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[personalcoachjen]

Another lag in the coaching journey

I have had another lag in my coaching journey, work got even more hectic and I started feeling overworked and burned out, so I had to take a break from blogging and everything for a while. I got lots of ideas while I was resting from the craziness of my recent work schedule so I should be able to avoid more gaps/stumbles/pauses for a while, I hope. I have found some tools that are quite helpful for those of us who have problems with memory, organization, planning, and getting started with tasks. One of those is The Hero's Journal, which is a journal/planner that is designed for neurodivergent brains like those with ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, Anxiety, Autism, and the like. It can also work for others that just don't work well with other kinds of planners/journals.

It has a story to it, about a a Hero going off on a quest, and in my version of The Hero's Journal, the Hero joins a magic school and hopes to be chosen by a very special wand while there. The story makes it easy to stay engaged with it and keep using it every day. It is great because it has areas for what might get in your way (threats), what could help you (allies), what your quest (main task) is, and what will allow you to seize the day (the main subtasks of your main task). I have used it every day since I got it and it is wonderful and extremely helpful. It also has 2 free note areas for you to make lists, add other tasks or talk about your day, or whatever else you feel you might need to write there.

The other tool I found is the Anti-Planner, which is a planner designed for neurodivergent brains by neurodivergent brains and it isn't like other planners I've had or seen. You can jump around to different sections, the sections are labeled based on how you might feel that day, it's illustrated with cute pictures of things like "the wall of awful" you may have built up around tasks and "the thing" which is the task you need to get done. The thing is actually quite adorable it's like a Post-it note guy with a face and arms and legs and he just wants to get to done. Mine hasn't arrived yet, it was on preorder and I will have it in December, but I've seen the pictures on YouTube videos as well as the website I bought it from. The writer is Dani Donovan and I saw her on the YouTube channel where I found out about the Anti-Planner, which was How 2 ADHD.

I plan to use both of these tools to help me stay on track with my blogs, vlogs, podcasts, life coaching website, and other tasks I need to keep up with. I will keep you posted on how they are helping me, and hopefully, they allow me to do all of my things on time and stop missing so many deadlines and having such long gaps between my blog posts, podcast episodes, and vlog episodes. Stay tuned until next time to see if it worked out!

[personalcoachjen]

5 posts!

[personalcoachjen]

ADHD, Fibromyalgia, and work interfering with the coaching plan

I am having trouble with the coaching plan I have and a lot of it is my ADHD and Fibromyalgia interfering. The fibro fatigue and fog make it hard to post to my blogs, podcasts, vlogs, and the like. I forget, I lose my place, I lose my train of thought, I procrastinate and then I am upset that it didn't get done. The fatigue part of it causes my brain to shut down and I cannot get started. I get stuck at one point in my process and can't get past it, then I have to stop. I am trying to find things that allow me to work around these issues and one of those is to do them sooner in the day rather than later. If I do them before I've been cleaning and doing a lot of physical work, walking around and the like I have more ability to get them done.

I have also discovered that using the features my blogging sites, podcasting apps and video apps have that lets me schedule the releases of my blogs, vlogs, and podcasts so I can do multiple of them while I am feeling better and schedule their releases for the next week and the next week and not have to worry about trying to log on, write the post, make the video or record the podcast and release them that day it needs to come out. I have also discovered that my eating can have effects on it as well. If I have a bad appetite day and don't eat much until later in the day, it is going to be harder for me to do these things.

I think that these things can help others with fibromyalgia, ADHD, hectic schedules, bipolar disorder, and other issues that affect our memories, motivation, energy levels, and ability to start projects and sustain effort in them, so I felt like sharing them in this blog could be helpful to them as well as helping myself. I hope you find something useful here and I hope you check back to see what's next!

[personalcoachjen]

Coaching live on Teachable, creating courses, etc.

I have coaching sessions now live on Teachable.com. I am in the process of also creating courses, I just haven't decided on what they will be and what they will all include. It takes a long time to build courses. They will likely be things that will help in coaching sessions, like goal setting and personal development types of topics. I think that the Teachable format makes it very easy to have coaching sessions and courses, it even helps you create your outlines. I am actually enjoying the process even if it is a bit time consuming for me.

I am determined to make money coaching and get out of this 9 to 5, go to a job site and work myself half to death rat race. It is taking such a toll on my health to work 2 onsite jobs even if they are both only part time, they add up to more than full time hours taken together. I typically work over 50 hours a week, as I have 23 hours a week at one job and 16 to 24 hours a at the other.

Another problem is the changing nature of my 2nd job's hours, as its in hospitality and that's a very unpredictable field, sometimes the hotels and things are very busy sometimes they're barely having any business, so that job I can even sometimes have 8 hours in a week. It's not good for my chronic illnesses and I feel like I have very little time for myself and my own goals. This is why I want to become a personal life coach and work for myself, setting my own hours and working from home, because I would be able to do all the things I need and want to do and make money doing a job I love that doesn't take such a toll on my health.

I want to be able to just help people and afford to live, with everything I need and want, without struggling. This is why I am so determined to get my coaching business working. My purpose in life is to help people and make their lives better, and I want to make money doing it by having a coaching business that I can arrange the best way that will allow me to do the most helping without taking the biggest toll on my life. This journey to get to that point is the reason why I created this blog and will continue to post to it. Stay tuned for more!

[personalcoachjen]

Struggling with consistency, starting a vlog and podcast, work-life balance, and more

I am struggling to find a balance between work, my life, and my coaching business. I am working so much that I barely have time for myself and my business, hobbies, self-care, and the like. I am determined to use my days off from work and any days that I work at night to get the things done that I need to do for me and for my coaching business. I have learned that scheduling podcasts, vlogs, blogs, and social media content helps because I can just write on my days off and then schedule the content to be released on the days I want it to go live on. That makes life so much easier. This way the posts come out on a regular basis and I'm not spending all my time feeling bad because I've gotten behind or I forgot to post and even if life happens the posts can come out when I want them to.

I am really trying to become more consistent with my business and content so I can really grow and build my business. I hate scheduling, structure, and routines, and yet I need them badly and so I will use them, the main thing is for me to use them in a way that works for me. I will be scheduling a lot of content today since I have time. I am learning a lot through this journey about business, social media, content, myself and coaching, stick with me and see what I discover next!

[personalcoachjen]

Finding my niche and good coach advice

I had a phone call with a member of this life coaching group I found on Facebook. It was such an informative call I couldn't believe it. We talked a lot about finding my niche and learning as much as I can about coaching so I can start my business in the best way possible. We talked about narrowing my focus and figuring out what is my ideal client. I discovered that my ideal client is me, and women like me. I have had a long and checkered journey with my health and chronic illness. I spend a lot of time having all these seemingly unconnected illnesses causing me pain throughout my body and I couldn't figure out where they were coming from, I knew there had to be more.

I eventually was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, which was like an aha moment because every other condition I suffer is linked to fibromyalgia/comorbid with it. Many people with fibromyalgia have migraines, IBS, asthma, GERD, ADHD, bipolar disorder, depression, PTSD, anxiety, physical injuries, past infections, and things like that. It is believed that physical and/or emotional trauma, past infections, past or recent injuries, and things like that are part of what leads to someone having fibromyalgia. When I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and read this about it, it made perfect sense.

I have both physical and emotional trauma, past infections of bronchitis, pneumonia, a severe strep infection that spread past just being strep throat, and several past injuries and a back injury that occurred right before my fibromyalgia diagnosis. Once I learned this, I started trying to do things to help my fibromyalgia and structure my life in a way that makes it possible for me to continue to function. I had people that were there to help me through the process, helping me, guiding me, and holding me accountable.

I realize that I can be that person for others in the same situation and that this should be my niche for coaching. I can still call myself a health coach but now I can gear my messaging toward my ideal client, who are people like me with these long, checkered chronic illnesses and health journeys that need someone's help to find their way through them and get to a point of functioning and having their life working as well as it can for them with their illness(es).

[personalcoachjen]

My Journey Begins

I am using this blog to document my journey in becoming a life coach. I will discuss my triumphs, issues, discoveries, and insights on what it is like to try to become a life coach and what it's like to be working as one. I will use it as another way to promote my website: http://www.personalhealthcoachjen.com and the coaching business I have set up with it. It will also have ideas and resources for other coaches/aspiring coaches as well as insights, information, resources, and issues with certifications and trying to obtain them.

This is more of the personal side of the coaching business, website, and blog whereas the personal health coach Jen blog is more the business side of it. Stay tuned for more!