift for figuring out how people who are different can work together productively
• Activator …can make things happen by turning thoughts into action. They are often impatient.
• Futuristic … inspired by the future and what could be. They inspire others with their visions of the future.

When we set goals, how often do we lead with our strengths? Our intentions and objectives often start with our deficits. The things we don’t have or want to work on. The skills, gaps, knowledge, or capabilities we want to possess. Areas to improve or strengthen. The focus to do more and be more. Well, I’m here to let you know:

You are enough.

Think about all the amazing talents and abilities you already have. Let’s lead with your superpowers. You already bring so many brilliant things into this world. What if we started with our strengths first? Ask yourself:

• What feels effortless to you?
• What tasks put you in a state of flow?
• What projects are you most proud of?
• What advice or expertise do you offer others?
• What challenges give you energy?
• What ideas excite you?
• How do you amaze others?

If you start with what you’re good at — your skills, talents and superpowers — you will be able to think about how and where you might want to use your strengths. This recognition of your strengths may also identify more meaningful goals and areas of growth that you can lean into now.

What strengths do you want to start with?

How can you use your strengths to move you forward?

F.A.I.L. = First Attempt In Learning

Although I’ve heard this acronym before, it was a helpful reminder from a Peloton instructor, Becs Gentry, during a recent run. It made me think about how scary it is to try something for the first time. It’s not easy. We aren’t always that great, and often to get “good” at this new thing it takes time and practice.

This is the challenge when you start to explore your own career possibilities. There’s so many unknowns and uncertainties, and it can become quite overwhelming. So start small. Maybe you’re already career curious. Now’s the time to give it a try and take action towards Designing Your New Work Life!

Try Stuff: Move Beyond Theory to Application

You need to test things out. Stop thinking, reflecting, and planning — it’s time to ACT! Make plans to create, make, and do the things you’re thinking about for your future career self. Consider how you can try and fail at new ideas, practices, and ways of working. To make the change, you may need a trial period to experiment with the “what if?” and get into the experience of how want to work.

Need some ideas for where to start? Ask yourself these questions to learn what you will TRY or DO next:

• What is one thing you’re going to explore?
• What do you want to learn more about?
• How can you try a new skill?
• What things do you want to practice?
• How can you grow and develop where you are now?
• What small experiments can you create in your life/work?
• If you’re going to say YES to a new way of working, what will you say NO to?
• What is one easy thing you can to change about how you work right now?

A couple of years ago, I took my curiosity to embark on my own journey as a coach. I love partnering with clients who want to think deeply their “career” and how they impact others with their skills and talents.

This transformation work starts with space and time to talk about being a “professional.” In thinking about who you are, what got you here, and why you’re now questioning your career focus will help to provide insight and perspective into what’s going on. Welcome to the first part of career exploration — reflection.

Here are a few questions I ask my coaching clients before/when we meet:

• What questions do you have about your career now?
• How did you get here professionally?
• What are you most proud of?
• What excites you at work? In life?
• What do you want to start doing?
• What do you want to continue doing?
• What do I want to stop doing?
• What are the verbs or actions you enjoy doing at work?
• How do you want to grow in your career?

Are you interested in creating the work and life you want to lead? Subscribe to my Substack at Careers By Design.

Borrowed from one of my favorite podcasters/writers/people, Manoush Zomorodi and her ZigZag Pod, I drafted a “future self” visioning exercise for my coaching clients and teams. I want others to think about the “what ifs” and future life they want to lead — and work is a big part of that vision. 

Let’s pause today to daydream about what life looks like on the horizon. Grab a pen and paper, open a new document on your desktop or start a new note on your phone — we are going to do some quiet reflective writing. You might want to close your eyes and listen to the prompts and questions in this Future Self Visualization, to help you imagine what lies ahead. 

Close your eyes and let’s picture yourself in the future. It’s exactly five years from now. It’s [insert MONTH] 2027. Imagine what your life is like. Picture what you WANT it to look like. We are going to walk through a typical work day. I want you to visualize what is happening,  as I walk you through the following prompts and questions: 

• You wake up: How are you starting your day?
• What’s the weather like?
• What are you wearing? 
• Today you’re getting ready to go into the office for a team summit. 
• Where are you going? 
• How do you commute to work? 
• What do you do when you get there? 
• As you grab your favorite morning beverage to answer emails before the team meeting — you look around your office space. What does it look like? What do you notice?
• Going back to your “to do” list — What will be 1 or 2 things you prioritize today?
• Thinking about your role and the work you do: What is your job? What actions & verbs describe what you do?
• What’s something surprising about the work you do?
• What impact do you make in your organization?
• You walk into the conference room to meet your team: How do you engage with your colleagues? What are you contributing to this meeting? What is your role on the team?
• After some collaboration, discussion, brainstorming, and planning you end the day: What did you learn? What did you accomplish? What are you most proud of? What direction are you leading on this team?
• As you leave the office, you decide to do something you enjoy before you head home: What is that? What fun things do you have planned? What activities are you involved in? If this activity involves others, who do you meet?

Now open your eyes and take 3-5 minutes to write down a few bullet points of what you just visualized about your future self. What was interesting to you? What did you learn?

• What was interesting to you?
• What did you learn?
• What did you notice about your day?
• What are the verbs or actions you found yourself thinking about doing at work?
• What was interesting about your day?
• What are the projects, problems, or initiatives you are working on?
• What work activities and tasks make you feel alive?
• What are you proud of?

Feel free to write, doodle, job down bullet points, and capture ALL your thoughts, ideas and answers to these questions/prompts. Just write and reflect for as long as you can remember what you thought about in this visualization. Save this for later — we will talk about what you discovered in our next coaching session. See you soon!

What does your future self look like?

Want to debrief this future self exercise with me? Book a FREE coaching exploration session to learn more!

There’s been a whole lot going on in the world of work. If you manage people, your workload and expectations as a leader has only been amplified. Being a people manager is not an easy role. With evolving economics, a multi-generational workforce, recent layoffs, and knowing that the only constant is change, leaders are required to keep the lifeboat — their team and themselves — afloat in the sea of uncertainty. We have no doubt you’re being more than challenged as a leader — so, we wanted to throw a lifesaver to you.

Call for Leaders Who Are Searching for a Coach:

We want to hold space for any people managers who could use a “guide on the side” for the next season of Coaching Through It pod. As coaches, we want to offer a FREE, 1-time coaching session for leaders who want a thinking partner to discuss their leadership development. Whether you want to tackle a specific supervision issue, identify an area of growth as a manager, or just take a beat to review your own leadership practice. We want to offer a 60-minute coaching session to support YOU!

If you are interested in joining us for an audio-only, recorded experiment to work through your leadership values, strategies, and approaches — please reach out to us by email (coachingthroughit at gmail dot com). We’ll meet to explore coaching topics and discuss how this session is shared in the podcast in advance. In your message, please tell us about you, your role as a People Manager, and how coaching can support you:

• What leadership challenges are you experiencing? 
• How are changes impacting how you manage others?
• What practices do you want to work on to support your team?
• How do you want to grow and thrive as a supervisor?
• What leadership support do you need now?

About the Coaching Through It podcast:

About the Pod: In Coaching Through It, co-hosts and coaches, Julie Larsen & Laura Pasquini, bring their ideas, questions, perspectives, & insights to their own coaching practice. Whether you’re making a big decision, exploring a new path, planning a project, or you just want to learn how coaching might help you. In each episode we’ll introduce you to our coaching practice with powerful questions, reflections from our training, share coaching tools/techniques, and share how coaching fits into our work and personal lives. Subscribe to Coaching Through It & follow the pod on Instagram or Twitter.

Q: How can I find a career coach?

A: You can find a career coach by: (or any type of certified coach)

1. Searching online for professional coaching organizations or individual coaches, (The Top 6 Coaching Organizations from Paperbell — there might be others, but those are the ones I know of)
2. Asking for referrals from friends, colleagues or HR departments, (ASK YOUR NETWORK! Only some HR departments offer these resources — I wish there was more career development & growth support!)
3. Checking with local universities or career centers, (especially if you are an alumni)
4. Consulting directories such as the International Coach Federation, => ICF’s Find a Coach
5. Checking professional networks such as LinkedIn for coaches. (Suggestion for LinkedIn to design a new feature — why not identify Certified Coaches in this professional network with a URL like: https://www.linkedin.com/coaching)

Q: What questions should I ask a coach?

A: When interviewing a potential career [OR any type of] coach, you can ask:

1. Can you tell me about your coaching philosophy and approach?
2. How do you measure success with clients?
3. Can you give me examples of career transitions you have helped clients with?
4. Can you provide references or testimonials from past clients?
5. How do you communicate and work with clients, such as frequency and methods?
6. What is your availability and scheduling process?
7. What is your rate and packages offered?
8. What is your cancellation and refund policy?
9. How do you handle confidentiality and privacy in coaching?

This quick list of coaching questions aren’t bad. They seem really transactional in nature — so I might go a bit deeper to figure out what you want to get out of a coach. What do you want to know about someone you are going to work with? How can you be certain this coach can support your needs? To offer a counter perspective, here are the typical questions I ask potential coaching clients to see if they are prepared to enter into a coaching relationship with me:

• What led you to coaching?
• What experience do you have with coaching? What do you know/want to know about coaching?
• What are your goals for coaching?
• What would you like to achieve by the end of our time together?
• What can I do to help you achieve your goals you have set?
• What would a successful coaching relationship look like to you?
• What questions do you have for me?

Most coaches offer a free exploration session where you can meet, ask questions, build rapport, and learn more about them and their coaching practice. One of my potential clients used this coaching questions guide, and I shared ICF’s Hiring Tips & Questions which include taking action BEFORE you meet a coach (I hope this is helpful if you’re search for a coach):

• Set your own goals/objectives for coaching
• Search the ICF directory for a certified coach — filter by topic, experience, domain, expertise, etc.
• Identify at least 3 coaches to meet
• Outline questions to ask a prospective coach
• Follow-up if you think of questions you thought of after the initial call/meeting

Q: How do I become a coach?

A: To become a career coach, you can follow these steps:

1. Gain experience and knowledge in the field you want to coach in, such as HR, recruiting, management, or a specific industry. (AND gain knowledge about what it means to BE a coach.)
2. Obtain coach training and certification from a reputable coaching school or organization, such as the International Coach Federation (ICF) or the Career Coach Institute. (YES!)
3. Build a network of professional contacts and resources. (Sound advice for anyone who works today.)
4. Develop a coaching niche or specialty. (Maybe? But explore and try out a few along the way — good coaching IS good coaching in ANY domain/field/specialty area)
5. Establish a coaching practice by setting up a website, creating a marketing strategy, and building a client base. (I’d probably start with your WHY, at least — this will help you figure out your mission or north star to guide your coaching practice.)
6. Continuously develop your skills and stay current with industry trends and best practices. (solid advice for any professional or practitioner — but what skills?)
7. Consider getting liability insurance. (definitely part of setting up your own LLC and business plan)
8. Consider pursuing advanced coaching certifications and accreditation to further demonstrate your expertise and credibility. (I’m a big fan of the ICF-accredited programs — you can search the directory to find a coach education program that works for you!)

Although the list is accurate, there is so much is missing. Ask any coach and they’ll let you know their coaching development and growth goes beyond these 8 steps. Becoming a coach is not a checklist, and it doesn’t necessarily occur in the above order.

Potential clients & the coach curious often asked: “Why did you start coaching?” and “How did you get into coaching?” I wish my response was a numbered list, but, like most, discovery of what you enjoy takes a much longer, windy path. I’ve responded to this question, “What is your past experience with coaching?” to share my origin coaching story (shout out to the Higher Ed Coaches training program & Katie Linder!). And, you can listen to me in conversation with Julie Larsen and other coaches to de-mystify coaching practice on the Coaching Through It podcast. If you’re interested in becoming a coach, I’d highly recommend using this ICF resource: https://becomea.coach/ I wish this was available when I was thinking about starting my own coach journey!

What drew me into coaching is helping others reach their potential and find their own way in their life/career. I’ve been career curious for a long time. I can track my exploration about the world of work by the career books I’ve read over the years (these are just a select few):

• Angela’s Airplane (love you Robert Munsch) age 9
• Do What You Are age 16
• Road Trip Nation age 22
• What Color is Your Parachute? age 28
• What They Didn’t Teach You In Graduate School age age 33
• Find Your Fit & The New Rules of Work age 36
• Transitions & Pivot age 39
• Designing Your Work Life age 40

As I grow and develop professionally, I definitely coach myself at all stages of my career (Re: Career Check-ins). This has offered me new challenges and afforded me to work outside my comfort zone as I work my way through career transitions. For the opportunity curious and possibility minded like me, this quest is just how I’m oriented to the world. For my coaching clients and colleagues, it helps us to take a new perspective, question the status quo, and think about “what ifs…” for where we go next.

What questions do you have about coaching? How can I share more about the life of a coach?

I miss the art of noticing, documenting, and writing on this blog. This is what brought me to my blog space in the first place. I often blogged to share what I was learning. I blogged to ask questions and get other perspectives. I blogged to share my research findings. I blogged to document milestones and events. I blogged to respond to ideas and to other bloggers. I blogged to bring community & professionals together. I blogged to share my reflections and perspective. All this to say… I’M BACK!

Over the winter holidays I spent some down time on the coast in Mexico. This much needed RnR was paired with reading, writing, and of course, listening to podcasts. One Hello Monday episode caught ear where Jessi Hempl was talking about PURPOSE with the Mighty Networks founder Gina Bianchini. Maybe it was the crashing waves on the beach or the turbulent ride of the previous year, but I was feeling a bit rudderless towards the end of 2022.

Find something more important than you are.”

Dan Dennet

Now, I am not on a quest for purpose + passion at work — as doing what you love is NOT always sound advice. But I’ve noticed lately, I’ve been lacking some sort of north star in my life, i.e. purpose. The act of meaning-making, specifically with a community is missing. In the past, I’ve been part of communities, teams, and groups who have formed with a clear purpose, specific goals, and designed to impact/influence/help others. I miss being rooted by something more than just my own plans, goals, and ideas. So, I’ve decided to make my word of the year (or at least Q1): PURPOSE.

After learning about the “Purpose 30” (30 days ~ 30 minutes/day ~ 6 questions + journal + favorite beverage) I picked up a copy of Gina’s book: PURPOSE: Design a community and change your life to draft my own “future story” with these questions in mind:

1. What are 3 things that you are able to do in the future that you are not able to do today?
2. What are 3 things you’ve accomplished?
3. What are 3 things you have taken a stand for?
4. What has changed in your world for the better in the most unexpected or surprising way?
5. Who are the people you have brought together?
6. What are 3 things they are able to do in the future that they aren’t able to do today?

Finding purpose is my new praxis. I’m going to take it day-by-day to see how it goes. Maybe it will lead to my future story, or even writing my ten-year plan (thanks for the exercise Debbie Millman + The Remarkable Life Deck) — who knows? For now, it’s being present with my thoughts and being honest with my reflections to see where it will take me. Into this PURPOSE journey I go!

What ways are you reflecting on your future?

How are you exploring your purpose?