"I’ve been trying to climb Mount Everest in sliders!"

I LOVE imagery! Especially a visual metaphor or analogy, and love to use it, where appropriate, it in my coaching practise.

My clients often come up with amazing imagery of their own, typically alongside a shift in perspective or a ‘light bulb moment’. And, whilst the coaching isn’t about me, I admit that I get a huge buzz from this!

I have recently started coaching a client who is working towards a long-term goal. They came to coaching, because they're struggling to prioritise the work that is needed around this goal.

They keep putting it off.

They're questioning their abilities around it.

They feel stuck.

In our last coaching session, we started to unpick what’s really going on.

*What’s stopping them from prioritising it?

*What’s getting in the way?

*Where are they spending their energy?

*What needs to change?

*What do they need to believe to be able to do this work, to just start?

We spent some time reflecting on their current approach, their beliefs, their reasons (their why) behind working towards this goal. Their expectations. Their current reality.

Towards the end of our session, I asked them: what have you learnt about this situation - what are you taking away?

Their response: “the realisation that I’ve been trying to climb Mount Everest in a pair of sliders!”

In my experience, imagery often supports a client to gain a deeper sense of clarity around their emotions, feelings & ideas. The first step towards transformative change is awareness. Increased self-awareness allows us to see things from a different perspective and empowers us to make decisions that serve us well; that support us to succeed in a way that feels good.

For this client, the awareness that their current approach is unrealistic and exacerbating / feeding their fears - their self-doubt - and debilitating their ability to move forward is a significant shift and something we can take forward in our next session.

How amazing is that?

I’d love to hear from you about:

Your views on using imagery.

How imagery supports you to think about things in a different way.

And, If imagery isn’t your thing, what does support your learning.