Ep #28: Deciding What’s Best for You

Hey, this is Lindsay Dotzlaf, and you are listening to Mastering Coaching Skills, Episode 28.

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.

Hello, hello, my loves. Oh my goodness. If you have been listening to the podcast or definitely if you follow me on social media, I’m sure that you’ve noticed I have been very quiet. I mentioned last week in the episode that I just had some things going on. And I just wanted to record a quick, quick love note for you and give you a little lesson in what I’ve learned and just let you in on the teensiest part of my life. So, I’m just going to share with you kind of what’s going on and give you, like I said, a quick lesson on how to handle something like this as a coach.

About a week ago, my dad passed away. And without sharing a lot of personal details, we were not super close. Unfortunately, he battled with addiction for most of my life for as long as I can remember. Needless to say, it has been a very uncomfortable few weeks. I have just been feeling all of the feels and working through lots of emotions that I didn’t know I would experience and I didn’t even know were there. So I want to tell you just a couple of quick takeaways and also give you the rule that I use to make any decisions when it feels unclear of how I want to show up for my clients.

So my takeaways are, first, grieve is mysterious and unpredictable. If you had asked me a year ago how I would feel about my dad’s passing, I would have not described how I have been feeling the last few weeks. I did not think that I would experience grief. Honestly, I thought that I have grieved our relationship a long time ago. It just took me by surprise a little bit. It’s been an interesting journey just processing it and just learning to just sit in the feelings and take them as they come. And they have been really all over the place.

Two, if you have a podcast, record them ahead of time. The reason I’m recording this super quick podcast is because I didn’t have any recorded just in case I had an emergency. And here we are. So, doing it last minute. But this also goes for anything that you don’t want to miss in your business, or you’re like, “I cannot skip a week.” You never know what’s going to happen, right?

Three, give yourself so much love and space no matter what happens that surprises you in your life, right? You don’t have to earn time off or work endlessly until you hit certain milestones to know that you can do things, take time off, do things in your business that you want to do. Take the time when you need it. If you need it now, take the time, right?

And this is what I want to leave you with. Whether it’s vacation or taking time to work through a personal situation like what I have going on, here’s the best way always to decide what to do in your business. It’s so simple. Just ask yourself. “If my client was in this exact situation, what would I want them to do?” This has been a game changer for me over the last few weeks. I have had substitute coaches in my Masterminds. If you listen to my podcast, you know that last week I filled the space with an amazing episode with Maggie Reyes from her podcast.

And yeah, I just think when I think about what would I want my clients to do, I would want them to take the space, to work through the things, to love themselves and to really show up for the healing and whatever it is that they need even if it’s just a vacation, right? I’m saying just in quotes. If you’re in my mastermind, you know this. I always say, I have a rule, “You have to come to most calls. You have to be on camera.” But, if you’re not going to be there, like really, don’t be there. If you’re on vacation with your family, don’t show up. Take that time, right? Take the week off, make it up later. Watch the replay later.

And this is just the same. This is a rule that I teach. And I have just really had to practice it myself over the last couple of weeks. So, that’s your answer, right? Whatever you would want your client to do in this situation, that is what you do. Thank you so much for understanding. I’m so grateful that you’re here even listening to this and I will be back next week. I already have amazing podcast episodes written and interviews for you coming up that are blowing my mind and I can’t wait to share. So, I will see you next week. Goodbye.

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.