Ambereen coaches a client drowning in deadlines, parent care, and anniversary planning. The strategy: break each task into concrete steps, delegate ruthlessly, and use AI for the presentation deck. The client commits to calling her sister in 15 minutes and leaves feeling calm.
Imagine the panic when my client enters our coaching session saying, "Parent-teacher conference, a work deadline, planning an anniversary, and my elderly parents." I look up at her and I say, "That's a lot to be intentional about this upcoming week." Said, "I'm so happy you're here ready to do the work, and the best part is our topic of conversation today is productivity." Hey, if we've never met, my name is Ambereen, and as a family-driven coach, it is my honor and privilege to help you make your family development a priority. Continue listening until the end to hear how this magnificent story and coaching session unfolds. My intention was to make it a working session, so she has all the steps and action items that she needed to succeed. I asked her this question, I said, "When was the time that you felt you were really productive? What were you doing then?" She, of course, took me down memory lane and by the end of it felt extremely inspired. I said to her, "Hey, so it seems like you asked for help. Who can you ask for help when it comes to making sure that your parents' needs this week are met?" I saw a smile on her face. She said, "My sister is flying down to attend the anniversary celebration. I can definitely ask her to step up a little bit and help with mom and dad." Perfect. Now the question— my follow-up question was, —when are you going to make sure that you can ask for that help? Because she knows if she doesn't set the time to do it, it won't get done. She said, "Hey Ambereen, I've got 15 minutes right after our call today. I'll call her right then." Wonderful! One down, three to go, I said to her. What seems like the most important area to focus on next? She took a deep breath and a pause and said, "Definitely work." As an executive director, she was responsible for a team of 8 directors and 55 teammates. I said, "Let's get— let's go there then, let's go. Before we get started though," I told her, "let's realign." And by now she knew what that meant. So we took some deep breaths to make sure that we can bring awareness and focused intentionality to make sure that she had what she need to really be the best leader for her team. "Tell me a little bit more about this project and where you feel things may not be on track to successfully meet the deadline," I asked her. She said, "Tedious work, like putting together a presentation deck." She was dependent on her team of directors to provide her the information that she needed to really be able to formulate this deck. So I asked her, "When is that deadline?" She said, "Tuesday, so tomorrow." This is what we did then. We began to create a custom-made solidified plan just for her to make sure everything stays on track. The customized plan first consistent of her reminding and having conversation with her team later today about the expectations for the deadline on Tuesday. Then she would follow it up with an email, making it solidified and concrete to let them know what's expected from them. Next, she would use the magic of AI to really create a customized deck. Which would allow her to leverage all of the resources and all of the data from her team to make sure that she's actually providing the best information to her leadership team. Now, she took a deep sigh and said, "Ambereen, you're the best! I love working with you." The greatest part of this story? She had 2 days to perfect it. To make it customized, to make it personalized, to make sure that her leadership team had the correct information that she needed to set the whole team up for success. Now, that makes me feel good too, even though I'm not doing her work. Just knowing that as a coach, I could play a role in setting up the whole team for success is truly something that I am grateful for. Up next, anniversary planning. She was already zooming in to find out where her husband, friends, and sister could really step up. You see, working with me, she realized that it takes a ton of courage to ask for help. So what do we do? She said, "My friend can take care of working with a party planner to really, you know, tie in any loose ends that she sees." My husband can pick the guests up from the airport and drop them off to the hotel rooms. And as for my sister, she loves cooking, so Wednesday and Thursday she'll be cooking to make sure that our family is fed, and my kids love a good meal from Auntie. Things were moving forward. In coaching, we know action creates momentum. The only thing left on the list now was was parent-teacher conferences. As I asked her to journal on this topic and this challenge, she began to feel guilt. Why? Because she didn't really keep up with her kiddo's school until she logged into the portal when I asked her to. She realized that, hey, there's only one area of concern That's si in French. What came next? An open and transparent conversation with her kid to ask what's really going on there. So on Tuesday morning over breakfast, she would sit down with her kiddo and see where she can be of support to make sure that the 8th grader was set up for success and she knew exactly how to handle that situation with the teacher. Exciting stuff, right? As the session was coming to an end, I chuckled and I said to her, "Simple, right?" She looked up at me and said, "Ambereen, you sure have a gift of making it look that way. I came in 45 minutes ago in a state of panic, and now I feel calm and ready for the week." If any part of my client's story resonates, I'm going to encourage you to click on the link in the description to book a complimentary call. Spots are very limited and I am extremely intentional about the people I work with. So if you're somebody who wants to explore coaching, who wants to take your life, your family, your career, your wellbeing to the next level, to really elevate holistically, go ahead and book that complimentary call to make sure that you too can be part of the transformation and the change that your family wants to see. Until next time, sending you a ton of umberji. And a whole lot of love and light.
