Spotting Spotted Frogs

When you’re out in the wild (read – a swampy park with your kid), sometimes the only reason you see a creature is because it moved and you were still enough to catch the movement. Frogs are designed to be camouflaged and they are not easy to spot unless you are very still and very aware. Frogs don’t move when their surroundings are busy or loud – you have to give them space and quiet. When you are lucky enough to notice the movement and see where they land, they suddenly become very obvious and you'll soon notice frogs of varying colours, shapes, patterns and sizes. 

I was coached the other day and I went into the session not really knowing what I would talk about. What I came out with, was an action plan to move forward on something that had really been annoying me and the energy to follow through on the plan. As a Coach, I find that sometimes, people put pressure on themselves to come prepared for the session and have a specific topic they would like to dive into. What I learned in that session last week was the power of showing up fully present but not fully ‘prepared’. Had I been ‘prepared’, I might have consciously chosen a different topic but not gotten as far as I needed to. The freedom to explore was a gift.

Why am I putting ‘prepared’ in quotes (insert obscure ‘Say Anything’ reference here) - because I’d like to mark the difference between feeling like you need to know exactly what you want to discuss and what you need the outcome to be versus showing up, bringing your whole self to the discussion and being open to what will bring you the most value at that particular moment in time. Let the Coach do what they do best. 

‘Prepared’ = Pressure

Prepared = Present 

It was only when I was given the space to be and the time to reflect that I was able to see the (annoying) forest for the trees and really move forward on something that had been blocking my forward momentum. I’ve had Coachees be surprised with what they were able to move forward on in a coaching session but it was a great reminder that I could be surprised and delighted with what I was able to uncover and what I was able to push out of the way to get where I needed to go.

It is important to show up ready to do the work and in a good space to explore but what would releasing the pressure to show up ‘prepared’ allow you to explore?