90% of coaching is self-coaching
A cherry can’t grow without the pit. The drupe works because it uses the pit as instigation, a foundation to go forward from.
The same is true for the way most of us engage with a coach. That basketball coach screaming from the sidelines? There’s no way the player can hear what he’s saying. That’s okay. The shift is happening inside.
And the coaching that happens with a good boss or inside a program like the altMBA? The theory is the same. Your preparation for an upcoming meeting, the voice in your head as you think about your choices, the knowledge that you’re accountable for your actions–all of these end up weaving into the future version of you.
It’s entirely possible to coach yourself. To develop internal habits and standards that help you ratchet forward, drip by drip. But when you find yourself alone in a “co” working space, or isolated from good leadership, or wondering about what’s next, it might just be a signal that you’re missing the 10% from the core, the seed that you can build on and then internalize.
Sooner or later, all motivation is self motivation. And the challenge and opportunity is in finding the external forces that will soon become internal ones.