Why have I asked my coach to inflict pain on me?

I’ve just done something very stupid. Yes, incredibly stupid. I have asked my coach to inflict pain on me on a daily basis over the next 14 days. Seriously. The problem is, (deep breath for confession time) I have let myself get disorganised. I’ve had the luxury of not having a boss for the last four years and so got used to doing my own thing, when I want, how I want. When you don’t have much going on, you can keep everything in your head. But, I’m not in that situation now. I have A LOT going on. There are many, many, many balls being chucked up in the area. Probably 12 months ago I recognised that my lack of structure and focus on the to do list was causing me grief. My chief organiser, Lisa, has helped me massively and gives me an element of organisation. In fact, Lisa has saved my bacon, many, many, many times. But I need more than this, to truly get organised. Which is why I have asked my coach to make my life very, very painful. Changing an ingrained habit is tough and takes inner discipline. Your habit may be staying late at work, whilst telling your loved ones that you will make more time to be at home with them. However, until you have sufficient motivation to change this habit, it’s not going to change. If you have got disorganised like me (and the irony isn’t lost on me…) then how about downloading from our free career kitbag one of our many time management tools and our weekly planner.  So, what’s my motivation? Very simply, if I don’t get more focused and organised about what I WILL achieve in a day and week, I’m never going to stop taking on too much. Which doesn’t then get done. Which then leads to me not being at my best and things slipping through the cracks. If I am going to achieve my business goals which then facilitate my personal and professional goals, this is one habit I need to change. What’s my coach going to do, which is going to cause me SO much pain? I’ve asked her to keep me accountable to me writing a to do list for the next day, for 2 weeks. I am sending her this to do list, and if she doesn’t receive it, she will nag me. Firstly via Skype, email and text. THEN, if I fail to respond, she will tweet about me letting her down. Yikes. That’s the beauty of working with an external coach. They can give you the challenge you need, particularly when the relationships around you have got perhaps a little too cosy… If you would like a free step-by-step guide to getting your firm to pay for a coach for you, then download it from our Career Kitbag. If you have got disorganised like me (and the irony isn’t lost on me…) then how about downloading from our free career kitbag one of our many time management tools and our weekly planner. Author Credit: Written by Heather Townsend. I help professionals become the ‘Go To Expert’. I am the co-author of ‘How to make partner and still have a life‘ and the author of the award-winning and bestselling book on Networking, ‘The FT Guide To Business Networking‘. To find out whether I can help you, have a look at “our services” Connect with me on Google+, LinkedIn and Twitter