Hey, this is Lindsay Dotzlaf and you are listening to Mastering Coaching Skills episode 266.

To really compete in the coaching industry, you have to be great at coaching. That’s why every week, I will be answering your questions, sharing my stories, and offering tips and advice so you can be the best at what you do. Let’s get to work.

Hey coach, welcome back to the podcast. So, recently, I was recording some new content for the membership that I am launching, actually this week if you’re listening in real time. And one of the lessons I recorded is very different than all the others. And it is a story about goals, a personal story.

And I know that with the end of the year and the beginning of a new year coming up, a lot of you are starting to think about your business goals and maybe your personal goals for next year. And I wanted to offer you this lesson. I’m going to take the audio from the lesson inside of the membership and just play it here for you. Hopefully, it will feel inspiring and help you loosen your grip a little or learn to think about your goals a little differently.

So, with no further ado, enjoy this audio from inside The Complete Coach.

Hello, welcome to module 3. Before we get started, because we are going to be diving into all things marketing and selling in the next few modules, I’m going to actually tell you a personal story that I’m going to then wrap into how we can start to think about your marketing and selling goals as a coach, and why it’s so important to just really be on your own journey and take it a step at a time.

So no matter where you are in your coaching journey, if you’re a brand new coach or if you’ve been coaching for a while, this is going to be relevant for you.

So, I’m going to tell you a story about running. If you’ve never run a day in your life, it’s totally fine. When I was in my 20s, one of my very best friends started running. She was running a lot and she was running in these races. Sometimes I would go and cheer her on and have so much fun. She told me, “I think I’m going to run a marathon next year.” And I was like, “That’s amazing.”

She said, “You should do it with me.” And I was like, “I’m sorry. You are so confused. I do not run. I’m not a runner. I’ve never run. I mean, I have run and I didn’t like a second of it. So I don’t know why you’re saying this to me.”

And she was like, okay, and kind of left me alone. And then she came back eventually and she was like, “I really want you to do this with me. You don’t have to train for the marathon, but maybe do some of these other races. Like you come to them anyway.” And I was like, “Well, again, because I’m not a runner.”

But she planted this seed. And I thought about it. And then eventually I reached out to her and I said, “Okay, definitely not committing to a marathon, but I don’t know, you just really seem to love it and maybe I’ll give it a try. So how did you start?” She brought me her training schedule when she started. And I looked at the schedule and I was like, “Oh, I could maybe do this.”

I was looking at the paper. It was basically like a Couch to 5k situation. Assumed you didn’t know anything about running. And so it just started so slow. It was like, walk for 10 minutes. And then it was run for 2 minutes, walk for 10 minutes or something. It just started very slow until, next thing you know, I’m like running a mile.

Over time, as I kept going, I was just gradually adding more mileage on. And I was up to the point where I could do that 5k, which is a little over 3 miles. So I did a couple races with her. And I was like, “Okay, this isn’t terrible. I mean, I don’t love it. I’m definitely not committing to the marathon or half marathon,” even though in the back of my mind, I was like, that would be pretty amazing. And I just kept going. Just running every day, learning to be consistent. Not every day. I think it was five days a week, maybe. Just building that muscle, literally building the running muscles.

Every time I was sore, every time I added more mileage on, I was sore. Again, I still didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it either. And I kept going for months and months and months. I did a few races. I was running in the rain. I was running in the snow. I never missed a training unless I was like injured or sick. And I was running on vacation. And maybe about a year later, my friend was going to run that marathon and she said, “Okay, now you said you’re not doing this. And that’s fine. I don’t think you’ve been training for this, but let’s sign up for a half marathon.”

So we did. And then I got the training for that. And so now, next thing you know, I’m just increasing my mileage, increasing my mileage. And what I found is that after doing it long enough, it just became part of who I was. There wasn’t a question of like, am I getting up and running today? It was like, this is just who I am now. I run.

And my friend one day, she was like, “So you’re like a runner now.” And I had to think about that for a second. I was like, do I feel like I’m a runner? And at that point, I think the answer was yes. I mean, I’ve been doing this for however long. I’m enjoying it, even though I didn’t want to admit it. And I just kept going. And once I got to the point where I could comfortably run, maybe 6 or 7 miles, it started to feel fun. Like my body kind of craved it. And I just kept increasing until I did my first half marathon.

And basically the story just continues from there, right? I kept running. I did more races. I did register for a marathon. I did train for a marathon, although I didn’t actually run it. I got injured and had to call it. The marathon training wasn’t for me. My body did not love that. But the half marathon, yes, I ran a bunch of them.

I just need you to know that no matter where you are in your coaching journey, especially if you’re brand new or even if you’ve been doing this for a while, but you’ve had a hard time growing your business and you’re kind of feeling stuck or you’re feeling like I should be further along, I want you to think about the running journey I just told you. Because often in this industry, we are sold lots of things that can sometimes be harmful to your goals, sold things like you should be fully booked, or you should make millions of dollars, or you should have these huge goals that drive you.

I want you to think about the way I started running. If when my friend had presented it to me, I had decided that day, okay, I’m running a marathon, and then I just got to work thinking, okay, that’s the only goal. Honestly, I probably would have quit after a couple weeks. Because that felt so far, so far, first from my identity, but second, from my actual skill level.

And I just see so many coaches fall into this pattern where they’re thinking, I should be fully booked by now, or right off the bat, like setting a goal of being fully booked or making a certain amount of money, which is way more than they’ve ever made in their business, or even more experienced coaches creating a new offer and thinking because you’ve been good at this thing over here, like obviously you should be able to just instantly transfer that from here to here.

And forgetting, no, like first you have to learn to run for 2 minutes. Which sounds ridiculous. I mean, physically it felt hard, but mentally it was like, come on. I can’t even run a mile. That seems ridiculous.

But I didn’t care. I just promised myself I was sticking to the training. I didn’t try to run more. I didn’t try to push too hard because I knew that would burn me out or physically hurt me. And so, for you as the coach, I want you to think about your goal. And if it’s a huge goal and it feels so fun to think about, amazing.

But I also want you to be able to bring it down to what is just for today. What is the 5k training? Wherever you are in that journey, whatever your next piece is, what is the training for you for that? What are the skills you need to learn? You have to learn how to breathe differently. You have to learn how to pace yourself. You have to learn what to wear so that you don’t chafe or get too hot or too cold. So many things.

And the same is true for you, no matter where you are on your journey, you have a lot to learn. And I don’t want that to feel bad. It’s not a problem. Just start going. Start learning the things one at a time.

And please, stop telling yourself that you should be further along or that you should have hit this giant goal that you set when you started your business. Don’t, you know, go on social media and see all the posts and just judge yourself based on that. It’s like me with my friend. If I had compared myself to her from the beginning, and if I kept thinking, oh, why can’t I run like her? She’d been doing it for years. I think sometimes we forget that when we’re building our businesses.

And no matter where you are, you can find that person, right? Like even I could go find people on the internet that are more successful and I could compare myself. But why would I do that? If you can get in the habit of just asking what is your next step?

Keep the big vision, for sure, especially if you love it, if it lights you up, if it feels amazing to think about it. But don’t try to go from where you are right now to there. Like, don’t jump there. You have to do all the training. You have to learn all the little things that you don’t even know yet that you need to learn. And it’s okay that you don’t know.

If someone had told me when I decided to start running, you’re going to have to learn to regulate your breathing and you’re going to have to learn like when you get that side cramp, you have to learn how to breathe so that goes away. You have to learn how to pace yourself so that you know about what pace you regularly run and if you’re going faster or slower, you’re going to have to get the right shoes, but you might have to test a few. You’re going to have to figure out the clothes, all of it.

I probably would have been overwhelmed and I may have given up after a few weeks. But instead, I just kept going until eventually I was running with my friend. I was doing races with her, signing up for half marathons consistently.

I want you to really let this sink in and come back and watch this video as often as you need when you get distracted by all the noise that’s all over the industry, do whatever your journey is right now. You don’t need to catch up with me by tomorrow, whether that’s in your business, making money, whether that’s in your coaching skills, you just need to focus on what is your next step right now.

And how do you just go there? How do you work on that thing? How do you keep going? Because then just like me running, a year from now, you’re going to look back and say, “Oh my gosh, look where I am. I did all of this. I am a coach. I’m doing it.” Thank you for listening. Again, come back and watch this anytime you need. I’ll see you in the next lesson.

Hey, welcome back. I hope that something about that lesson really landed for you as you head into this season of setting new goals in your business and maybe even evaluating what you have accomplished over the last year or so.

And speaking of setting goals, again, if you’re listening in real time, I do have a planning workshop coming up that’s all about planning for 2026. I have hosted this workshop over the last couple of years, and it’s so fun. My clients love it, and I want you to join us. So we will put that link in the show notes.

And if you listened to that audio excerpt and you are intrigued by what The Complete Coach actually is, we’ll put that link in the show notes too so you can find out some more information there. Otherwise, I will see you back here next week. Bye.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Mastering Coaching Skills. If you want to learn more about my work, come visit me at lindsaydotzlafcoaching.com. That’s Lindsay with an A, D-O-T-Z-L-A-F.com. See you next week.