I would like to take this opportunity today to write about my motivation to becoming a coach.
When I was 20 I left from Austria to Australia to commence an incredible life of travel, cultural exposure, sport and leisure, luxuries, cosmopolitan cities and rural lifestyle.
Since my initial departure I lived in 15 different countries, mainly in Europe and Asia, and travelled to many more. I was exposed to the incredible pace of Hong Kong and Shanghai, to the shining beauty of Paris, Vienna and Zurich, and to the wild imperfections of Bangkok and the perfections of Singapore.
I worked for global luxury hospitality brands such as Le Meridien, W Hotels, St. Regis, Fairmont and Raffles Hotels. I later was a founding partner of a medical tourism travel agency based in Phuket/Thailand, where we focused on educating and bringing alternative medical treatments to people. In 2009 I participated in a round the world yacht race as a crew on a race boat, and I started my own yachting business in 2018 initially with a crewing marketplace and then later with a brokerage. I also raced Triathlon races including Ironmans for many years. When racing Triathlons I started to understand the impact healthy lifestyle choices can have on my performance as an athlete, business executive, and my relationships with my partner and people around me.
Looking back at my career in business as a senior executive I realize how I could have often benefited from a coach. At that time it wasn’t available to me. Nonetheless, I was determined to be successful in what I desire, and combine a prosperous career with healthy lifestyle choices, balance and positive, energizing relationships with people. And this is how I ended up being coached, and eventually becoming a coach myself.
I would describe myself as an adventurer, a passionate human being, a vivid story teller, and high performer.
Today I work with C-Suite Level Executives, Entrepreneurs or high performers in sports, arts and science. I understand the pressure they face in their daily work. You can think of me as an unbiased professional friend with no hidden agenda who listens to you, and if needed, offers a word of advice. I offer various tools to work with the mind and overcome challenges in life. My passion is to help my clients feel, visualize and live their dream life.
Some time ago I learnt an important lesson - we cannot think ourselves happy. We can only feel ourselves happy. And I think that is something many people including myself until recently got wrong.
[What do I mean by that - we constantly think that we need to do this, or that, to get a feeling of happiness or gratitude. However often what gives us happiness is actually something that doesn’t come to your mind easily.
One example of this is social media. We think that a pretty picture, likes, and comments from others make us happy. However generally it just makes us feel miserable.
So what makes us happy then?
From my experience, and this is supported by many other authors and high achievers, it is something that doesn’t come easy to us. So by tackling something difficult, something wild, something we believe is beyond our abilities, and by overcoming our fears, anxieties and imposter syndromes, we break through our own limitations. And that gives us an incredible feeling of accomplishment, gratitude and eventually happiness.
I can give you one example:
I give you one example - I wake up in the morning, and I start with the hardest task at hand, which is writing. I hate the feeling before I start writing. And I know I hate it. And it’s a big struggle to get to my laptop and write. So I do it first thing in the morning, after my brain was able to slow down for several hours and chill and my daily dose of willpower is 100% available. So with all the willpower I have, I get myself out of bed, I go to my desk, I open my laptop, and I write. And then as time goes by, and I bring my thoughts on paper, I get an intense feeling. An amazing feeling of gratitude, satisfaction, happiness. The rest of my day is so different to when for whatever reason I decided not to write. I am less stressed, I am light hearted, the day goes by easily and full of joy. However now the important part of this lesson - even until today, my brain doesn’t get it. My brain still believes that going shopping, or reading my social media newsfeed, is what makes me happy. Because it’s the instant gratification, the instant shot of dopamine and serotonin, that feels good for a moment, however it doesn’t last! So, every day, I drag myself to the laptop with all the willpower I have to write. And then I feel amazing].
A coach can help with all of this. First it’s not easy to admit to ourselves that what we believe so much makes us happy, actually doesn’t. And second, until we have developed the strong will to deal with ourselves and the instant gratification sickness, a coach or therapist can speed up the process so fast.
So I facilitate self-growth when my clients feel overwhelmed by this process. I aim to introduce clarity and self-motivation and teach techniques to better manage the emotional stress within. I am also a passionate sailor and remain in business as a yachting broker and I lead exclusive masterminds on yachts, small groups, to brainstorm, share, plan and leave re-energized.
Comments