One thing we love above Chislehurst is that there is always something to do, somewhere to go, or someone to help. For a small town, it is full of unique businesses just making life work for all of us in some way or another. One unique and quite fabulous person, making life easier for others, is Lydnsay, who runs Empowered to Achieve. We caught up with her recently to give you all a little insight into her business, Empowered to Achieve.
VC – Hey, Lyndsay, can you tell us a little about what Empowered to Achieve all about?
Lyndsay: Essentially it’s about empowering females to achieve their goals and dreams. Coaching you through change and transition into a new phase of growth. I believe everyone has a purpose and unique gifts and talents that will help you achieve your short and long term goals. Unless we make a plan, life can sometimes just swallow us up and we need a supporter / champion to come alongside us to help inspire, support, fill skills gaps, and refine vision. This is where coaching comes in.
VC – so what is the difference between Life Coaching and Counselling?
Lyndsay: Counselling has many different facets, but is primarily looking at trauma, psychological and mental health concerns in your life. Past and present and working out from the PAST why and how you feel the way you feel. One facet, Cognitive Behaviour Therapies mantra is (I) think, (Therefore I) feel, (Therefore I) behave. Traditional counselling focuses on non judgemental active listening and empathy.
Counselling is mainly introspective and reflective. Questions like how did that make you feel? Which aim to help you feel differently and talk out the problem. Focusing on reflective questions to help aid transformation.
Conversely, coaching is about having a goal to achieve, helping your coachee plan how to move forward, together, setting specific agreed goals to develop new skills and enhance performance In different areas of your life, such as career, relationships or personal growth. It provides you with support and accountability to ensure that the change is sustained.
VC – so what type of coaching services do you offer?
Lyndsay: I offer 1-1 coaching online or in person. Its a weekly appointment, you would usually have a minimum of 6 sessions which last 60mins
As a confidence life coach its my job to help you move forward and progress in areas of your career and personal life that a lack of confidence is hindering. You may need help working on one of the following:-
- do you feel stuck in an area of your life? Are you ready to make a change but dont know where to start? If so coaching could be right for you.
- your self esteem / confidence, your body image.
- you may want a relationship but lack the confidence and know how to date online,
- you may need the confidence, and support to set up a new business Idea, you may want to start a charity but lack the confidence and clarity of where to start.
- you may just want to explore your skills and tallents and find out what opportunities are out there for you.
VC – how do you manage to radiate so much happiness?
Lyndsay – Ahhh what a lovely question. Well I guess I have a deep desire to love people and create community. I have a very idealistic view of the world and humanity and i’m driven by a deep desire to make the world a better place. As I’ve reflected on that question I have to say its not something I was born with. Life was pretty challenging for me in my 20’s and I struggled a lot with my self esteem and confidence. And I had to start doing some work on myself. But there were 2 specific things I started doing. Firstly I started practicing gratitude, which basically means I wrote a list of things I was grateful for. At first it was pretty sparse, I’m grateful for being alive, I’m grateful for my health, I’m grateful for my friends. And as I was saying it I would think of why I’m grateful for those things. I.e I’m grateful for my health because it means I’m pain free, I have mobility, It gives me freedom etc. And I would think about people I knew who were suffering and I would imagine how hard life was for them with their pain. As I continued doing this for 1 month the list grew! Not because my life was any different but because I was changing my value system from the inside out. After about a year It just became habit. I would encourage anyone struggling with negativity to try it, plus it also increases our capacity to empathise! Secondly, I worked hard at trying to treat people with love, I try to leave some mark of happiness / joy with every person that I interact with, because Ive learned in life that when you give of yourself to others it has its own reward of peace.
We loved catching up with Lyndsay. If you feel she could help you or someone you know, her details are below
lyndsay@empoweredtoachieve.co.uk
