Transformational Story – Meet Nicola More!
Nicola and I have been working together for 3 months.
1. Tell us about yourself so readers can understand who you are and what your life looks like.
I’ve always been a motivated and goal oriented person. I like to be busy! I run a household – husband and 2 kids, I have food allergies so we eat at home primarily (I’m the only cook). I have a great husband that definitely helps around the house but I still do the majority of the housework.
When I worked in non profit things moved slower and I found I had more flexibility with my schedule and my time. Now I’m in real estate and there are no days off…working weekends and having a busy work week led to long periods with no breaks and a little burn out!
2. Why did you decide to try life coaching?
I’ve done a lot of business coaching. I think it appealed to me as I saw it as more measurable. Work in – result – increase in sales etc. I did well in coaching and liked how it grew my business and touched a bit on personal development. I was still finding trouble with balance between work life and home life. I saw how business coaching helped my business and was slow to realize a life coach can help me build my life.
3. How did you feel before we started working together?
I made a conscious decision to try and find some balance this year. A word that we throw around a lot! I need to be successful in business but I want to be successful in life – which is more my personal time and my family time. I was nervous and I felt guilty – I was uncomfortable concentrating on me!
4. What do we do during your sessions?
Anastasia’s sessions are like going for coffee. I sit down and start talking. It’s amazing how sometimes you think you know what you want to say but as you say it out loud it becomes clearer. With her prompting I find we talk through issues or problems I am having and often find solutions or strategies that are helpful and SOMETIMES there are more questions that make me go deeper into my internal programming.
For example, I can’t sit down and read! I don’t have time! (It) Really means I can’t sit down and read as I will feel guilty! But then the question arises as to why would I feel guilty and who is judging? Anastasia gently guides me through my own thought processes and preconceived beliefs. There is no judgement, no right or wrong, just a path to figure myself out. My life has become simpler since coaching.
5. What are your favourite tools, strategies, resources that you explored while being coached and now use?
Anastasia is always ready to offer suggestions and resources from books to podcasts. Her knowledge of The Enneagram has helped me see who I am and how and why I react to certain things the way I do. I have worked on single tasking, communication, meditation, challenging the notion of guilty pleasures and celebrating everything!
6. How has investing this time working with a coach impacted your health, business and family?
Life coaching is game changing. As someone who has spent thousands on business coaching this is the coaching that needs to come first!
Having a stronger connection with my husband and sons, being happier throughout the day, including me as a priority has made my personal life AND business stronger and more successful. My patience has increased, my moods are way more stable and overall I am just a happier person!
Finding this calm and using strategies when I find myself becoming overwhelmed ensures I spend less time in these undesirable states! My life has also become simpler since coaching. I’m identifying priorities as well as ending behaviors or practices that don’t serve me well.
7. What does thriving and success look like for you now?
Success to me is all about balance. Not every day is going to be perfect – but every day can be perfect with just how life plays out. And I’m now OK with that!
Some days lots get done, things get ticked off the list. Some days nothing gets done, but I’ve stopped and smelled the flowers, hugged my kids and walked around the block getting some fresh air. That makes the day perfect in another way.
Success is adapting – I don’t believe you can be successful long term if you are not thriving in your personal space. Finding peace, joy, patience and connection is thriving. This in turn leads to success in all aspects of your life.
8. Who do you think would benefit from working with a coach?
Busy is not a badge of honour! There are many preconceived notions out there about doing it all. The best thing is I still feel like I’m doing it all but having a stronger sense of self, self worth, self importance has made me see what is really important.
Anyone who is struggling to find balance with family, work, and time in general can benefit from coaching. Life is complicated. There are so many ways to make it less so.
A big thank you to Nicola for sharing her story!
Wishing you ease, joy and freedom!
Anastasia Hendryanto
Life Design Coach and Enneagram Teacher
