Coaching Yourself for Tomorrow

In coaching, we talk a lot about Planting Seeds. It is one of our favourite metaphors.

Coaching is about Planting Seeds

As a coach, your goal during a coaching conversation is not to perfectly wrap and deliver a gift. Instead, your aim is to help your coachee plant and water seeds of knowledge and insight. 

The most effective coaching does not come in the form of a perfect answer that solves all problems or a finite rule that assuages all conflict. The most effective coaching conversations can be messy and non-linear. They can end on a positive note or a challenging one. Every coaching conversation looks different. 

Planting Seeds for Yourself

We can also think about Planting Seeds in a different way. Like all coaching tools, they can be used effectively in conversations with ourselves as much as with coachees.

So, when you think about the context of self-coaching, what could Planting Seeds look like? It means that we do things in the present that will serve us in the future. When you take a course, you are planting a seed. When you go for a run, you are planting a seed. That time you picked up the phone and called your sister? Seed planted. Whether we are supporting ourselves through healthy habits, empowering ourselves with new skills or fostering stronger connections, planting small seeds along the way is key to making positive changes.

And Why does this matter now?

We mentioned messy and non-linear above, and the messiness of recent months lead us to think deeply about Planting Seeds. Specifically, we asked ourselves, Had we been able to foresee now, what would you have done differently then? What would our priorities have been a year ago? What seeds would we have planted when we had the chance?

We asked ourselves those questions, and then we shifted our lens. Today is tomorrow’s yesterday after all, and every day is a new opportunity to plant seeds. So let’s ask ourselves, what seed will we plant now to grow our flowers, grass and trees of tomorrow? We’ve spent nearly a year seeing the world in a new way and experiencing our lives in new ways. What will we do differently? What seeds can you plant today, now that you have the chance?

Whether your seeds will build more connection in your future, increase the support you give young people, or empower yourselves and others, we can’t wait to see what grows in your gardens.