I signed up two weeks later for the NLP Practitioner and Life Coaching Diploma. I took my NLP Practitioner within 3 months staying in the beautiful Latimer Place amongst amazing people and amazing trainers in the warm sunshine last Summer where we were able to practise our newly acquired NLP tools and techniques. I completed my Life Coaching Diploma in 9 months and was awarded a Distinction. I was starting to get itchy feet with the thoughts of my personal development and learning coming to an end so I upgraded to the Protégé Programme. I completed my Small Business Diploma within 7 months and was awarded another Distinction. And I have just received a third Distinction for my Corporate & Executive Programme.
My top tips for gaining Distinction are to follow the checklists, read the recommended books and to keep listening to the webinars especially the webinars on how to qualify - as each time listening I have learnt something new that I didn’t hear the first-time round. I have booked onto Coaching within Education in October.
One of the selling points of the Protégé Course for me was the free coaching programme by one of the top trainers at The Coaching Academy. I choose the amazing Ann Skidmore and I am having a combination of coaching and mentoring with Ann. On my first mentoring session with Ann, she mentored me on Twitter and how to send tweets, how to like tweets, how to follow people, how to retweet and how to ‘hashtag’! Ann gave me Twitter ‘homework’ to start tweeting and now I can’t believe I am sending tweets and Ann Skidmore is following me! My second mentoring session with Ann was equally as beneficial as my first as she gave me fantastic feedback on my website page by page before it launched.
One of the highlights of my coaching journey so far has been going to the ExCel Centre in London to see Tony Robbins with one of my NLP fellow students who I met through The Coaching Academy. Another highlight for me must be the Small Business WhatsApp Group and monthly Skype call we have set up amongst ourselves where we brainstorm and offer each other tips, suggestions, support and ideas. We even managed to get one of our trainers Adrian Webb on board and I must say as a newly qualified Small Business Coach, I am in awe of Adrian’s wisdom and knowledge. Thank you, Adrian! I have also set up a coaching community meet up with another fellow student from The Coaching Academy in Epsom, Surrey local to where we all live. We meet the third Thursday of every month in The Rubbing House which sits on the world-famous Epsom Downs Racecourse. We are growing in numbers and please feel free to join us every month to share good practice and communal learning.
Going forward now that I have some amazing qualifications behind me and my website up and running I will really focus on my coaching and mentoring with Ann, you will see me on the CPD days as another perk of the Protégé Course is that all of the wonderful CPD days are included. I have started to put more time and energy into self-reflection and becoming clear on where I want my business to be in the next one year, three years and five years. To become clearer, I have started revisiting The Coaching Academy tools of Be/Do/Have, The Wheel of Life, The Business Wheel of Success, Urgent Important Matrix, Thought Sheet & Vision Boards. I have two Vision Boards – one for my coaching business and one for my personal life as we should all know by this stage that personal goals drive business goals.
The power of coaching and personal development is addictive. After taking a career break 7 years ago when my eldest was born, I have now found my calling in life. To use some coaching lingo, I have broken down my one-year plan into bite sized pieces and 'I will begin with the end in mind'.
*Miriam is a passionate coach at Miriam Cuddihy Coaching.
If Miriam's words have inspired you and you feel that Coaching could be a potential full or part time opportunity for you, or if you would just like to know a little more about what Coaching is and how it can benefit you and the lives of others, please contact our Specialist Course Advisor, Jamil on 0208 996 4830 or email: Jamil@the-coaching-academy.com
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