Cre8tivecoach is designed to help people who are seeking specific advice for professional , academic or creative issues.
I am an experienced teacher and mentor and over the years have developed a set of very practical techniques and exercises to help my students and clients solve problems or overcome blockages that are stopping them achieve.
For example, I can offer a series of practical exercises that will help you to understand the skills and abilities that you already have – the ones that you have on hand right now – and by exploring these skills, help you to gain the confidence to use those skills effectively in new and dynamic ways.
This is about problem-solving and self-knowledge. It has nothing to do with psychotherapy or counselling, which may be helpful or not depending on your personal situation. You are already fully aware that as a highly educated person, you already have a lot of knowledge about your subject.
However, you may feel that this knowledge is so specialized that it is not very useful outside of the subject or indeed outside of the academic context. But I’m here to remind you that no knowledge is ever wasted. What you already know can be a catalyst for other kinds of understanding. And there is also a lot of knowledge that you have forgotten that you have.
Through these exercises you will learn to access this knowledge and come up with innovative ways of using it effectively.
In any case, the extensive process you went through to gain all your academic accolades your academic education You developed a unique and valuable set of skills Essentially you have learned how to learn
It is time to get to know these skills and in the process get to know yourself better
The exercises I devised over several years, starting when I was writing my first book. By the time that I was preparing for my Ph.D. viva-voce (thesis defence) I realised how useful this process was. After the viva, I began developing these techniques more purposefully.
I have shared some of the techniques with friends, but I felt it was worthwhile to sit down and write up these techniques in a systematic way so that I can share them more widely, because they worked for me. Some of them incorporate teachings I gained from others, and this will be acknowledged.
*please be reminded that Creative Coaching is NOT therapy or psychoanalysis or psychiatry. Creative Coaching is a self-exploration tool and mentoring relationship aimed at enhancing your life.
Recommended reading
The book that I have used as a personal guide over the past year is The Power Of Now by Eckhart Tolle. Nothing I’m going to say here, or in the exercises, has anything to do with spirituality. (Not only am I not really interested in it, but I also believe that spirituality is a really personal thing and is up to you to work it out and I can’t help you with that.)
What’s useful about The Power Of Now is that it encourages you to focus on the here and now and to understand that what’s past is past: you can learn from it, but it doesn’t define you. And that the future hasn’t happened yet. The only thing you can actually change is the moment you’re in right now. If you create change in your present, and it will help to shape your future. You acknowledge your past, but also that you are no longer in it.
Occasionally I will address specific issues such as impostor syndrome, – which is very common in highly educated people – and other insecurities that come from past experiences. But for the most part, we will focus on the Now.