Take Time for Your Life - Hardcover

Richardson, Cheryl

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0767902068 ISBN 13: 9780767902069

Publisher: Broadway, 1998

Synopsis

Live the life you've always dreamed of! America's #1 personal coach offers an inspiring, practical seven-step program to help you create the life you want.

Imagine finding time to do all the things you want to do.  Having plenty of energy for family and friends.  Having control over your income and finances.  Taking care of your physical and emotional well-being.  If you feel as though the life you're living doesn't reflect your true priorities and is leaving you stressed out and unfulfilled, you're not alone.  Cheryl Richardson--the  leader in the new field of personal coaching, what she calls "a personal trainer for the soul"--has helped thousands of people make changes toward living a high-quality life, and in Take Time for Your Life she offers her step-by-step program so you can too.  

If you're tired of living a life that feels out of control and are ready to live life on your own terms--while still meeting your responsibilities--get ready to take action! Packed with useful exercises, checklists, concrete advice, client success stories, personal anecdotes, and a wealth of resources, Cheryl Richardson's seven-step program shows you how to identify and eliminate the things in life that are draining you and replace them with the things that fuel you.  She gives you permission to put yourself at the top of your list.  By doing so, you will find not only more energy and more enthusiasm but also that your relationships, your finances, your work, and your sense of well-being are improved and better balanced.  

Whether you're a corporate executive working sixty hours a week, a single parent trying to raise a family, someone starting his or her own business, or going back to school, Take Time for Your Life shows you how to step back, regain control, and make conscious decisions about the future you'd like to create.  Richardson's strategies for overcoming the obstacles that block you from living the life you want will help you discover a world in which your priority list reflects your true desires.  Take time for your life--and begin living a life that you love.

About this title

About the Author

Cheryl Richardson was voted one of the top ten coaches in America in 1997 by readers of The Professional Coach magazine.  She co-created the "Body and Soul" conferences sponsored by New Age magazine and is one of the most sought-after motivational speakers in the country.  Richardson is also the chairman of Interface, an international holistic education center.  She lives in Newburyport, Massachusetts, with her husband.

From the Back Cover

Advance Praise for Take Time for Your Life:

"Cheryl Richardson is a wise and loving woman. Her advice is as excellent as it is fun to read."
--Marianne Williamson, author of The Healing of America and A Return to Love

"Cheryl Richardson's Take Time for Your Life offers readers simple, easy-to-follow steps that help you replace life's anchors with sails. Cheryl shows you how to create a life you love, where you have more fun, money, and control."
--James O'Shaughnessy, author of How to Retire Rich

"With so much stimuli coming at us from every direction, we all could use some grounding and direction to help us get the most from our lives. We can learn the tricks from a master--Cheryl Richardson spent years as a personal coach and put together her best insights in this inspirational, easy-to-read, and clear book. Anyone who wants off the treadmill and into a purposeful life ought to pick it up."
--Janet Luhrs, author of The Simple Living Guide

"Take Time for Your Life encapsulates and shares Cheryl Richardson's coaching journey in a practical, easy-to-use guide that challenges the reader to live their life with integrity and meaning. She can coach me anytime--in fact she does!"
--Lama Surya Das, author of Awakening the Buddha Within

"As modern life becomes evermore dizzying, we all need a little coaching just to get through the day, let alone find our soul places. In Take Time for Your Life, Cheryl Richardson has given us the self-help book for the new millennium."
--David Thorne, publisher, New Age Journal and Andrew Weil's Newsletter

From the Inside Flap

e you've always dreamed of! America's #1 personal coach offers an inspiring, practical seven-step program to help you create the life you want.

Imagine finding time to do all the things you want to do. Having plenty of energy for family and friends. Having control over your income and finances. Taking care of your physical and emotional well-being. If you feel as though the life you're living doesn't reflect your true priorities and is leaving you stressed out and unfulfilled, you're not alone. Cheryl Richardson--the leader in the new field of personal coaching, what she calls "a personal trainer for the soul"--has helped thousands of people make changes toward living a high-quality life, and in Take Time for Your Life she offers her step-by-step program so you can too.

If you're tired of living a life that feels out of control and are ready to live life on your own terms--whi

Reviews

Personal coaching is establishing itself in the arena of self-help. In Cracking the Love Code (LJ 11/15/97), Janet O'Neal guided readers through the world of love. Now another personal coach, a motivational speaker and the chair of Interface (a holistic education center), attempts to coach her readers through areas of their lives that trouble them. Each chapter includes a brief overview and case studies, followed by the all-important "take action!" sections where Richardson outlines exactly what actions are necessary to remedy various situations. The text is clearly written and organized. Nothing much is new in this book except the approach, which may appeal to some readers. Demand may also be generated by the author's reputation and a promotional campaign. An optional purchase for public libraries.?January Adams, Franklin Twp. P.L., Somerset, NJ
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Introduction: What Coaching Can Do for You

Would you like to change your life? Do you long for a sense of community? More time for yourself? Would you like to take better care of your health, reduce stress, and create more balance in your life? Well, you're not alone. More and more people are tired of the fast-paced, frenzied "information age" and are interested in higher-quality lives--lives in which they have more time for themselves and their relationships, more energy to invest in their emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being.

Whether you're a corporate executive working sixty hours a week, a single parent trying to raise a family, or someone who's tired of feeling stressed out and pressed for time, you have a choice about how to live your life. You can step back, reevaluate your priorities, and make a conscious decision about the future you'd like to create. How do you make such a decision? Where do you turn when you decide to improve the quality of your life?

When your body is out of shape and you need help getting fit or losing weight, you hire a personal trainer. Wouldn't it be great if you could do this for all other parts of your life? Well, now you can. With the help of a "personal coach," you can shape up your life and overcome the obstacles that get in the way of living a life that you love. In a sense, you can hire a "personal trainer for your soul."

When people hear that I'm a coach, the first question they inevitably ask is: "What sport?" Once I tell them that I'm not an athletic coach and that I coach people to create lives that they love, they wonder how coaching is different from therapy. It's understandable that most people would confuse the two--therapy is the closest model we have to this new profession called coaching. But the two are very different.

Coaching is not about processing your emotional history or diagnosing and treating mental health issues. Coaching is action oriented, with a focus on a client's current life and plans for the future; although therapy deals with a client's current life, the focus is usually on the past and the healing of emotional wounds. There can be overlap between coaching and therapy, and a well-trained, experienced coach should know when a client needs therapy instead of coaching. Because of this, I've developed relationships with experienced, licensed professionals, and it's not uncommon for us to refer clients to each other.

There is a growing need for more than what therapy provides. In therapy, clients may talk about the changes they'd like to make in their lives, but the "how to" and the resources are often missing. Yet such information is critical to my clients' success. Clients want someone to help them design a new life. They want a guide who can anticipate the obstacles on the path to this new life and help navigate around them. They want a partner who will remind them of their greatness when they forget, give them the tools to get unstuck, and challenge them to take action in spite of their fears. This need is now being met by personal coaches.

The need for coaching became evident to me while I was working as a tax consultant more than fifteen years ago. The time spent with clients was often very personal, requiring an intimate look into their lives. Typically, we'd talk not only about their finances (income, spending habits, and debt) but also about their medical history, family goals, and career plans. The questions they asked often concerned decisions that needed to be made about relocation, relationship conflicts, business dilemmas, or the challenge of balancing work and family. This led to longer conversations about life in general.

Although tax consulting can be a straightforward, "just the facts, ma'am," kind of job, my practice developed in a different direction. Year after year, in addition to their tax folders, clients brought me their life stories, wanting my advice and support. They needed a sounding board, an objective listener who could provide a fresh perspective. I learned how to create an environment in which people could feel comfortable and safe enough to talk about their lives freely.

In private, they would share with me their fears and concerns. Business owners, afraid of losing clients if they raised their fees, would let their own well-being suffer instead. Corporate employees, needing to support their families, struggled with how to handle political issues at work or the insensitivity of bosses.

Together we found solutions to the problems that were causing them stress. Sometimes, simply hearing an objective perspective would make all the difference in the world. Other times, finding the right language to communicate their needs allowed them to get unstuck and take action. Most important, knowing that they were not alone and that others grappled with the same kind of issues provided them with comfort and much needed support.

Over time I became less interested in preparing people's tax returns and more interested in helping them prioritize their lives to spend more time with their families or fulfill a secret dream, like starting a business or having a child. I decided to stop providing my tax consulting services and start responding full-time to the greater concerns of my clients. I began to do this by holding workshops called "Secrets of Success" and speaking to groups about everything from goal setting to relationship-building strategies. People were relieved to find someone who could help them overcome obstacles to better their lives. One thing was clear--there was a need for "life planning" but there was no one to turn to. This need for objective guidance and support has spawned the profession of coaching.

Many people from all walks of life are turning to coaches to help them build better lives. The reasons may vary, but the bottom line is always the same--they want to improve the quality of their lives in some way. My client Shirley is a good example.

Shirley is the vice president of sales for a fast-growing biotech company. By most standards, she has reached a considerable level of success--she earns six figures, shares a beautiful lakeside home with her husband, and is a recognized leader in her field. But Shirley doesn't feel successful; she feels exhausted. Her day begins at 6 A.M. with a trip to the gym and continues nonstop until 8 or 9 at night. Most days--among the endless meetings, phone calls, and social engagements--she finds herself dreaming of a different life, a life that includes more time for herself, less stress, and a chance to express her creativity. Shirley's tired of living her best life in her head.

My client Joseph is a corporate employee who's already been the victim of downsizing and is afraid that he's headed in the same direction again. Joseph goes to work every day filled with anxiety, fearful that each day may be his last. After giving ten good years to his employer, an architectural firm, he knows that the marketplace has changed, and the company is now involved in restructuring. With mounting debt and one child headed for college, Joseph can't afford to miss a day of work, let alone lose his job.

And then there's my client Norman, the owner of a successful financial investment firm. Norman travels at least twice a month to visit clients scattered throughout the country. He has eight sales associates who call him at all hours of the day and night and a fiancée who complains that they never spend quality time together. Norman feels like life is rushing by at lightning speed, and he's starting to get nervous. He jokingly admits that he needs to stop and get a life, but he can't seem to slow down.

Joseph, Shirley, and Norman are caught in a trap. Each has come up against the kind of obstacles that prevent most people from taking control of their lives. For example, Shirley has no time for her life and feels frustrated by all the demands placed on her. She struggles to carve out time for the things she really wants to do--like taking a class and working in her garden. What's stopping her is an inability to put herself first. Shirley needs permission to make her self-care a top priority over anything else.

Joseph, on the other hand, appears to need another job, fast, but a new job is only part of the solution. The source of Joseph's problem is his vulnerable financial state. His credit card balances are maxed out, his mortgage is too high, and his family spends more than they make. To truly be in charge of his career, Joseph needs to invest in his financial health.

As for Norman, he may need to learn new skills to manage his employees better, but the first order of business is for him to manage himself. He's running on adrenaline and must learn how to slow down and use healthier sources of fuel.

As a personal coach, it's my job to listen carefully, beneath the symptoms of a situation, for the source of the problem. If you're feeling exhausted, a better diet or exercise program will certainly help, but you may first need to identify and eliminate what's draining you. Or, if you're constantly undermined by people who criticize you or put you down, setting boundaries can make a difference, but sometimes you need to trade in those unsupportive relationships for more life-enhancing ones. If work has taken over your life, finding a way to manage your time won't solve the problem. Instead, you'll need to manage yourself, get your priorities straight, and focus your attention on what really matters. Most important, if you long to live a more authentic life, one that reflects your values and desires, then you must give your spiritual well-being a more prominent place in your daily life.

Over the last fifteen years I've coached hundreds of clients who have wanted to significantly change their lives. During weekly telephone meetings, I listen carefully as clients talk about what they want and don't want in their lives. Over time, I've identified seven common obstacles that consistently prevent people fro...

Edition details

• Publisher: Broadway
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0767902068
• ISBN 13: 9780767902069
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272