You’re moping along the dusty road when you come across me on a yellow sunchair, beaming merrily at the sun.
I jump up and grin delightedly at you. “Hi there, sweetie! Why do you look so glum?”
You say, I’m so pathetic. I don’t know if I should be an inner penguin coach any more.
“Oh, why?”
Well, I thought I was pretty damn good at my work. I’ve helped lots and lots of people find and connect with their inner penguin. But…
“But what?”
But I realised that I haven’t been able to get in touch with my OWN inner penguin for weeks. Maybe months! How on earth can I claim to be the inner penguin coach when I’ve lost touch with my own inner penguin?
“Are your clients still telling you that they’re getting good results?”
Yes, actually I’ve gotten my framework a bit clearer and they’re getting lots of benefit from it. But why can’t I do it for myself? I must be stupid or something!
“No, you’re just human.”
Huh?
“Think about it this way for a second. Inside your mind there are all the well-honed skills you use to help your clients find and cuddle their inner penguin, right?”
Right.
“And to do your work you assess your client, you make some observations, and then start using those tools to help them.”
Well, more or less, although…
“Close enough?”
Sure.
“So how do you do that first assessment stage?”
Well, I take a step back and examine the places in their outer lives where their inner penguin is missing. And then I use that to trace back into their spirit…
“Okay, cool. So explain how you could step outside of yourself – while still bringing all of your skills and tools – in order to complete the first examination.”
I… oh. That would be almost impossible.
“Yes. And that’s why you can do this for almost anyone, but not yourself. It’s an important idea: you can’t read the label from inside the jar.”
Does this happen to everyone?
“Yeah, pretty much. I have this conversation a lot.”
Does it happen to you?
“Oh hells yes. For example, I have my Kickass Naming Service… I can frictionlessly and delightfully name any offering and I usually get it done in less than an hour. Unless I’m trying to name one of my offerings, in which case it can take days. In the past, it’s taken weeks. And that’s just one simple task!”
So what do you do about it?
“I hire people. I buy coaching and resources. I get the help of other people to read the label on my jar.”
Is this why people always say to never trust a coach who doesn’t have a coach?
“Nice! It’s a big one, yes.”
Am I always going to need someone else to help me with myself?
“You might not need them all the time, but yeah. At least, for the work that you can’t get done from the inside.”
So I’m not a doofus after all!
“Nope, you’re not. Wanna go get an icecream?”
And so we do.
Want some help from someone outside the jar? Goddamn Radiant and I are standing by.
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