If you are reading this newsletter you have some sort of interest in coaching. You may be considering working with a coach or wanting to find out more about coaching and wonder which method of work would suits you best.
The experiences that lead me to become a coach are rich and diverse. After having used a number of business-like approaches and spiritually driven and more insightful techniques I came to appreciate how opposites tend to complete each other.
It always starts with a goal, an objective to pursue, a dream to realize or a question to answer.
It continues with the choice of a method: SMART goal setting, Tarots or both?
SMART goal setting and Tarot are just two examples that show how many and different ways can be used to tackle your project. Both approaches are really dear to me. They helped me clarify, pursue and realize many dreams and objectives in my life and in my practice with clients.
I learned to use one or the other depending on the situation and only with time I realized how they can be used together effectively.
I personally believe in a fruitful combination between SMART goals setting and Tarots. Like two sides of the same coin they are opposite and complementary and can add value to each other.
(This card is from the deck created for the book of Franca Errani Civita ‘I Venti del Risveglio’)
‘I want to complete my project by the end of this year’ said the manager to the coach.
‘Let’s start by making your goal a SMART goal’, said the coach.
A SMART goal is: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Result oriented and Time framed objective. Expressing an objective in these terms creates the basis for a good realization plan. It enhances clarity and highlights shadow areas.
‘I really want to change my job’ said an unsatisfied clerk to a Tarot coach.
‘Choose one card from the deck’ replied the Tarot coach.
(This card is from the deck created for the book of Franca Errani Civita ‘I Venti del Risveglio’)
Tarot cards are used here as a personal development tool. The Tarot coach facilitates a process through the observation and reflection on the archetypical images provided by Tarots. Tarots cards are evocative images that trigger self-introspection and reveal to you the answer to questions such as: what do you really want and why? What are you afraid of?
SMART goals helped the manager to improve the structure of his project and find the weak areas that needed attention. It all ended very well.
However the manager hasn’t really discovered which aspects of his personality are motivated by this project and which parts are not comfortable with it. There may be a neglected inner child behind the weak areas in the project who may find new ways to be noticed in the future.
The work with the Tarot cards helped the clerk to understand why she wanted another job and lead her to a conscious and well considered decision about her career. She is very satisfied and feels much more serene about her situation.
Nevertheless she still doesn’t have a plan or a clear goal to pursue. She is struggling with the practical side of things and this makes her vulnerable to future dissatisfaction.
SMART goal setting gives an excellent structure to your objective.
Tarots cards can offer a great insight to your motivations and resistances.
You get the solid basis of a logic structure from the SMART model combined with an adventure of personal awareness revealed through the Tarot cards.
You obtain great insight to your current personal experience with the Tarots and you complete it with a sound action plan.
The combination of the two is a fantastic recipe for success.
If your feminine and more intuitive side works together with the male and more rational side in you.
If you can appreciate the gift that each of them has to offer you.
If you can transform the contradiction into a combination.
‘Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it’ (Rudyard Kipling)
When you can include both polarities in your solution you have it all.
The greatest gift this way of working offers you is empowerment.
Empowerment comes from the awareness of the different aspects of your personality involved in the process of realizing your goal, awareness of your inner voices and your ability to manage these energies from an aware space.
Lara Briozzo Jagersma
Copyright 2008 Lara Briozzo-Jagersma – www.larabriozzo.com
