Life Coaching...

Before you start laughing, thinking I’ve gone off the deep end and gotten caught up with some pseudo-con artist, hear me out.

 

At one of my NAPW chapter meetings this summer, we heard from a life coach on reclaiming time and making one’s well-being a priority. Her name is Dana Samardzich and she gave a fantastic presentation (here’s her website http://optimalbalancecoaching.com/). I came away with lots of tips that I knew but it’s not bad to be reminded and many tips I hadn’t thought of.  I got several good websites for getting organized from her. It was a great evening.

 

She had an evaluation form for us to fill out. There was a space to indicate whether or not we’d like to take her up on a complimentary coaching session. There was a box for “yes” and box for “no”. For people who know me well, the fact that I wrote in “maybe” would probably not surprise them.

 

It was weeks before we made contact. I was on vacation a couple times at the end of Aug (Gen Con and Star Wars Celebration VI). I came back to work for a couple weeks and then had a trip to IA to see family. Somewhere in that craziness, Dana and I made an appointment to talk when I was in IA.

 

I already had an idea of what I’d like to discuss with her. Budgeting. Ugh. It’s been a theme God has been showing me (bombarding) lately. I was briefly out of debt this year. Notice something about that last sentence. Hint—the operative word is “was”. I haven’t dug too big a hole but I accomplished a goal that had become a chore. I built up in my mind that if I got of debt, suddenly everything would be fixed. That was not the case. Yes, I got out of debt but I didn’t change the way I thought of money; I didn’t really change my attitude. I put Band-Aids on the situation instead of doing surgery and dealing with the underlying issue.

 

So I talked with Dana for an hour and she had some great ideas, helpful websites, and a lot to think about. At the end she asked if I wanted to continue with coaching. I had to think and pray about it. I formed a plan for the next three months and decided to start doing coaching with her the first of the next year.

 

Between now and then I’m going to put a couple things together:

 

1.    I want to answer some questions. Why do I want to be out of debt? What do I want to do after I’m out of debt? Where am I putting my trust? Why am I having such a hard time sticking to a budget? What are my weaknesses? Where do I waste money? What areas am I doing well in? Honestly, the I’m scared to ask the questions because I’m not sure I want to know the answers.

2.    Track spending for the rest of the year (at least), and not just bills-everything. Seven days in Oct and I’m sucking at this goal.

3.    Set up a new budget to reflect changes in income and bills. Haven’t made any progress there yet.

4.    Check out mint.com One of the few things I have done-very cool website!

5.    Borrow Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover from a friend and read. Have the book; haven’t started reading.

 

That’s a lot to do in three months. Oh yeah, and I need a new car still. That’s really my first priority. I don’t have enough saved to pay cash, but I do have a chunk in savings for it.

 

Sites I’m checking out: thesimpledollar.com, getrichslowly.org, mint.com, Dave Ramsey’s site and Crown Financial’s website. I’ve got to look at my goals and dreams, both short term and long term. What do I want my path to be the next three months, six  months, year, two years, five years. What do I want for my financial house? How can I get myself organized and more thoughtful about my spending?

 

The biggest thing I’m looking forward to with Dana is firm accountability. I have had great friends help me quite a lot in the past. Derek and Natalie helped me starting out when I took the Financial Crown course years ago. Those two really are amazing and even through I’m not where I want to be, I credit a lot of my success to God bringing them into my life. Jessica, Hilary, Tamara, Melissa & Aaron, Medina, Kathie and others have been good support over the years. They’re my friends, my brothers & sisters in Christ and I love them. But I need objective and not as friendly accountability.

 

I’m praying for God to give me the desire to change, the desire to discern wants from needs, and the desire to exercise restraint. And now that I’ve written it all done to organize my thoughts, it seems like more than I thought. It’s a little paralyzing. I’m also going to pray the Holy Spirit grants me peace and reminds me I have victory in Jesus.