Power Tool Assessment Name: Bndicte Rodier Date: July 2012 Student ID: Email: benedicter@gmail.

com

Complete your Power Tool in the space below and then email as an attachment to assessment@icoachacademy.com

Balance vs Imbalance

Balance vs Imbalance
Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep in balance you need to keep moving Albert Einstein. Reading: The aim of this power tool is for you to get clarity around what supports or what impedes your balance. We have all experienced, on one hand, living in an imbalanced life, where: our life pace is hectic; our attention and our love to the people we cherish the most are not of the best quality, it seems that the world is against us finding a balanced life, we need to handle many competing priorities at once, everything seems to be urgent or seems to depend upon us, we do not have one minute to ourselves, our stress level is so high that we do not even recognize our own behavior, our energy level is low, it seems that we are on autopilot rather than taking responsibility for our own life and, finally, where it seems there are no solutions or way out of this imbalance. On the other hand, we also have experienced living in a serene world: enjoying deeply every moment of our life, enjoying dearly the company of our loved ones, experiencing the feeling of being refreshed, happy, light and fulfilled, where we fill in harmony with your environment, where we feel we really belong here, we are authentic, where we are fully living our life rather than seeing it pass in front of our eyes, where we have hopes, plans, where we are looking at our future with a beautiful smile and a positive mindset, where our energy is high, positive, guiding us to experiencing another moment like this. Life is complex and inherently dynamic; it is therefore quite difficult to stay balanced all the time. In fact, we often tend to fall into the vicious circle of imbalance.
Copyright 2006 International Coach Academy Pty. Ltd. Use is governed by the Terms and Conditions at http://www.icoachacademy.com Last updated Feb 2006

Once you know yourself and are aware of what supports you, you can then take responsibility in maintaining your balance and making choices that will support you. The idea is to move away from the obligation to juggle all responsibilities at the same time; and, instead, to continuously rebalance yourself and to discover what and who can support you in your explorative path to a more balanced life. Balance = Self-Awareness + Responsibility Imbalance = Self-Denial + Blame Knowing yourself well and taking responsibility for your choices are keys to successfully achieving life balance. Self Application: Very often we wish to be balanced in our lives but most of the time we end up being imbalanced. The reason being that we choose self-denial instead of selfawareness, we choose delay over action or we do not set precise goals and we feel overwhelmed (see Figure 1 below). In fact, every minute of our days, we are continuously making choices which will get us closer or further to our goal. Therefore, to keep a harmonious life, we need to be responsible for the choices we make. If we give to others the responsibility for our own choices, they may make the wrong choices for us and therefore this lead us to stay

Copyright 2006 International Coach Academy Pty. Ltd. Use is governed by the Terms and Conditions at http://www.icoachacademy.com Last updated Feb 2006

imbalanced.

This figure shows us these daily choices that we may make, effecting a harmonious versus non-harmonious life style. So check-in with yourself. What would your picture of balance look like for you? List which activities you can include in your day to bring about a feeling of balance for yourself. Think of 2 situations when you have blamed others about being imbalanced. Which actions could you take now to recover this balance? Think about what YOU can do to go back to being balanced again. Reflection: Do you know what are your values and priorities in your life? The Energy circle activity: o In a circle, write down how you spend your energy during one day, include all your activities and make sure the size that the activity takes is Draw it on a piece of paper.

Copyright 2006 International Coach Academy Pty. Ltd. Use is governed by the Terms and Conditions at http://www.icoachacademy.com Last updated Feb 2006

the size of the energy it takes from you when you actually accomplish them. o Then in another circle, write down how you wish you would rather spend your energy for one day. o Now compare the 2 circles. What do you see? What does this tell you? o Then you can ask yourself this question: What are you prepared to change in your first circle to make sure that it looks more like the second circle? Find three things that you will change in your life in order to be more balanced. Write them down and put them in a place that you will see regularly during the day (on your fridge, next to your bed, etc.) so that you are reminded of your commitment to yourself. Coaching application: As a coach, you will support your client in: Knowing him/herself well and knowing his/her values Coaching is an excellent way to support your clients self-reflection and self-awareness. The coaching process supports your client by getting clarity on who your client truly is and how your client wants his/her life to be. This self-discovery will not only help your client understand who he/she is, what life balance means to him/her but it also will help your client take steps to stay in-balance. For your client, living a harmonious life is about him/her spending most of his/her time on his/her most important priorities. As a coach, you will help your client find out his/her life balance discrepancy. Reframing your client perspective: Through coaching your client will get clarity on what he/her needs to change. One important thing your client will understand with coaching is that you cannot change people around you but you can change the way you see and perceive things happening around you. Instead of relying on others to support your client with him/her life balance, your client will need to start with him/herself by changing the way he/she perceives and reacts to events or people around him/her.

Copyright 2006 International Coach Academy Pty. Ltd. Use is governed by the Terms and Conditions at http://www.icoachacademy.com Last updated Feb 2006

Recognizing your client Underlying Automatic Commitment (UAC) As a coach, you can help your client to focus on his/her UAC. To support your client in learning what they are and if these UACs are supporting you or not in staying balanced. Finding unique solution for unique people What makes coaching so effective is the fact that the role of a coach is not to give solutions to a client. Your role as a coach is to support your client in finding the best solutions by himself/herself for himself/herself. Since each client is unique and lives in a unique context therefore each solution should be unique. The coaching process should respect this uniqueness in each human being. Helping your client make small but reachable steps To effectively reach his/her life balance, your client will need to plan small steps along the way and make small choices every day. It can be quite overwhelming to only see the goal in itself and not the way to reach it. Coaching will guide your client through this path; will make your clients ultimate goals less overwhelming. You will support them in creating specific rules and by making sure that every day your clients choices lead him/her to his/her desired goal. Develop your support system As a coach, you will help your client identify people around him/her who can support him/her in the long term. This is even more crucial for life balance as it can be easy to move from being balanced to being out of balance. Life balance is not a goal that you reach once and that is all. In reality, it is a constant art of balancing. Therefore, in this art your client will need support from other people in addition to yourself as his/her coach. These people will keep your client accountable, they will know what is important for your client, people your client can trust and who will support him/her in staying in-balance for the long-term. Reflection: As a coach, how do you model being balanced to your client? What behaviors can you put in place as a coach to ensure that you dont impose your own solutions about being balanced to your client?

Copyright 2006 International Coach Academy Pty. Ltd. Use is governed by the Terms and Conditions at http://www.icoachacademy.com Last updated Feb 2006

What role can your balance play in creating a healthy and positive coaching relationship?

References: Banting, Jim. ( 2010). Get a dog, don't work like one: think differently about your work-life balance. Pipe, Steve & Wilson, Elisabeth. ( 2010). Stress proof your business and your life. Sandholtz, Kurt & Derr, Brooklyn & Buckner, Kathy &Carlson, Dawn. ( 2002). Beyond juggling: rebalancing your busy life.

Copyright 2006 International Coach Academy Pty. Ltd. Use is governed by the Terms and Conditions at http://www.icoachacademy.com Last updated Feb 2006