Coach Overwhelm — Part 1

I don’t know about you, but when I started my coaching business, I had no idea how hard it would be. And how busy I would be.

The more hours I worked, the longer my To Do list grew. The longer my To Do List grew, the more frantic I became.

I started to spin.

At first I was spinning slowly. And then I began spinning faster, and faster, and faster. Pretty soon I was spinning like a demented top.

I was in Coach Overwhelm.

You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?

Some Symptoms of Coach Overwhelm

1. A ridiculously long To Do list.

2. A sore ear from listening to so many teleclasses.

3. Dreaming about your business when you fall asleep.

4. Walking into your office and having no idea where to begin or what to do first.

5. Skipping showers, lunch, and bathroom breaks because you just don’t have the time.

6. Piles of paper stacked everywhere, waiting to be filed.

More Symptoms of Coach Overwhelm

7. E-book after e-book sitting on your computer, untouched and unread.

8. A slightly breathless feeling, even when you haven’t just run up the stairs.

9. A tendency to grab at the next shiny, bright object that comes along.

10. Difficulty sitting still for more than 5 minutes.

11. The inability to complete one project before moving on to the next.

12. Disgruntled family and friends who complain they never see you.

If you were nodding yes to more than two of these symptoms, you have Coach Overwhelm. Join the crowd. You and I are not alone.

The Only Way to Stop Coach Overwhelm

There’s only one way I know to stop the Coach Overwhelm spin. You’ve got to put your foot down, and you’ve got to put it down fast and hard! The minute you get that foot firmly planted back on the ground, the spinning stops.

Of course you still feel like you’re spinning, at least for a little while. But that will go away. The important thing is you’ve stopped spinning. You can tell because you’ve lost that slightly sick to your stomach feeling. And the scenery around you is no longer one big blur.

The Silence

The first thing you notice is the silence. It’s blessedly quiet. No voices telling you what you “should” be doing to create a successful coaching business.

The second thing you notice is you’re more comfortable in your own skin. You no longer feel like you’re trying to squish your square peg of a business into the round hole of coaching industry conformity.

The third thing you notice is you’re scared! If you don’t listen to the “should” voices and you stop following the round hole coaching business model, what the heck are you supposed to do?

You don’t know what to do!

Yes, you do.

Remember that inner wisdom you keep telling your coaching clients to tap into? Guess what? You’ve got that inner wisdom too. Start tapping, Coach!

When I Put My Foot Down

Here’s what happened when I put my foot down, stopped spinning, and rediscovered my inner wisdom.

I remembered I started my own coaching business because I wanted a business that reflected and suited me and my values, my priorities, my style, my personality.

Isn’t that why you started your coaching business too?

Well, that’s the business I’m in the process of creating right now. I think she’ll be ready to come out from behind the curtain in the next few weeks. (I don’t know why I called my business she. It just felt right.)

In the meantime, stay tuned. Next week I’m going to reveal exactly what I did when I put my foot down. And what I’m doing now to be sure I don’t ever begin to spin again.

Are you spinning? Or have you put your foot down? Tell me. That’s what the comment box is for.

Oh, and please retweet this to all your coaching friends. We need to pass the word about Coach Overwhelm before it becomes a full blown epidemic.