40 insights from 40 clients

40 arts professionals hired me to Coach them this year: here are the 40 most inspirational insights I learned from them.

1. Confidence is built on belief.

2. Change is made possible by what is changeless.

3. What got you here won’t get you there.

4. If you feel like an imposter, unmask yourself.

5. The worst case scenario is rarely as bad as the best case scenario is good.

6. Sometimes you just have to begin.

7. You can do anything but not everything.

8. Balance is about what you say no to.

9. You go further with lightness.

10. Ballast is what brings you back when you get knocked.

11. The two most powerful words in coaching: What else?

12. Accountability harnesses action.

13. Creative careers require learning the art of the transition.

14. You are not your job.

15. Our own limiting beliefs are often the biggest thing holding us back.

16. The most impactful behavioural shift you can make is from reactivity to proactivity.

17. There is a difference between what you feel you should do and what you want to do.

18. You can either be strategic, operational or tactical.

19. You’re always either working on the business or in the business.

20. Focus on how you want it to be over what you want to have.

21. This choice isn’t the only choice. Nor the last choice.

22. “Find out who you are; then do it on purpose.” - Dolly Parton

23. Sometimes you just have to outsource motivation.

24. Don’t compare your inside with someone else’s outside.

25. New habits need consistent routine and reduced friction.

26. There is rarely a downside to finding your voice.

27. Sometimes what you need most of all is the stranger who takes your life seriously.

28. If a map isn’t working for you, try a compass.

29. It’s okay to want to use your hard-won skills without calling up any complicated thoughts.

30. ‘Good enough’ can be good enough.

31. “The trust journey of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having fresh eyes.” - Marcel Proust

32. Making a ‘to not do’ list can be more productive than having a ‘to do’ one.

33. If you don’t design your life someone else will design it for you.

34. Coaching brings order to chaos.

35. You may come to realise you’ve never actually been given a really good listening-to.

36. You can’t read the label from inside the bottle.

37. Things are generally worse than you hoped but better than you feared.

38. Life intruding on life is life.

39. Changing career is not about changing what you do but why you do it.

40. “Life moves pretty fast; if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” - Ferris Bueller

PS. Just to be clear, I didn't coach Dolly Parton, Marcel Proust and Ferris Bueller.