Designing Your Life

• Highly skilled and competent in your current role, and maybe even wanting to stay at your current organization - on paper, everything looks great
• Feeling like you're at a plateau or stuck in your current role or in your current organization
• Unsure where to "pivot" next  and/or how to get there
• Wanting to find a way to better leverage your skills and experience
• But know you don't want to continue doing what you're currently doing in your role, 40+ hours/week
• You've heard of people who seem to truly love their job - they've found their passion, they say - and wondering if that's possible for you
• Feeling like there *must* be something more out there for you

• Waking up, excited for at least some of your work tasks for that day
• Energized, engaged, and fulfilled in your professional role
• Still energized enough to engage in personal interests and pursuits outside of your time spent at work
• More fully utilizing your unique skills, experiences, and interests, every day
• Feeling like your life and your work are in optimal alignment - your work is part of your life, and it doesn't consume your life

I've been there - feeling stuck on a plateau, applying to other jobs, wanting to make a change, wanting to be excited about how I was spending 40+ hours a week.

I get it.

I help early- and mid-career professionals get unstuck in their roles and organizations. We do this together by getting clear on their values, celebrating their unique skills and strengths, and finding ways to explore and try out potential paths - so that when they are ready to make the leap, it doesn't feel so much like a leap.

My goal is to help you build your way forward into a fulfilling career that is aligned with your values, and that fits well into your life. 

The International Coaching Federation (2022) defines coaching as "partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. The process of coaching often unlocks previously untapped sources of imagination, productivity and leadership."

To me, coaching is a collaborative relationship - we will creatively and meaningfully work together as thought partners to move you towards your next step or goal, and to ensure that your life is optimally aligned with your values and energy. 

Are you new to coaching or want a little more information on what it looks like? Check out my Coaching page, or the ICF's Experience Coaching site. 

The following books, by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans:

• Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life (a #1 New York Times Bestseller!)
• Designing Your Work Life: How to Thrive and Change and Find Happiness at Work
• Designing Your New Work Life: How to Thrive and Change and Find Happiness - and a New Freedom - at Work

You can read any/all of the DYL books, depending on where you're at in your career and life right now, and work through the exercises and reflections on your own.

If you're looking for a bit more support though - whether that's for accountability, a designated space to work on this, a structure, or something else - I'm here. I've found coaching particularly helpful in times when I'm feeling stuck and discouraged, and also when inspired and ready to move forward. Coaching is also valuable for creating a safe container for doing the work around life and career design.

My coach training is based on the idea that each client is "naturally creative, resourceful, and whole" (Co-Active Training Institute). As your coach, I support you in minimizing the noise and getting in touch with your values and your intuition. 

At the beginning of each session, we'll set an agenda - essentially, where you are now and where you would like to be at the end of the session. We will then work together, leveraging powerful questions, coaching tools, Designing Your Life tools, mindfulness prompts, and more. After the bulk of our discussion, we'll determine how you feel about the ending point, what steps you plan to take next, and how you would like to hold yourself accountable for taking those steps. 

Here's an example:

Let's say that, at the beginning of our first session, you share that you're ready to start searching for a new job. By the end of the session, you want to be actively applying starting next month. We leverage some questions and tools to move you forward in your thinking - you actually want to change career paths, and we've used some of the Designing Your Life tools together already. You decide that, over the next week, you are going to save ten job descriptions of roles that you think you would like to apply to soon. You also decide to read through those, and jot down notes of any areas where you feel like you might not fully meet the requirements. 

This depends on your goals for the coaching relationship - and we can talk about this in your introductory, exploratory call. 

My current practice mostly supports higher education staff. I am also particularly interested in supporting first generation students, doctoral students who are interested in careers outside of traditional academic roles, introverts, and individuals who identify as a Highly Sensitive Person. 

Engaging me as a coach will involve:

• An introductory, exploratory call, where we can chat and see if we'd be a good fit for working together (and if not, for whatever reason, I'm happy to suggest other coaches you might work well with)
• A package of weekly or bi-weekly 1:1 coaching sessions
• Reflective activities and exercises (don't worry, they're enjoyable!)
• Informal check-ins and communications via email between sessions

The first time I looked into hiring a career coach, I was not ready for the price tag. I didn't have an extra few thousand dollars to invest.

I want to make coaching more accessible. My investment rates are on par for Designing Your Life coaching packages, and I offer payment plans for each package. I welcome the opportunity to chat about what works for you.

I also offer partial DYL package scholarships for doctoral candidates, higher education professional staff, and individuals in historically underrepresented groups. I am happy to connect to discuss what would work for you. A limited number of partial scholarship spots are available, but if I'm currently at capacity for scholarship spots, I'm happy to add you to a priority list for when one becomes available.

As of July 2022, I have completed 178 hours of coach training through Dr. Katie Linder’s Higher Ed Coaches Training, the Mindfulness Coaching School, Designing Your Life, and Gallup. I intentionally pursued learning opportunities through multiple programs to best serve clients like you. (And, learner and achiever are in my Top 5 CliftonStrengths, so I am always focused on credentials and learning!) I've also completed an additional 60 hours of asynchronous training as part of that coursework. 

My coach training and practice has covered topics such as: logistical and ethical elements of coaching, building trust with clients, deepening the client experience, coaching leaders to create a positive and equitable culture, group coaching, exploring somatic awareness and mindfulness via coaching, and designing a transformative group coaching experience by creating connection and an inclusive learning environment. My training with Gallup focused on the CliftonStrengths assessment, and my training with Designing Your Life delved deep into the Designing Your Life tools and methodology. 

Many clients I work with appreciate this diverse blend of knowledge and experience. To date, I have engaged in more than 100 coaching hours in individual and group coaching sessions with clients including early career professionals, higher education staff, higher education faculty, nonprofit professionals, new managers, and professionals in other fields.

I expect to achieve the International Coaching Federation’s Associate Certified Coach Credential soon.