Your Hero’s Journey: A metaphor for life and business coaching
Posted on January 15, 2010 by Linda Naiman, One of Thousands of Executive Coaches on Noomii.
Are you undergoing significant change in your Life? Chances are, you are on a Hero's Journey. Here's how coaching can help...
When the world as we know it is no longer fulfilling or endurable, when there is a crisis, or when a door closes, we are “called forth” to step into a higher purpose. Joseph Campbell said: “The call rings up the curtain, always on the mystery of transfiguration. The familiar life horizon has been outgrown; the old concepts, ideals, and emotional patterns no longer fit; the time for passing the threshold is at hand.”
“Where your talents and the needs of the world cross, lies your calling.”
—Aristotle
Aristotle said the noblest goal in life is eudaemonia: Striving toward excellence based on one’s unique talents and potential. For many, this means finding your calling, reinventing your career and making the shift from success to significance.
If you are undergoing a significant change in your life, coaching can help you stay on track and move confidently through the anxiety and confusion that can accompany the process of change.
What is Coaching? Coaching is a collaborative process that helps you amplify your awareness of self and others, find clarity in chaos, navigate life changes, make informed decisions, brainstorm ideas, revitalise your creativity, and develop strategies, all for the purpose of helping you achieve your dreams, goals and aspirations. Coaching is solution-focused, goal orientated and will help you achieve measurable results. The coaching process encourages the development of leadership, creativity, commitment and responsibility.
Coaching is not therapy. Therapy focuses on relieving psychological pain and treating cognitive or emotional disorders. While therapy helps heal the past, coaching starts with the present, and seeks to help you design a more desirable future.
What stage of change and transformation are you in?
• Leaving the old Status Quo. Stepping into the unknown to find your calling or answer a call
• Facing fear of the unknown, loss, grief, uncertainty, or obstacles
• Finding gold (your true self) — and your transforming idea
• Integrating your vision into your life and work
• Returning to the Ordinary World and expressing your Golden Self to create your new status quo
• Experiencing well-being by striving toward excellence using your unique talents and potential for the good of others—Eudaemonia. (This is the gift of the Hero’s Journey.)
Most leaders, entrepreneurs and managers don’t have anyone to talk to about workplace challenges. Coaching is all about you. Unlike friends, family and co-workers, a coach will listen to you without a hidden agenda, help you find the gold hidden in your challenges and help you make informed decisions from a neutral standpoint.
These are some of the results you can expect from coaching:
• Find or answer your calling
• Find meaning and purpose in your life and work
• Design your future based on your values, purpose, and vision
• Amplified creativity, productivity and efficiency
• Increased income
• More time. Enriched quality of life
• Improved relationships (personal and professional)
• Accelerated progress towards achieving your goals
In my own experience of being coached and coaching others, the beauty of coaching is in the speed and elegance of discovering transformational ideas and finding the right solutions. When you are undergoing a hero’s journey, seek out your mentors and guides. Remember no hero does it alone.
For more info about life and business coaching, visit www.creativityatwork.com
