Lorren - Your Secret Self Help Coach

My TCA Story

What lead me to coaching? 

I always wanted to help people, especially children, which lead me to obtain qualifications and experience of working within children’s home and school settings for 10 years, however, I didn’t feel fulfilled, and I knew that I wasn’t living to my true potential and purpose in life. I briefly left the Care and School settings to work as a fitness trainer and then as a football coach in the USA. I came across self-development and life coaching when I returned from the USA. I knew that something needed to change in my life and that I wanted to fulfil my dreams of travelling the world and fulfilling my purpose of making a difference to others lives.

"By embracing Life Coaching with fellow coaches and all that I learned along my journey, I have grown on a personal level with regards to my confidence, self-limiting beliefs, self-belief, which in turn made me grow as a coach."

I attended a free Itroduction to Life Coaching event in Birmingham held by The Coaching Academy in March 2019 to learn more about Life Coaching, how it could help my own self-development and possible career interest. It was like an immediate lightbulb moment that this is what I had been searching for, this was my calling for my career and aspirations in life.

How has Life Coaching benefited my life? 

I knew that many internal struggles were holding me back from fulfilling my true potential, which was a result of my childhood experiences/ relationships and further experiences/impact of relationships in my adult life too. I now know that these self-limiting beliefs impacted my self-esteem, confidence, self-worth, self-belief; resulting in me being quite a quiet, reserved, shy child, who was struggling with being my true self and fulfilling my true potential, both within my childhood and my adulthood too.

By embracing Life Coaching with fellow coaches and all that I learned along my journey, I have grown on a personal level with regards to my confidence, self-limiting beliefs, self-belief, which in turn made me grow as a coach, helped to raise my awareness of who I truly am, my true potential, my true self, and not only enhanced my relationship with myself but also with others too. It also helped me to believe in myself and believe that I can achieve my desires and purpose in life.

It helped to raise my awareness of how determined, driven and motivated I am to take steps towards achieving my goals and dreams, whilst also enhancing my skills/ strengths of being an active listener, building rapport and using my empathetic nature to put others at ease.

"I truly believe that Life Coaching is my calling in life, as it will enable me to bring together and utilise my skills, life experiences, strengths, and knowledge to help others to make a difference in their lives. "

How did the qualification slot into my busy life?

I worked full-time whilst studying for the Life Coaching Diploma, so I had to adapt my studying time during the week by blocking out time for studying, to ensure that I maintained a good work/life balance, without burning myself out. There were a few occasions that I utilised my practice coaching sessions with fellow coaches to come up with a plan of action to help with slotting my qualification in with my busy life.

What is the most rewarding part of your coaching journey?

I truly believe that Life Coaching is my calling in life, as it will enable me to bring together and utilise my skills, life experiences, strengths, and knowledge to help others to make a difference in their lives. The most rewarding part is seeing the impact that Life Coaching has on people who I have coached by raising their awareness and addressing their self-limiting beliefs, reframing their mindset, noticing positive changes in their confidence, self-belief, self-worth, overall well-being, which in turn meant the session outcomes were positive with them achieving their actions and goals.

All of this also happened to me during my coaching journey, and I ended up achieving a Distinction in my Life Coaching Diploma, which is a huge achievement for me. I grew up with the belief that I wasn’t clever enough, good enough, worthy enough to have the life that I desired and also that I didn’t even deserve to achieve my dreams, true potential and purpose. All of these beliefs developed from such a young age due to the impact of others, my experiences etc, which held me back in my school life, grades, sports achievements, relationships, friendships, job roles/ career progression.  It is rewarding knowing that I can walk my talk and the potential impact that my personal coaching story/ journey could have on someone who resonates with my journey and wants to work towards making positive changes in their life.

How am I using my coaching skills within the work that I do?

My empathetic and open approach has helped me to gain rapport, whereby I utilise my coaching skills to empower my coachees, which is established by listening to what is and isn’t being said then asking powerful, thought-provoking questions to raise their awareness, bringing about AHA moments and the positive changes that I described in the previous question.

I also make sure that I keep in mind what I have learnt about DISC Personality Profiling, Sensory Preferences, Values and Beliefs, and Life Coaching in general so that I have that understanding, non-judgemental, open approach, whereby I don’t get drawn into giving any advice, and just focus on what is and isn’t being said.

What’s the biggest area of Coaching that I am curious about and why? 

I have always been interested in the human mind and behaviour, so I am very curious about DISC Personality Profiling and Sensory Preferences, as both can really give you a good understanding of how people communicate and learn. I am currently studying to become a Neuro-Linguistic Programming Practitioner, so I am curious about how this can fit in with my Life Coaching approach.

What advice would I give to someone wanting to pursue a Life Coaching career?

I recommend doing your research and book a discovery call with a Life Coach, who you know, like and trust, in order to gain a full understanding of Life Coaching, what it is and what it isn’t. Attending some sort of workshop, like the one I attended with TCA is also a great way to get a feel of whether Life Coaching is something that you would like to pursue as a career.

I think that it is really important to invest in some Life Coaching and to go full in with your own Life Coaching journey; embrace and trust the process, be open, curious and flexible. Also take the time to think about whether it is aligned with your why, your purpose, your desires/ dreams, your values. If it is then just go for it.

What are the best resources that helped me along my coaching journey?

There are a few great self-development and Life Coaching books that I read; 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, Chimp Paradox by Steve Peters, Do it or Ditch It by the CEO of TCA, Bev James. I also found the work of Jay Shetty and Mel Robbins to be a really helpful resource. I was really impressed with the resources supplied by TCA and their trainers, and one of the best resources was the valuable practice that I did with fellow coaches.

Who do you want to be when lockdown is over?  

Would you like to make a positive and lasting difference to others, just like Lorren does?

Would you like to have a coaching business you can run from the comfort of your own home?  The free Introduction to Life Coaching training sessions are available for you to join. They are interactive, informative and designed to help you understand if training to be a life coach is for you.

Take positive action, project forward and plan for a year to remember for all the right reasons. Choose from available dates here.