Last night I started to think about why people come to me for life coaching and one of the common reasons is that you feel you are at a crossroads in your life? So it started me thinking about why you might be there, what it’s like there and what you can do to ensure you get on the right road so that’s what this blog is about.

People get to a crossroads in their lives for all manner of reasons. I found myself at that place 8 years ago just before I left my job in the NHS. So as in my case it was about my career, for others it may be a long term relationship that is no longer fulfilling. Others find themselves at the crossroads after being made redundant or after a divorce. For others an illness, for example breast cancer, has made them sit up and think about their lives. And finally there are the many women who have devoted themselves to bringing up their families, the families leave home and the woman is left thinking “What Now?”

Being at the crossroads may be scary, it may be exciting or a combination of both. It can also be confusing and uncertain: “Which way do I go?” But what’s absolutely certain is that it’s a place of choice and that’s what’s exciting but also scary “What if I make the wrong choice?” And it’s unknown and unexplored. We feel much safer in the places we know even if we’re not particularly happy because we’re familiar with it and understand the rules.

This is the very stuff of life coaching and what I find so exciting. A life coach works alongside the client helping her clarify her values, discover what’s important to her, get to know herself better so that she can best make the choices she wants to make, see where it is she wants to go, plan the route to get there and then get into action.

It is for all of you who are at that crossroads that I am running my “What Next?” programme starting in January; a series of 6 x 2 hour early evening workshops which will help you take the right direction. It will be held at Zenchi Clinic, near Tarporley in Cheshire. Please call me to find out more or come to our open evening on Jan 12th at 6.30 at Zenchi or to book on click here.

I have just been shortlisted for the New Business of the Year Network She business awards and I’m very excited about it. But it’s really made me think about the meaning of success and as someone rightly said to me today there is no universal measure of success. And I honestly thought that to get a chance to win an award like this it was about big profits etc. But it’s not, it’s about hard work and graft and no one can accuse me of not doing that!

But you know it’s much more than that .. when I started to reflect on my own success it was about the journey I’ve been on and what I’ve had to overcome to get to where I am now. But I don’t want this to be about me, I want you to start thinking about what success is for you. Because I know that for some people who are suffering from depression for example getting out of bed and getting dressed is a success, for others it is having the courage to go out. And I know that there are women who visit my site who may have suffered postnatal depression, breast cancer or are going through divorce who feel anything but successful. There are so many things in our lives that can make us feel failures and we feel unworthy but I want you to define your own criteria for success today because you deserve it.

My top tips for discovering your success:-
• Set yourself a small goal every day, not a great big shopping list. Did you achieve it? Then that is success
• Look back over the last few years of your life? Have you overcome adversity in some way/ have you moved towards your life goals? Then that is success
• Have you made decisions over the last few years that have made a positive impact on your life? Then that is success.

And I’d love to hear about your success so please tell me your story.