Going for the goal

By Tricia Lynn Strader / Journal Staff Writer

Submitted photo Anne Kelly of A New Life Coaching is a certified life coach based in the Eastern Panhandle.

HEDGESVILLE — Life sometimes gets in the way of a better life.

Sound like a contradiction? Let’s analyze. Everyday life is often hectic. We juggle job, family, relationships, responsibilities, our own well-being and the list goes on.

Things get in the way of our goals of having a better job or career, finding balance between aspects like career and family, finding meaning in our life or whatever our particular situation may be.

It can be hard to discuss sometimes with family or friends to discuss any important issues. Enter the life coach.

Sometimes a total stranger can help focus us on a goal. “I call it easier and accelerated growth,” says associate certified coach Anne Kelly of A New Leaf Coaching. “I help the client identify a goal, focus on it, and identify the steps needed to achieve that goal or growth in a particular area.”

She says having a life coach consult with someone helps that person get more clarity through a series of question and answer sessions and exercises.

“Someone may come to me saying they have lost their excitement or passion for their job; or, they could have a business goal, and want to attract clients and increase their income or they may want to know how to manage their workload more efficiently,” she says.

“They say they don’t know what to do next. They may know what they want but are unclear about what to do about it. They don’t always give themselves enough time to focus. I’m focusing on that person for 50 minutes a week. I’m rooting for my client. It helps them move forward,” she says.

A large part of life coaching is listening. “I listen to what the client says, and formulate answers to drive the client,” Kelly says. “We sort out together which subject is rising to the top and the most pressing issue.”

Clarity and validation are key words. Kelly says oftentimes we know what we need to do but are unable to accomplish it. “I’m the task master,” she says. “The client may know what their goals are, but life happens to all of us. I help them identify what got in the way, and we work on those obstacles.”

Having a “task master” helps us set goals and work on them. “People are more likely to follow through on a commitment to themselves because they’re involved in a coaching relationship. They’ll think, ‘I told my coach I would do it, so I’ll do it,’” she says.

In a sample session, Kelly may ask the client to draw a circle on a piece of paper, and cut it into eight pie pieces. She asks the client to fill in the pieces with the words rest and relaxation, personal development, physical surroundings, relationships, primary relationship, finances, profession and physical well-being. She then asks the client to rate them from one to 10, 10 being the ideal situation. Then the client picks one of the phrases to start with and they work on that aspect of improvement. Usually, the aspects will intermingle in an ongoing coaching relationship.

Everything discussed is confidential and based on mutual respect and accountability. She is accountable to help that person to the best of her ability, and the client is accountable for setting goals and achieving them.

But there is no set time limit. She knows people who do coaching sessions for a few months and begin to see a benefit. Others like the relationship so much and find so much help in talking with someone else, they do it for years. Kelly’s minimum is three sessions per month for three months.

Professional and business coaching is a fast-growing profession. Kelly has clients that are nurses, lawyers, vice presidents and more. Her specialty is light workers—healthcare practitioners like massage therapists, chiropractors, etc.

Kelly is a certified life coach. She has had a full and varied career that led her to this profession. Originally from Arlington, Va., she first earned a bachelor of science degree in administration from Radford University in Radford, Va. She worked at the Department of Defense in various capacities: running recreation centers on military installations; escorting USO tours; quality of life coordinator and quality advisor trainer.

Kelly has lived in many U.S. cities and overseas. “As a quality of life coordinator, I dealt with any problems from education, healthcare, something to do with the commissary or mail delivery, recreation or housing. I helped connect those stationed overseas to home. My boss—not direct boss—but still a boss, was Gen. Peter Pace, now the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” she says.

Kelly took some leadership training at the Department of Defense, and after more than 20 years she went on to the USDA. There, she went into the field of leadership development training and was sent to school to become a coach with the USDA in 2003.

“I didn’t want to take coaching training,” she says. “I thought a coach was the sports coach who heard complaints all day. But the USDA training center is on the cutting edge. I didn’t know what a real coach was. After receiving coaching, myself, one-on-one, I found my niche. It was my absolute passion. In 2004, I coached a team of employees for a year.”

She decided on her own to go through a one-year certification process at Coach for Life, an accredited school in San Diego. Her education included in-person training, teleclasses and pre-recorded sessions with clients being evaluated by two master certified coaches. She’s been a full-time life coach since 2004, and in 2006 she received her certification.

Kelly says a minority of coaches work in person, but the majority work by phone. Clients will be more likely to keep appointments if they can do it in the comfort of their own environment, and it cuts down on the time factor by cutting out a commute.

She will do a complementary sample session. “Almost all coaches do a free sample session, usually by phone. That way, clients can try a couple different coaches if they want to find the one that they really connect with,” she says.

Kelly does warn of imitations. “I would not recommend a life coach who is not certified. There is no requirement like that of a doctor or psychologist, in order to hang out a shingle and say you’re a life coach,” she says.

Accreditation comes from the International Coach Federation. The organization regulates schools to ensure uniform standards and ethics.

Kelly constantly takes courses and training herself, and teaches courses on time management, employee development and communication skills and team building. One is titled, “Help, Help, My To Do List is Killing Me.”

She compares life coaching to whittling wood. “Someone could be whittling but takes five years and still has a stump. With coaching, we are whittling away at the wood and getting a clearer picture of what we want to wind up with,” she says.



Coach | Want to know more?



For more information on Anne Kelly, A New Leaf Coaching, call (301) 693-9580 or visit online at http://www.anewleafcoaching.com./



For more information on International Coach Federation, visit http://www.coachfederation.org./



—Staff writer Tricia Lynn Strader can be reached at journal_reporter@juno.com.

Section: Living    Posted: 2/3/2007