Recovering Corpoholics Felicia Serano-Shtivelman

In today’s episode, we’re going to talk about coaching and confidentiality.
Find the Full Notes to this episode at RecoveringCorpoholics.com/40.
Did you ever want to work with a coach but then think, I don’t want my business getting out there?! This is especially true if your employer is paying for the coaching. 
Since coaches are not bound by a medical board and that anyone can claim to be a coach these days (AKA why it’s so important to work with qualified coaches these days!), it can be hard to let your guard down and trust that what you say will be confidential. 
But I am here to tell you that is just not the case. 
I want to assure you that when you work with a professional coach, especially a coach who is accredited through the ICF or the CCE, whatever you say is 100% confidential. 
It is actually our duty as a coach to not disclose any confidential information you tell us during the course of our sessions, unless we have your permission. 
There is only one circumstance where confidential information may be shared without your permission is if you were to say something that puts your life at risk. 
Now there are other times where confidential information may be shared, however, we must have your permission to do so. For example, if you are sitting for your ICF coaching credentials, sometimes you are required to submit a coaching session recording. 
This shows to the coaching accreditation board that you have the skills to coach.
But a coach would never record you without your permission! Otherwise, they violate the coaching code of ethics.
I would ask in advance if it would be OK to record a future session. And if you are comfortable doing so, I would state at the beginning of the recording the date, the purpose of the recording and who it will be shared with (a coaching board that will keep the recording confidential).
This is just one example but I want to assure you that you are in the driver's seat with your information. You can say no to anything! 
That is why it is so important to discuss this prior to starting your coaching relationship. 
When you begin your relationship with a coach, confidentiality is a topic that will always be brought up by your coach and discussed… if you are a good coach that is, again that’s why it is so important to work with a trained and certified coach.  
Discuss this with your coach. Look at your contract (and there should always be a contract) and see what it states.
Maybe the contract states information may be shared for training purposes only, maybe it states that only your name will be shared for hourly tracking purposes (that is for credentialing), but, whatever the case may be, just ensure you know!
This is especially important when working with a coach hired by your employer. Just know what information can be shared. 
And when you are unclear about anything, don’t like what you see and / or If you don’t see anything on confidentiality on the contract (which is a red flag in my opinion), ask your questions, have it added!  Do whatever you need to do to make yourself comfortable.
Go to RecoveringCorpoholics.com/40 to see some standard contract language you can ask your coach to add.
Coaches are professionals and our only goal is to help you achieve your goals. I do this work full time and take my job very seriously and I would never compromise my relationships with my clients. And every other professional coach should think the same. 
Your information belongs to you and you alone and I will always protect that.....


FIND THE FULL SHOW NOTES + EXAMPLE CONFIDENTIALITY CONTRACT LANGUAGE HERE.

In today’s episode, we’re going to talk about goal planning.
Find the Full Notes to this episode at RecoveringCorpoholics.com/39.
This episode is all about goal planning. Because if you don’t have a plan, you don’t have a goal, you have a wish. 
And if you don’t know where you are going, you will end up someplace else! 
You may have a goal in mind but if you don’t have a plan in place to achieve that goal, and I'm talking about all the steps and everything you need to do to achieve that goal, then you may not reach it. Let's take a second to be real with ourselves. 
I mean, Just think about 2020. That was an unprecedented year that no one expected. We may have started out with goals but with everything that happened that year, your goals may have taken a hit. 
Instead of being strategic about your time, we all turned on our survival modes and had to deal with things we never had to deal with before. I know that was totally unexpected but so is life. 
Having a child sick, you getting sick, having more work to do, dealing with daily life... I mean things happen! We get busy. Moral of the story, if we want to achieve our goals, we need to be strategic in our actions and take control of our future. Aka have a plan!
Without goals, we can drift from one thing to another resulting in a feeling that time has been wasted on things that are irrelevant, irresponsible or just  unimportant. 
Having goals, we get to choose the direction of our lives and create our future. Goal setting gives us something to look forward to. I don’t know about you but I get excited when I have things I want to achieve.
One thing that I especially love about goal setting is that it triggers new behaviors or habits, helping guide our focus and helping us sustain that momentum in life. 
I think the most important thing to note here is that the process of working on our goals makes us happy. We are for sure happy when we achieve our goal, but it's the pride in ourselves that we actually did something we committed to that lights us up. 
Just take a moment and think back to a time where you wanted to do something and you actually did it. How did you feel? Amazing right?! Well I want you to feel that again because that’s exactly what we're doing this week!
OK so let’s get into it!
Now that you have your goal down and it is SMART and gives you a SPARK, I want to show you the process of planning your goals. 
First, take your top goal you identified and set a date for how long it’s going to take you to achieve.  Maybe it's to lose 20 pounds so you decide you want it to take 6 months.
Second, I want you to break that down by monthly milestones. For example, if your goal is to lose 20 pounds in 6 months, how much do you need to lose each month to lose 20 pounds? Around 3-4 pounds. 
Then for each month, write down what it would take or look like to lose 3-4 pounds. That's a pound a week! What do you need to eat each week, what exercises do you need to do? Take all the guesswork out!
You can even be extra and write down what you will eat each day and when you will work out. That will for sure set you up for success. 
And the same goes for a life goal. 
Say you want to write a book and you say it will take you one year. OK, well, where do you need to be at 9 months, 6 months, 3 months, etc., in order to complete your goal? 
Now it depends on how you want to break it out. Maybe the goal is to write a chapter per month. Then what do you need to do each week in order to complete that chapter?
Maybe it's to have the book completed by 6 months and then have it edited by 9 months so it is finalized by month 12. Whatever the case may be, take your goal and figure out how long it will take and t

In today’s episode, we’re going to talk about How to Develop Goals You’ll Actually Want to Achieve.
Find the Full Notes to this episode at RecoveringCorpoholics.com/38.
There are all things that we want to achieve in this life. However, sometimes, we just aren’t clear with what that is, we get stopped along the way or sometimes we actually don’t want that goal even though we may think that we do.
But what if there was a way to set goals that we actually wanted to achieve so we were more motivated to get to the finish line?
Let’s get into it.
A Goal is a desired result that one plans and commits to achieve. Now a lot of you may know this, but if you want to be truly successful in achieving your goals, you need to be very clear on what your goals are. 
Here is the criteria your goals should meet:


First, your Goals should be Outcome focused
What is it that you really want to achieve? And that outcome should make you feel excited!  If you have a goal you are excited about, I promise you that you’re 90% of the way there.


Second, Goals should also be In line with your WHY and your values
The more a goal aligns with your inner or core values - the EASIER it will be to achieve. The more your goal will Drive you! 
This way, if you get wrapped up in the day/week, your goal is something you love and want to do. It will be easier to keep going or pick back up.  
Note: You can achieve goals that don’t align with your values/your WHY but it's usually harder and less satisfying. For example, your job may require you to take some accreditation test. 
If you're not crazy about your job, you may not have the same passion and excitement to keep your momentum to study going. It may feel more like a chore. 
But think now that you have to take a test to be the best in your field, a field where you are so passionate about, how do you feel about studying now? Challenged? Excited? 


Third, Goals should be stated in the positive
Instead of saying: “I want to stop snacking”, say “I want to eat healthy”
Instead of saying: “I want to quit smoking”, say “I want to be healthy, be able to breathe and live a long life”. 
Instead of saying: “I want to quit my crappy job”, say “I want to be in a career that I can impact millions, that I am passionate about, that I am recognized for”. 
See the difference? —-----


Fourth, your Goals should be SMART
I’m sure you’ve heard this so many times so I will just briefly go into this.
SMART Stands for.....


FIND THE FULL SHOW NOTES HERE.

In today’s episode, we’re going to talk about 3 reasons why you’re not achieving your goals. 
Find the Full Notes to this episode at RecoveringCorpoholics.com/37.
If you’re ready to achieve big things but are having trouble finding the time to do so, you’re not alone. 
According to Forbes, when asking Leaders if they successfully completed their goals for the day, the majority of them responded with “I have no idea”. 
(I believe) There are three main obstacles that keep us from achieving our goals. 
First, that we aren’t clear or are realistic on what your goals actually are. Second, that we just can’t find the time to work on them (there's just so many fire drills these days!). And third, that we actually have too many goals (and we don’t know where to focus). 
So how do we solve those three obstacles so you can start achieving your goals today?
Keep Listening. 


You aren’t clear / realistic on what your goals are
The first obstacle I want to talk about is not being clear or realistic about what your goals actually are. 
Sometimes we have no idea what we want to achieve, we just have things we want to do (aka we are not clear on what we want).  
For example, I have the goal to record an episode of my podcast each week. However, that is not a goal. That is an action step for a goal. The goal here would be to gain more attention, become a thought leader, use it to later write a book, etc. 
But I didn’t put that together until one day I stepped back and thought to myself, why am I taking up so much of my time for my podcast. I’m not someone famous and don’t have a big following so is it even worth my time?
And when I had a lot of things to do, I would choose doing that vs my podcast. But now I am clear on what I am trying to do! I want to use this for my clients and eventually put it together for a book. And now I make time for my podcast!
And for being realistic, I believe you should dream big, for more info on that, go listen to episode 26. But you also need to be realistic with how big your goal is and how much time you have to achieve it. 
Saying you want to win a fitness competition in a month when you haven’t worked out in years may not be the best. But 3, 6 months or a year, that's definitely doable! Set yourself up for success.
So to avoid this obstacle, here are some of the other things you can do:
For every goal or dream you have, ask yourself: “Why do I want to achieve this”?
And if you don’t know, start thinking of the big win you want to achieve for that year. Think about why that is important to you and how it’s going to benefit you? On the opposite spectrum, you can also think of what the risk is for not achieving your goal. 
And don’t skip this! I know there is a lot to get done and you want (and like) to get stuff done. But being clear on what you’re trying to achieve is going to make you feel way more accomplished than if you didn’t. 

You can’t find the time to work on them 
The second obstacle on why you’re not achieving your goals is that you just can’t seem to find the time to work on them. 
Life is crazy these days and there is so much to do. From all the things we need to get done at home to work to everything in between, we can be spread thin. 

FIND THE FULL SHOW NOTES HERE.

In this week’s episode, we’re going to talk about how we want to be remembered as it is a great tool to think about our goals and push ourselves to dream big!
Find the full show notes at RecoveringCorpoholics.com/36.
Sometimes when we are thinking about our goals and what we want for our lives, we unconsciously tend to think about only the next 5-10 years of our lives. 
Some of those questions that we ask ourselves may be, “What do I want?”, Where do I want to go?”, or “What do I want to achieve?”. 
But sometimes those questions fall short. Why? Because those questions assume we know what we want and only have us focus on the now and the short-term future. 
And what may end up happening is that we go after things we thought we wanted, only to later discover we actually didn’t want them. 
So how do we turn this around to be more purposeful and find goals and dreams that will last our lifetime? 
It’s to ask ourselves a different question: How do I want to be remembered?
And I love this question because it allows us to think in a different way, it shows our values, how we want to show up and it allows us to start working on that now vs thinking we need to have a plan in place in order to achieve it.
So for this 3rd exercise, I want you to think of yourself as someone who is retiring, turning 70, getting a life achievement award, aka, any situation when you are older and there is going to be a party to celebrate your life and all your accomplishments. 
People will be giving speeches of your life's work and the impact you made on the world and on them. I want you to think about, ‘What are these people saying about you?’ ‘What impact do you have on them or the world?’ How do people remember how you made them feel?’ 
Write down the speech of what they would say about you.
Just a quick caveat here, I want you to think of the message alone, not who the people giving  the speeches are.
This exercise may help you focus on what’s really important to you. And what’s great is that you can do this for every area of your life, too. How do you want to be remembered in your career? As a son or daughter? As a parent, etc.
There is no wrong way to do this so just think about the legacy you want to leave behind and what’s truly important to you. 
Then once you have that, take a look at your current goals and see if they align. Maybe they do or maybe you’ll want to think again about what you want to achieve.
That’s all I have for this week's episode. I hope you liked these past 3 episodes on exercises to help you dream big. If you did, please rate this podcast or share with your friends.


Stay Inspired and Live Powerfully, 
Felicia

In this week’s episode, we’re going to talk about how to create a bucket list as it is a great tool to think about our goals and push ourselves to dream big!
Find the full show notes at Recovering Corpoholics.com/35.
A Bucket list is made up of all the things you want to achieve, do, learn, see in your life - basically, all the things you want to experience in your lifetime. 
This exercise is great as you can really think about what you want out of life and how you can start doing those things now. 
There are no rules here. If you want to have tea with the queen, go dog sledding, become a doctor, etc., amazing! This is your list and what you want for yourself - not for others.
Once you're done with this list, put some timelines on it. If you think you can do the list item in a year, indicate that with a 1, 5 years, put down a 5. Same with 10 years, 15 years, etc.
Now you have a plan of everything you want to do and when. Now start looking at the items you can do in a year and think about how you are going to get them done. Maybe make a vision board with it!
Note, if you’re stuck between doing a bucket list and a vision board, I love doing a bucket list first as sometimes when we think about what we want to achieve, we put restraints on ourselves. However, with a bucket list, we tend to just put down everything (i.e. mind dump)!
In addition, it doesn’t take as long to do and it allows us to really dream big - and that is the whole point to this episode.

That’s all I have for this week's episode. Stay tuned to next week as we go further into pushing ourselves to dream big by writing how we want to be remembered.
Stay Inspired and Live Powerfully, 
Felicia